Chapter 1
Mga Ibong Mandaragit opens with the Philippines in the second half of 1944, while I open a nearby Tagalog dictionary because the words Amado V. Hernandez used are beautifully new to me.
Now if only the printed version were clearer. Take, for example, the second sentence on page 1:
Bawa’t araw ay sumisidhi ang pakikibaka ng mga gerilyang Pilipino, nagtitiim ang hindi pagtulong sa kaaway ng mga taong-bayan, at [can't read this word] ang tagsalat sa pagkain at madlang bagay-bagay.
(Does anyone know what the word before “ang tagsalat” is? Click on the image for the larger version. A friend quipped: It’s all Greek to me! It’s hard enough to understand, and I wish the publishers would come out with a clearer copy. But anyway…)
Hernandez paints a picture of bloodied but unbowed Philippines.
The promise of President Roosevelt and General MacArthur remains unfulfilled, and the Filipinos suffer greatly under the Japanese, yet the country remains defiant.
Now on to the action…
It is late September. Afternoon. Almost evening.
Three figures approach a hut at the foot of the Sierra Madre mountains, after traveling some 15 kilometers. They started their journey before noon that day. They are dead tired.
(You should read how Amado Hernandez describes the fading light of that scene. Galing!)
They meet Tata Matyas, who emerges from the hut.
Tata Matyas recognizes the voice of Mando Plaridel. It’s been four months since Mando visited that place.
Mando introduces his fellow guerillas: Karyo and Martin.
Mando tells Tata Matyas that the Japanese attacked Sampitan, the remaining stronghold of the Filipino guerillas in southwest Tayabas.
(I’m guessing this is in Quezon province. You can view Sampitan Point, Quezon in the Google map. Here’s a photo of Sampitan beach in Mauban, Quezon.)
Tata Matyas and Mando remember their earlier talks about Noli Me Tangere, El Fili, and how the characters in the novels refer to actual people.
Or how certain things in Jose Rizal’s novel actually happened.
Tata Matyas keeps telling Mando how he wished he were as young as the 24 year-old Mando. Mando notices the repeated references to his age, so he asks Tata Matyas what he would do if he were indeed still young.
Tata Matyas says he will dive into the ocean and retrieve the treasure of Simoun which Padre Florentino threw into the waters in the novel El Filibusterismo. Apparently, Tata Matyas’ father knew something about a Filipino priest. And it turns out that some events in El Fili really did happen.
(No wonder some folks refer to Mga Ibong Mandaragit as some kind of sequel of El Fili. Others see it as fanfic.)
Anyway, let’s see what happens in the coming chapters.
Or blog about this site and post a link to http://www.IbongMandaragit.com and leave a comment in any of the pages in this site so that we can visit your blog also. Thank you! :-)
14 comments
Just a wild guess.
iniinda
Sa Tagalog namin (Tayabasin? Taal?), ang ibig sabihin ng iniinda ay tinitiis. Ang tagsalat ay parang panahon ng kakulangan. Ang kubkob naman, balot o napaliligiran halimbawa ng, kadiliman o katulad ng binabasa mo, ng mga kalaban. Nagtitiim–hindi ako sigurado, tingin ko ang ibig sabihin nito’y tumitindi.
In fairness, napa-Tagalog (read: hindi Filipino) ako sa pag-comment ha.
Thanks, Tyron! A friend of mine guessed “ininda”, although we couldn’t fit it in the image. Most likely, it is “iniinda.”
Nagtitiim = nagtitimpi (nagpipigil sa sarili)
Maraming salamat sa inyong tulong, at sa inyong pananagalog. Tila hindi ko na gaano itong naririnig sa labas ng paaralan. Panay Filipino na lamang. Masarap pa rin palang pakinggan, kahit paminsan-minsan.
Wika ng aking kasamahan dito sa opisinang taga-Sariaya, tinitiim ang lamang pang-adobo para manuot ang suka.
Sabi nya mukhang hindi nagtitimpi ang nagtitiim, ayon sa konteksto ng basahin sa itaas. Bakit daw pipigilan ang hindi pagtulong sa kaaway gayung ito ang tamang gawin.
Alam mo buti na lamang at walang diacritical marks ang akda. O kaya yaong sinaunang baybay (catulad ng manga uinica nang aquing manga ninuno). Pasalamat tayo at kahit papano’y madali pa ring basahin ang IM.
Naaalala ko tuloy yung “Chicken Tiim” na dating niluluto ng tita ko. Babad na babad ang mga sangkap. Ayan, nagutom tuloy ako.
Oo nga naman… bakit nga ba nagtitimpi? Doesn’t make sense.
Ano kaya ang ibig sabihin ni G. Hernandez sa pangungusap na iyon?
Di bale. Mabuti na lang at hindi sinaunang baybay ginamit.
[...] are some Tagalog words from Kabanata I, and their equivalent in English. They’re arranged in order of appearance in the chapter. You [...]
Nagtitiim = kumukulo?
i definitely think that the word you are looking for is “manda”. I’ve just checked my copy of Mr. Hernandez’s novel and yeah, the copy is not clear too. n_n;
Thanks! Would you know what “manda” means? I couldn’t find it in the UP Diksiyonaryong Filipino.
Nakakapagtaka, pero hindi ito ‘required reading’ sa aming paaralan noong ako ay nasa hayskul pa lang.
Makahanap nga ng kopya ng librong ito at mabasa.
iniinda (present tense) = to be hurt, harmed or affected by something. Ganito ito ginagamit sa Mindoro: “Hindi niya ininda (past tense) ang mga insulto sa kanya.” (He wasn’t hurt by the insults hurled at him.)
that’s “iininda”, which means that they’re feeling the pain. it is not really “tinitiis”, kasi kapag sinabi mong “iniinda,” you’re soaking in the feeling. kapag ininda mo ang sakit, lalong hindi mo ito matitiis.
so when you say “iniinda ng mga Pilipino ang tagsalat sa pagkain at madlang bagay-bagay,” you mean, “the Filipinos are feeling the burden (or pain) of the time of scarcity (tagsalat) of food and all other needs in general.”
it pays to read Tagalog komiks.
Thanks, Ize! I appreciate your help. Where may I buy Tagalog komiks? The palengkes I’ve been to don’t have any stock.
@Chris - Thanks also for helping. It’s good to have some kind of “group” study online.
@Jhay - Di rin ito required sa school namin… nung panahon na iyon.
Thank you soo much for this one!
I’ll keep coming back for more posts!
You helped a lot!
thank you so much in given me one chance!
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