Body Language

It was seven-thirty in the evening right after my dismissal class. I waited for a jeepney outside the university where I work. Since the streetlights did not give ample light, I had to be observant with the passing vehicles to make sure that I flagged down the correct jeepney, the one bearing the word “La Paz”.

Two headlights approached. I intently looked, eager enough to know that the headlights are those of the jeepney that I had been waiting for. But as the vehicle came nearer, I noticed it was a private car after all. It was a red car, in which the driver seemed to be in no hurry. The car had an open window and as it passed by right before me, I saw the driver was looking at me. So, I looked back. Well, I actually stared long enough to know whether I knew the driver or not. He could be my friend or my student. It turned out he was a complete stranger. But there was something strange with him. He got that searching look. He seemed to be scrutinizing something or someone. I was afraid that someone was me. Was he looking for a friend? I did not think so because almost everybody owns a cell phone. If the driver wanted to meet a friend, exchanging text messages would help. Maybe the driver was just enjoying a leisurely drive. But in this hot humid polluted city, driving could be best done with closed windows. Unfortunately, I did not find out the driver’s purpose because his car disappeared from view without stopping.

It was intriguing to note that the red car was followed by a white Toyota. . It was like a video playback with few changes. The car’s window was open and the driver had the same “look”. The driver’s look was penetrating and somewhat scrutinizing the bystanders along the street. It even abruptly stopped near me. I thought somebody would go out, but nobody did. I also observed the car had no plate number!

My companion commented that those cars also passed by the same street a few minutes before. Now, that was interesting! A group of men, shall we say affluent men, were searching for something or someone near a prestigious Christian university as the midterm exam approaches. Maybe my imagination had gone wild, but I could not fool myself with what I had seen and with what I had heard before. As I recall, I heard over the radio that situations like I have observed outside our university did happen. According to the radio commentator, female students who were in dire need of money for tuition fee payment fell victims with these unscrupulous men. These students served as “prostitutes” in exchange of money. It was miserable but it was happening, according to the radio commentator.

I did not want to jump to conclusions. But considering the circumstances, we may hypothesize that those men in cars were the ones referred by the radio commentator. If they were, then I was nearly mistaken to be one of the female students whom they were looking for. As I recall, I have conveyed a different message by looking inquisitively at the passing cars. The drivers might have thought that I was “interested” because I was exuding the body language that they were looking for, the long scrutinizing searching look. Words are not needed to convey a certain message. But sometimes for a particular body language to be understood correctly, we need to consider the culture and the location.

I was grateful that the drivers were careful enough to observe my body language. Maybe as they abruptly stopped in front of me, they have seen that I was not the one they were looking for. After all, I have not made the final move; that is, I did not join them in the car.

Definitely, I have not seen enough. Given enough time, I should have delved further. It would be a researcher’s treasure to see how a female student and a man in a car exchange body languages and eventually come up with a common understanding. Nevertheless, it would be a teacher’s despair.