#tond

[taergetsatsenob]

[jsharcilla]

Tondo: An Unconventional Paradise

Crime, gang wars, drugs, and uncultured swines. This are but some of the things people alien to Tondo would often associate to this ancient town where kings and knights once strolled. The Tondo they know is a wasteland --a dung covered, urine smelling, informal settlers-dwelling place: the nesting place of disease and crime.

But for someone who grew up here, Tondo is nothing like they describe it. Tondo is the place that I would most be proud to call home because it is the place that I grew up knowing and loving. It is the place where the people that created a big impact on to who I am now and what I believe in reside.

That is the reason why it hurts me that people believe in such sayings that Tondo is a place where criminals are most likely to be seen, such false words should never be taken seriously, how could people even describe Tondo when they have never been to Tondo, or even lived in Tondo. They generalize a person because of how the palce they live in is described by others, it is quite sad.

Although there is no denying that there are criminals in Tondo, it is not like how others describe it as though each and every person here could cut your throat. On the contrary, people in Tondo are very kind and they make living in Tondo such a paradise. You would often see your neighbours smiling at you, and little children playing traditional games on the streets, you would be serenaded by processions accompanied by marching bands, and the sound of laughter and joy all throughout the day.

I wish those people who always associate my town with such dissent and chaos to visit Tondo, they would be welcomed by smiles and warmth. Not only are the people wonderful, there are even so many beautiful gifts of nooks and crannies that can be seen in Tondo, although it is an bustling town, there are still those wonderful places that I believe still caters to the spiritual side of things, such as the old Sto. Nino de Tondo Church, a beautiful church that is located at the heart of the town, which houses an old image of the Holy Chid, dating back to the time of the Spanish Conquest. This house of prayer possesses a certain type of peace and harmony, its large walls and high ceilings seem to mute the noise outside to bring the faithful inside in communion with the most High.

For me, a person who grew up in Tondo, a person who lives in Tondo, I believe that Tondo is an unconventional paradise. It's a place that people look down upon because of rumors that are not even true, and at best outdated or generalised, those rumors that have made others cower in fear when they hear a person comes from Tondo. As with any other city, there are good sides, and there are bad, one should never just look on one side. Tondo has more good than bad in it, but to see it, one must squint into the smallest spaces and little crannies to see what makes Tondo a true paradise, and why a multitude of Filipinos still choose to call it home.

[84130-blog]

#art #portrait #inkart #oberai #tond #linkinme7 #fastsketch #watercolour #contemporaryart #artcontemporarian #abstractartist On the occasion of 100 days of reopening of the oberai New Delhi (at New Delhi)

[vishisingh]

For a minute there I lost myself. #TheIconReturns #TheOberoiNewDelhi #InsideOberoi #TOND (at The Oberoi New Delhi)

[vishisingh]

Let's sit and talk. No phones. Just you and me. It'll be like 1992 all over again. #TheIconReturns #TheOberoiNewDelhi #InsideOberoi #TOND (at The Oberoi New Delhi)

[vishisingh]

Elegance has nothing to do with fashion. #TheIconReturns #TheOberoiNewDelhi #InsideOberoi #TOND (at The Oberoi New Delhi)

[vishisingh]

All birds are miracles. Specially these ones at Tijori @oberoinewdelhi. #TheIconReturns #TheOberoiNewDelhi #InsideOberoi #TOND (at The Oberoi New Delhi)

[vishisingh]

In the court of the Crimson King. #TheIconReturns #TheOberoiNewDelhi #InsideOberoi #TOND (at The Oberoi New Delhi)