Manila was crowded then as it is today, except that there were few people in the sidewalks and the calesas still roam the streets. The VIPs cruise in their Chevy Fleetlines donning mini flags instead of wang-wangs. I wonder if the traffic officers back then have already invented the word before kotong. Cool air lets cabs have their windows rolled down, and while taximeters work in analogue fashion, it doesn't charge passengers 4 pesos every 300 meters.
Ten cents would do.
Ambulant vendors ply their trade in bilaos. I say tradition stays no matter how times have changed. It's not much different from the wooden stalls we have today. Except that there was no MMDA to steal their goods and China-made imitation were still generations behind from coming out of rickety production lines. Notice how the homeless live in shacks with little wheels. Good for them, at least they can move from place to place and not worry about squatting in one's land. The last time I walked the street at night, I saw an entire family including little children sleeping under the stars.
Back then, kids sell large paper bags instead of polymer canal choker. Helium balloons were round and made of rubber. Lottery came in the form of Sweepstakes that were sold by peddlers instead of having to scratch a card in a Lotto outlet. Broadsheets had monochrome photos and 8 column format which have all disappeared the day publishers splashed color over a newsprint's nameplate
They say life was better in the old times - a fact the elderly would fondly cherish in an age when Twitter sparks revolutions abroad and phone text messages take the role of written love letters. Back when there was less people, the air was fresh, the streets were safe and people were enjoying a quaint life. The romantic in me would love to see a world when teens still swim across the Pasig River and kids still play in the neighborhood as swathes of masses venerate the doll of Nora Aunor, a pop-star who in old age would be detained abroad and would be forgotten by the rest of the nation.
This is how everyday life was in the 50's
But seeing the difference between then and now is like taking away the calesas and replacing the Chevys with Hondas. There is not much to ponder, only despair. For no matter how nostalgic the reel was, it seems as the scenes tell that life - as we know it - remains the same.
Everything in the world is constant.