A trip to Makati Medical Center for my sister's check-up leads me to a
simple adventure that opened my eyes.
Going home I passed by an old
house at Balagtas St., Makati, that had books on display. I've actually
passed by this house countless times since I was a kid but I have never
noticed the sign they had hanging in front of their house.
"A good book is easy to find. FREE READING TO THE PUBLIC."
This instantly piqued my curiosity. I don't know why but the words kept circling my mind. I didn't stop when I saw the sign but the words were like buzzards gawking at me, after three blocks I hit the brakes and circled back to the house. The proprietor was looking at me from afar smiling, it was as if he knew I would come back. I parked my car in front of a "Sari-Sari" store beside them and well enough the proprietor walked to me as I opened my door. He welcomed me with a smile and a hand shake afterwards I asked him if I could browse his books. At that moment he interrupted me and said, it's "the". I was baffled, thinking that my grammar was wrong but then he continued
"These aren't mine, these are everyone's."
Hearing these words made me admire him. You see at first glance I thought that the proprietor was just a "tambay", to be more exact he looks like an uneducated person who just bums around the area but lo and behold when he started talking I felt as if I was speaking to a scholar. He spoke with authority and a diction that would put a Brit to shame. Just goes to show... "Do not judge a book by it's cover", pun intended. haha
As I browsed the collection and picked a few books I asked him how much does the books I picked cost and again his answer surprised me,
"Knowledge is priceless and so are these books."
I asked him again in disbelief. "I am holding ten books and everything is for free? I can take them home?" He just smiled and told me,
"Books are like pets, they do not exist to be locked up. If you lock them up then you are removing their reason for existing. Just think, how much sacrifice it takes to give birth to a living being? The same goes for books, the author sacrifices time and effort writing them, the trees sacrifice themselves to create the paper, workers sacrifice their sweat and time to produce the papers and ink, a lot of sacrifice has been done to give birth to these books the least I can do is help them achieve the purpose of these books." I thought to myself, "Damn! Aristotle is that you?"
The proprietor's name is Hernando Guanlao. He is the guy in this picture(left) wearing a sando. *I wasn't able to take a picture of him since he was quite shy that he's not dressed properly*
Due to my fascination on this project of his, Reading Club 2000, and trying to find more books I can get (hehe), I spent a few hours browsing "the" collections and chatting with him. The very first thing I asked him when we sat down for a beer (I love this guy! He gave me free books and a beer! New bestfriend! haha) was how he started the project and why. Again smiling at me, like a child who was just given a bag full of candies, he told me the story of how his project started.
"I started Reading Club 2000, back in year 2000 (hence the 2000 in the name) with just four shelves of books. I went around the houses, schools, and even the local municipality to ask for books that they want to throw away. At first it was hard since I have to go around commuting to collect the books that people are donating but in time people started coming to me dropping off their books. Even people from Paranaque came all the way here to donate their collected books. The truth is, the inspiration to start the project came to me when the onslaught of the computer age started in 2000. I figured since a lot of people are starting to put down books in exchange for the internet might as well collect them than let them rot in storage. I love reading, the nostalgic smell of old books are like ecstasy to me; one whiff sends shivers down my spine. In this day and age where people would rather read from their computers and handhelds I want to provide an avenue for the books to still have a reason to exist. Books exist to be held by people and to be read, they're not created just to be displayed. Right now I have 7 of these book stalls around the country, most of them in rural areas where books are very rare but also the very places that need these the most. My goal is to inspire people to read and help them inspire others to learn how to love reading." - Hernando Guanlao
With this answer my admiration for manong "Nanding" was cemented. We talked about a lot of things, my mind was racing with questions. I was like a preschooler asking the teacher to teach me the alphabet. During my stay about three people came to donate their books one even came all the way from Pampanga just to personally see manong Nanding. During my stay I met a local writer/editor who was a frequent visitor of manong Nanding, Sir Danilo S. Meneses (right). Surprisingly I didn't notice that one of the books I picked out from the collection was his(bottom), when manong Nanding told me I instantly ask Sir Danilo if he could sign my book! It was really an overwhelming feeling to be around great men. As I chatted with them, they shared with me a lot of wisdom. Wisdom not just as a lover of literature but life itself. Before I left Sir Danilo and Mang Nanding each gave me a parting wisdom.
Sir Danilo, "Ang libro ay parang Nanay, kapag malungkot ka kaya kang pasayahin, kapag na tatakot ka kaya kang agapayin, kapag na babagot ka kaya kang bigyan ng pagkakaabalahan, tinuturuan ka nito ng kung ano-ano na maari mong magamit sa buhay."
Manong Nanding, "Sa susunod dala ka pulutan kami na sa beer at kwentuhan!"
Parting wisdom from great men hahaha! I'll definitely comeback!
*If you want to donate your books you can contact me and I'll gladly pick them up or drop them off at Balagtas St. Makati City.* :)
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