The Quest of Morning Rush

People usually take the morning rush hour for granted. Most people think it’s just there, nothing significant, nothing interesting. I beg to disagree. My name is Ria. I am the eldest of five. My current occupation is University student, and I get to that University by taking three different modes of transportation. I am a Morning Knight.

I’m not saying I like the morning rush. It’s awful! Once you arrive school, you look harassed and smell like you’ve been working the whole day, when all you did was leave your house to get to school. But the morning rush is something. In fact, it is a daily quest that we all have to take. It is not an easy quest, and my fellow Morning Knights will agree to that.

You do not agree? Perhaps you are not a Morning Knight. I hear there is such a thing as flexible schedules now, and one can leave at a less crowded time. Let me relate to you what we, Morning Knights, have to go through, then, when we leave our homes to take on... the Quest of Morning Rush.

Our day begins at sunrise; for some of us, even before. It all starts with a tone, usually a high-pitched sound that pierces the ear. Then the tone stops. Then it starts again. Then a new tone starts and joins in, possibly a beeping SOS. Then a new one starts again. And thus is the Medley of Alarms. For Knights like me, who have four schooling siblings, the experience is not a pleasant one, for each of us has an alarm. The Medley of Alarms is a torture to the ears, much like the screaming of harpies. But it is not the real enemy. The real enemy, the first enemy Knights have to battle in their Quest, is the spirit, Hypnos.

Hypnos is the Spirit of Sleep. And he will lull you. Oh, how sweet his voice sounds. He is like a lover, serenading you, beckoning you to give in to him and his magic, enticing you to surrender yourself to the wonderful kingdom of dreams. And I’m sure you have tasted his magnificently sweet power. But on this Quest, he is your enemy, and you must not give in to him. Hear, instead the Medley of Alarms. It is your friend on this first task of your Quest, and that is to break away from the Spell of Hypnos.

Once Knights have broken free of Sleep, they move on to their next task. Some knights have to take a three-wheeled vehicle to get to where they have to be for the second task. I do. Tricycle rides are not much of a problem for me. The only thing you can do is to wait for them. And when they arrive, you ride and try not to bump your head as they take you to the place where your second task awaits.

The second task is a test of timing and speed. People call this task ‘Taking the Jeep’. For me, it is one of the worst tasks in the Quest of Morning Rush. For some people, it may be easy. But for the Knights from my little village, it is a challenge, considering that there are so many Knights, and so little of those wild creatures they call Jeeps in the morning. For this task, a Knight must have good eyesight, a strong sense of timing, agility, determination, and the ability to hold on. Strong eyesight: you must see the sign on the Jeep from afar, to know if this Jeep goes where you're going. Timing: you must time yourself to be able to get on during that few seconds that the Jeep slows down. Agility: You’re not the only one who wants the Jeep, so move fast! Determination: You might not finish the Quest on time. The Jeep can only hold so much. Some of you are bound to let go of the Jeep and wait for the next one. You’re not one of them. Believe me, this part is hard. I got hit by an umbrella once. But everything’s fair in this Quest. You can’t blame the woman for not attending to the other end of the umbrella while she wrestled her way into the Jeep. And well, sometimes, you can’t get in; you just have to hold on to the bars outside the Jeep!

Ah, the third and final task is a tough one. We, Knights, call it ‘The Crush’. This is a test of endurance, and your ability to breathe in small spaces. Your enemy is a long snake-like monster called the Train. Many people battle the monster in the morning. You have to queue to get to it. Oh, the wait could take a very long time. And once you get to the platform, you have to position yourself in places where the Train’s mouth will open. And sometimes, the Train’s mouth would not fall directly in front of where it should. And the Train Driver would have to slowly make little adjustments to move the Train’s mouth to the right part of the platform. And the commuters would also make little steps to keep in step with the train. You should notice it sometimes, they look like penguins.

Anyway, when the Train’s mouths open, you have to push! You want to wait for a less crowded Train? You’ll never finish the Quest in time. So, push yourself in. But know that everybody else behind you will be doing the same thing. As more and more people enter push themselves into the Train, the less and less breathing space you’ll have; thus the term, ‘The Crush’. So, position yourself. It’s all about positioning. Once you’re in, there’s nothing else to do now but wait, and make sure you don’t suffocate in the belly of the snake.

But wait! There are actually other things to survive through, too, in the belly of the snake. Of course you’ve got theft and sexual harassment. There’s entrapment, when you’re pushed against the door with a man taller than you looming before you with his arm pushing at the door above you, and you can smell his underarm and sweat but you can’t escape it because the train is too packed for you to move anywhere. And there’s also embarrassment, if you’re the man looming over with the underarm stink, and you can see how this tortures the little person under you.

And what happens when you push? Once the door opens again, you pop. And I’m not kidding. You will actually see people popping out of the Train when you reach a station, because you have to push your way through the wall of people near the Train’s mouth, then pop! You’re out.

And once you’ve survived ‘The Crush’, you know the Quest is over. Familiar? I wouldn’t be surprised. So, the next time you get to school or the office, give yourself a pat on the back and hold yourself in high regard. For, even before you’ve conquered the other Quests of the day, you know that you’ve completed the Quest of Morning Rush. And this is something you should be proud of.