GULONG NG PALAD

Maybe you have heard the word GULONG NG PALAD. I know, it’s a title of a show, where Kristine Hermosa was the actress. Now, here is what the word is all about.
GULONG NG PALAD ( wheel of the palm) pictures one riding on the rim of a wheel of fate. If one waits long enough, he will find himself on the other side of the wheel. Now he is beneath it, tomorrow he will be on top of it. The average Filipino accepts his fate and comforts himself by saying: “ GANYAN ANG GULONG NG KAPALARAN” (That is the wheel of fortune).
As a child, I used to complain to my parents about the lack of electricity in our province. “ It’s so dark in this place at night,” I would whine,” while my friends Ronnie and Rene can still walk around their neighborhood in the city, I already have to be in bed.” Growing up n an island where the chief means of transportation to the big city was a sailboat, I experienced early on the clear contrast between our primitive rural life and that of the city.
Only two buses plied the roads of our town. They traveled from the seaport to the opposite end of the island. Thus, most townsfolk traveled by foot. The place was economically depressed, but there were still a handful of people who, by earnest effort and hard work, became successful.
I remember in particular a rather plump woman who had a flourishing store by the seaport. Because of her thriving business, this woman and her husband lived a life of luxury, with a number of servants at their bidding-cooking their food, washing their clothes, and running errands for them.
During political rallies, which were as common then as now, one could see the couple’s house swarming with people. “There were a lot of people who came to the pension,” I overheard a friend of my aunt say the day after the event,” and believe it or not, most of them I have never seen or known before.” And she added as an afterthought,” But, really, all of them had their fill. Busog na busog.” Because of the couple’s popularity they naturally became the envy of the townspeople, especially their business competitors.
Many years later I visited our town. The store of the rich woman was no longer there. What had become of Tia Biata? I wondered. In my mind, I could still see her walking up and down her big house, the ground floor being their store, with her brightly colored dress and sparkling jewelry in different shapes & sizes. I asked Mother about Tia Biata. “ She passed away a few years back,” Mother replied.
I found out that before her death she experienced a terrible reversal of fortune, losing not only her house and store but also her other properties after her husband’s death.
“ One time I was in the market,” Mother went on. “As I was waiting for a jeepney for my ride home, I saw her. She looked thin and emaciated. Then she came right up to me.”
I wanted to ask Mother if the woman still recognized her, but Mother continued, “She was sort of catching her breathe, and then without any greeting, she said, ‘ Inday, please give me some money to buy food.’ I fished out 20 pesos from my purse and handed it to her. She then thanked me and walked away.”
Everything might be worst but just go with the flow of your GULONG NG PALAD…