Day Pajarillo

Ka Elsing

Acrylic on Canvas | 16″ x 20″

His name is Celso, and was fondly called Elsing. Kakang Elsing, kaka or ka is a general term for our elders. No gender bias. He never married married but was believe to be a lady’s man. It just never occurred to him to get seriously involved. But he was more than a father to us his nieces and nephews. Among the 10 siblings who lived, we never met any offspring from him. But from the 9 others, all had children. He ran a general merchandise store in front of our house in talisay. Like my grandfather, he was also always busy with his hands. He likes to breed his own roosters for cockfights. I remember him grooming them and feeding them vitamins. He also makes brooms, clothes pins out of bamboo sticks, shapes them nicely and it kind of resembled their long fingers.