I saw these two on the mezzanine of the Baclaran LRT station in Manila. They stood there motionless, like two rocks standing out in the ocean waves. They were unaware of me as I stood there, and they were unaware of each other. I took this picture and went on my way.
While they were there, frozen in fatigue or reflection or even despair.
LRT trains rumbled on overhead in both directions, shaking the station. Below them in the street, heavy traffic filled the air with heat and the sound of horns.
Beside the street an open market was crowded with hundreds of people swirling around, pushing and shouting to buy and sell- slippers, umbrellas, DVDs dried fish and peanuts.
In the side streets nearby, other things were being bought and sold more quietly- motorcycle parts, appliances, Lotto tickets- and, in darkened doorways, drugs and sex. Back out in the sunlight, a happy pack of schoolgirls in blue uniforms ran along laughing.
But in the middle of all this foam, of all this life and activity, some islands of immobility always remain- like these two people, alone, disconnected, motionless, waiting for another train, waiting for a friend, waiting for nothing.
