NSDB (Nasa Daddy ang Bayad)

NSDB (Nasa Daddy ang Bayad)

We were talking about cosmopolitanism in my History class and the importance of engaging with other cultures and bringing back the lessons learned, as these have equipped Jose Rizal, through his travel and stay in Europe, greater understanding that further ignited his already fomented nationalist spirit. Moving away from nationalist perspective, engaging with others is one way to become more open-minded for we can now see from other worldviews.

And to do so, our professor encouraged us to go on traveling - preferably backpacking. Instead of going around places like a tourist, he suggested to mingle with the local people in a particular place, practice their practices, step back and think the possible ramifications of a particular development in an area (citing Boracay as an example, we could ask, "What happened to the people living before the hotel resorts were built?", "How about the workers, does the tip given to them actually go to them?", "Is the pH level of the beach water still on safe levels with all the developments going on?", and so on and so forth). Bur furthermore, he encouraged us to do so on our own, or with our trusted friends, using our own funds. He said that we were always NSDB or NaSa-Daddy-ang-Bayad (Payment's-on-Daddy), that many of us would not have gone elsewhere if not provided for by our parents.

During my college freshman year, this was something that would not even cross my mind. My parents only started to give me an allowance in high school and always just enough to cover for my meal and regular photocopying expenses. If I were to go out with my friends, that was when I could ask for extra money. That's only when I could start saving, which almost always got wiped out whenever I bought a new book. And to shun any possibility of even thinking about it, my parents were strict, only allowing me to go to very far places (a.k.a. outside Metro Manila) with only those friends whom they trusted. Violate that rule and I'd be grounded. Traveling alone meant commuting from home to school and to the nearest mall from home.

So I am still a NSDB or NSPB (NaSa-Parents-ang-Bayad) to be more accurate. It took me until college to realize that the foreign notion of traveling alone using my own pocket money is actually possible. Meeting classmates who have gone on trips - domestic and abroad - on their own, and others who were saving up to backpack elsewhere just further drove home the point. With my allowance exceeding what I normally spend in school, all I need to do is to save more and plan my own trip.

In countries such as Australia and India and even here in the Philippines, travel loans are granted to people who want to "travel now, pay later." My professor said this scheme will enable us to develop our sense of responsibility especially when undertaking our own pursuits. If the institutionalized set-up is still not friendly to our finances, he recommended splitting up the expenses between our own money and our parents and even loaning the whole trip from our parents, and insist to be paid on an installment basis.

My teacher claimed that we could not argue that it's a "Filipino" thing to depend on parents even if the children could already afford spending for his own pursuits. He and his colleagues went to a town in Batangas, if I had not heard him wrong, and discovered there was a practice of "paying back", where the son or daughter who already earns will give his or her salary to the parents which will only cease upon marriage. And that's an aspect of Filipino culture too. In a Malaysian area, as we were told, there is a practice of giving a dowry to the female's parents, to signify the expenses they have incurred in raising the daughter. 

These things would not have been learned if not for traveling; there is a mystical nature about it which is not present from learning about a particular place from reading and writing alone.

So while waiting for my money to be enough, still, nasa daddy ang bayad.