Kuwentong Varrons: Galing sa isang Lolo ng Varron – Four-in-one

Guiller

Shared by Guillermo Mendoza (Dirty Dozen ’69)

Early Years as a Freshman
Taon ay 1969, Freshman ako sa College of Forestry, at isa sa mga mapalad na nabigyan ng Bureau of Forestry (now FMB) Scholarship! Pumunta ako sa College with minimal amount of money dahil my parents were expecting na dadating agad ang aking ‘stipend/allowance’. Well, it took almost two months pa bago dumating ang stipend namin. Long story short, naubusan ako ng allowance. I rationed yong konting natitira sa pera ko by eating twice a day. I was rooming with four guys, including Caloy Tomboc, a senior student, and the Grand Varron at that time. One night, while trying to sleep away my hunger, I heard Caloy talking with the other two roommates na parang may sakit ako at hindi na nakikihalo na kumain ng ‘tasty bread’ which we always do at about 11 PM (they paid mostly dahil kulang na pera 😊). He woke me up and ask me to join them eat. Syempre gutom ako kaya dalidali na nga akong kumain! With such a pleasant experience, I quickly accepted the invitation to join the UP Varrons LTD when Caloy recruited me knowing some of my professors were also Varrons! And like they say, the rest is history!

Wild Times at Bamboo Groove
Fast forward, to 1973 onward. Dates I can no longer remember. It happened a few (well perhaps more than a few 😊). On Friday evenings, a few of us Varrons (most of us live together at a house located sa baba ng forestry housing) chip in a few pesos and pooled our money, then went down to what we used to call Bamboo Grove. It was at that time known as a ‘night spot and drinking fountain’ (inuman sa Tagalog), complemented by a beautiful lady singer. We enjoyed the drink, but even more so just watching (some of us maybe even fantasizing) the lady singer. You have to remember that there were very few ladies sa forestry campus at that time 😊 – so give us a break! We all wanted the attention of the pretty lady singer, but her attention and lovely (more like flirting) stare and attention was always towards our best looking at pinaka ‘macho’ na Varron. I won’t tell you who he is, but he is one of the ‘pillars’ of the UP Varrons 😊. Coming home so late to the forestry dorms, most of the time ay early morning, was always a problem because very few jeepneys are still operating at that time. We usually walked the whole way back, most of us were tipsy and drunk, a bit rowdy singing our favorite songs! ‘Those were the days my vrod, we thought would never end, let’s drink and walk forever and ever!

Weekend Eating at Makiling Botanic Gardens
Saturday mornings, after an all-night party at the house (this happened many Friday or Saturday evenings), we again contribute a few pesos, pool our money, go to the market, and buy fish and some veggies). We then cook the veggies, and make ‘sugba’ (grilled fish), and eat at one of the picnic tables at MBG!

Volleyball at Sports Field
We used to play volleyball using three bamboo poles (the same ones we used for soccer) as our net. Participants/players include friends but mostly (at least 90%) were vrods and sis. Lines were delineated by putting 4 slippers at the corners of each side. Games were highly competitive, heated, punctuated only by arguments about whether the ball was in or out! Sometimes, the arguments go on even after the games were over! Quite we play with a wager, like a bottle of coke with bread, or the loser pays for the evening’s drinks at Bamboo Grove! We literally played until we can’t see the ball anymore! We played like kids – we argued and behaved like kids too 😊. I know a few, one in particular, who never liked to lose an argument, never budged on how ‘right’ s/he was, and always seemed to win the argument in the end! Guess who? I am not telling!