'Estudyante ni?'

Most of us who do not own cars probably spend a great deal commuting. I, for one, have been commuting since I was in Grade 3. If I were to do the math, I've been riding a PUJ for well over 12 years now.

Yet how come we know so little about something we spend most of our lives doing? For instance, do we know who is considered student and who is not? Do we know who can avail of fare discounts and who cannot?

One evening, while I was on my way home, I overheard a conversation between a man and a woman. Was I so privy that I heard them talking? Or was it because they talked so loud? Or both?

Anyway, the man, who was wearing a red shirt and has a receding hair line, had just paid his fare.

"Estudyante ni?" the driver asked.

Apparently, the man in red didn't hear the driver, so he asked the woman beside her, "Unsa daw?"

"Estudyante ba daw?" replied the woman, who wore a pink shirt and wore her hair in a pony tail.

"Titser siguro na," someone quipped when the man in red was having trouble answering the question.

"Dili nong, regular na," the man said at last.

He then turned to the woman in pink and said, "Katanduon unta ko ba." But, he added, "estudyante man pud nang second courser, di ba?"

The woman merely grinned, then said, "Pero tiguwang na man gud tanawon. Naa na pu'y trabaho."

I agree with the man that a second courser is still a student. He is not, however, entitled anymore to a fare discount that the regular students enjoyed.