Shakiel vs Tuah

Part Deux

When my daughter Shakira reached one year old, it was the right time to conceive a second with much hope this time it’ll be a boy. I had some pressure too to produce a male heir. A tip from my hubby,

He said, “ Kalau nak anak lelaki kena banyak makan meat!” And that’s what he did.

This round we made our baby in our own bedroom. Ekonomi merosot sikit sebab maintaining Shakira was expensive. Maklumla anak baru sorang so everything nak beli yg the best such as the best milk, dypers and clothes especially. We did it at home, baybeh.

Fair enough, since I like Dr. Idriss’ magic touch, we decide to head over his office again at Pantai Medical Center. He confirmed I was 2 months pregnant by August/September 2003. And the expected delivery date will be May 30, 2004. Wow..that is my birth date. Yeay….my baby and I will share the same birth date. Looking forward celebrating birthdays together….

Another pregnancy went by smoothly without any hic cups. The best part is looking for a baby name. I know I’m going to have a boy so the name must meet certain criteria such as again,

1. Carrying on the Family initials
2. Name which reflect good meaning - I imagine him tough and tall like his father so he must have a strong name.

Then I remembered,….yeah Shaquille O’Neal. The NBA / Miami Heat player. He’s big…..very big….Yeah….why not name him Shaquille. I am happy. My hubby is happy too.

Well, about the same time, if any of you recalled Mr. Stephen Rahman-Hughes…you know the guy who played Hang Tuah in the Puteri Gunung Ledang theatrical? He was then recently introduced to Malaysian viewers for his theatrical background. Emm a Malaysian (Malay mom and English dad), good looking, success in his own way, can sing… His introduction was done on Melodi and I was mesmerized by his good looks.

The very next day, I search through the internet looking for Stephen Rahman’s biography. He has just completed his West End performance of Bombay Dreams as the lead. I had the article printed with his picture and paste it on the wall of my office room. And every morning it was a breeze to see him greet me. I hope my son will be as good looking as he is.

May 20, 2004. The appointment day. Dr. Idris discovered I had an opening of 4cm. Immediately he asked me to admit myself to the hospital because by this afternoon 4-5pm I may be having my baby. Ha ha ha he must be joking. Right doc? But he was serious. He was not amuse the thought of me going back home first to collect my “stay in the hospital emergency kit”. But anyway, I decided to go back home first and did some banking matters and by noon I admitted myself into the hospital. The nurse was surprised to see Dr. Idris’s missing patient (as the nurse put it) just happily walked in the registration area.

The nurse placed me in a labour room and asked me to change. As I was laying there the nurse puts on the baby heart beat monitoring belt around me. Sempat baca magazine and sms-ing to few people to announce that I am having my baby anytime.

1:45 pm. Perut tak sakit lagi ni. Bila nak beranak ni.

2.12 pm. The nurse induced me through the IV then baru la it kicked in.

4.00 pm I dah tak tahan sakitnya. Take him out of me I was yelling inside. Duduk and baring semuanya tak kena.

Instantly Dr. Idris in his usual attire, plastic apron and boots orang jual ikan kat pasar, walked in and gently asked, “How are we doing?”

“Hello, I am suffering here. Please take this thing out of me. NOW!"

But at the time I rasa the baby pun dah tak sabar nak keluar. After a snip and my second push, wussssshhhh….he came out. Lega rasanya. Again, I had a fair looking baby yang mukanya masih kemerahan and bengkak. Rambut lebat sekali. We name him Shakiel (not Shaquille – too Pak itam) as the name means handsome, breeze through a wind and lofty. By 5.15 pm Dr. Idris completed his work. Good job doc.

As he grew older, Makcik nasi lemak depan rumah I kat Sec, 14 PJ selalu tanya,

“Mana anak lelaki awak si Bollywood tu?” Awak tahu tak rupa dia macam Anil Kapoor tau?”

“Ye ke makcik? Ha ha ha”

“Iye…handsome budak tu macam budak Hindustan!”

Once in a while people would passed remarks such as,

Budak ni Melayu ke?
Budak ni tak ada rupa melayu. Campur ke budak ni?
Aha la looks like Northern Indian.
Is your husband Pakistani or Arab?
The eyes and lashes…besar, bulat and lebat. Mixed ke?

Both Shakira and Shakiel looks very much different. That I can confirm. Finally it hit me, maybe sebab I was too engrossed dgn Stephen Rahman (while he was doing Bombay Dreams) good looks, sebab tu ada terkenan sikit pada Shakiel. Look at the pictures.



Jadi pesan orang tua-tua jangan sekali di tidak kan. Pertimbangkan yang mana baik dan yang mana tidak. Just don't over do it. Itu sebagai pengajaran. Sekarang I am suffering the consequences...anak tak rupa mak bapak. Hu Hu Hu....

Baby Names - SHAKIRA

Kata orang tua-tua kalau nak anak tu pandai….banyakkan membaca bagi si ibu. Kalau nak anak tu waraq banyakkan baca Al-Quran semasa mengandung and kalau nak anak tu lawa atau handsome, tengokla gambar-gambar orang yang lawa-lawa. I used to laugh at that statement until it happened to me. Hah ambik sebijik bila dah kena kat muka sendiri…then I made my own conclusion.

I like to share with you how we (my hubby and I) decide to select names for our kids. There are 2 parts series of this article. Our first born is SHAKIRA.

Part Un

It took quite a while for me to plan to have kids. Rasa macam tak sanggup nak carry out heavy responsibility bila dah ada anak nanti. Actually the thought of to stop smoking tu sebab sebenarnya….lama tu nak berhenti merokok. Hahahaha.

Anyway, I stopped smoking 2 months before I planned to get pregnant. Getting pregnant was easy. Sekejap je melekat. We did it in Cameron Highlands.

By October 2001 (I think) I was confirmed pregnant. Fortunately my pregnancy was a breeze tak ada ridiculous craving except I like to eat a lot of Maggie goreng and Japanese food. Towards my 8th month of pregnancy, my hubby kept pushing me to drink a lot of soya bean milk. Dia kata biar anak kulit putih. Bukan yg dalam kotak you beli kat supermarket but the fresh ones bought in front of Joo Hua Stationery in Sec. 14 PJ.

Coming to my 5th month of pregnancy, I saw a female Columbian artist on MTV. Her name was Shakira and wow…was she stunning. She had that thick curly and wavy hair and she sure can shake those hips. She was dancing to her first English song from her first English album, Whenever, Wherever. I said to myself, if what I’m carrying is a girl, Shakira will be her name.

I was also careful with choosing a baby name because I nak jugak yang ada reflect good meaning. Jugak tak mahu ada nama yang panjang or unik yang susah nak disebut. Every parents ada citarasanya. Don’t want to embarrass the kid when they grow up kalau nama tak elok. Also my kids must maintain the same initial as both my hubby and I have. Search and search which later I jumpa…SHAKIROH which means kesyukuran. So I was happy with it. SHAKIRA and SHAKIROH are quite closed.

I was 7 days over due when when I was asked by Dr. Idris (of PMC) to admit myself on the morning of July 5, 2002 at 10 am which I did oblige. I was induced and only gave birth at 12.47 am July 6, 2002. Penat….memang memenatkan. The closer to giving birth…the more pain and rasa nak tarik je baby tu keluar. I was too tired to push when Dr. Idris walk in with his knee length plastic apron and fish monger boots decided it was time to vacuum suck the baby.

Finally after a couple of push, a cut and suctions, the baby came out. When the nurse push the baby’s way in front of my face, they quickly tagged her and clean her up..I was numb and only wanted to cry of joy. I bore a new life in this world. My hubby was there and we rejoiced to GOD’s creation. My baby girl cried and yes,….she was loud. She was so fair and red. She has those heavy round cheeks with round chin. Her hair was dark with thick curls. Alas, we named her Shakira.

Initially, we were quite flabbergasted macamana Shakira gets to be so fair and doesn’t actually look like neither both of us. I tribute it to the following factors,

1. My late mother’s side of the family - I had a Chinese grandmother and most of my relatives have those mata sepet, fair and Chinese features. Unfortunately I get my father’s side of the family package.

2. My mother in law, too, is quite fair herself.

3. Then again her curly hair may come from all the Maggie goreng I ate. Or maybe from Shakira the artist herself.

4. Her fairness may be from all the soya bean milk I drank.

So it could be one of those reasons.

Anyway, that is the story how Shakira got her name. Hubby kata I ni perasan but sometimes I do see the resemblance between my Shakira and Shakira the artist.








Or this crazy idea have been playing in my mind…that my real baby girl must have been switched while she was in the hospital….jeng… jeng…. jeng…..

To be continued.

There must have been a mixed up at the hospital.

There is also a story behind these photos too. Coming soon.....

Hang Tuan oh Hang Tuah

There is a story behind this...please wait for up coming article.

You made Mommy Proud

Recently, I received a note from my daughter’s Kumon instructor.

It says Shakira have been inducted to ASR. ASR means Advanced Student Honor Roll which means she gets her picture on a paper made star, paste on the honor's roll wall. This is to recognize and further motivate her and other students as well at the center to do better at Kumon.

Her Level 2A result report stated she answered all 80 questions on her Maths correctly in 6 minutes (the standard time given was 10 minutes). Doesn’t that make any parents proud? Immediately I submitted a passport size photo of Shakira which I happened to carry around in my handbag to her instructor.

2 weeks later we saw her photo on the “ASR Stars” wall. Here is her photo.



I told this to an ex-colleague, Wendy Lim, in one of my e-mails to her….and she replied,

“It is the mother who should get the recognition for the time and effort put in. Sitting in with Shakira while she finishes her homework and shipping her back and forth to Kumon. You deserve the recognition!”

I was very touched by her statement. Thank you Wendy for your understanding.

The Mystery of Betty Boob

Let’s forget about the oil increase issue because as far I am concern it will be the end of the world if ever the oil prices go down by 80 cents. Dream on.

I rather talk about this female dog we name her Betty Boob who lives in front of our gate every night without fail.



If I’m not wrong, dalam Islam ada mengatakan malaikat (angels) tak masuk rumah yang ada anjing. But we don’t own a dog but kind of feel save with Betty around. She will bark to anything that moves especially other stray dogs to mark this territory is hers.

My neighbour, Uncle Jeffry, who himself own a male dog, told us that Betty has been around here for the past 2 years! Wow we were surprised with what was the mystery behind the relationship between our house and Betty Boob.

We would normally greet Betty in wee hours of the morning when I send off my hubby to the bus terminal. She acknowledged and will walk away but returns at night to her favourite spot, in front of our gate or lay down right in the middle of the road, without fail.

Sometimes I feel pity with Betty especially during heavy rainy nights…where she will start barking and sleeps outside there in wet and cold. Not much can we do as our religion limits our contact with dogs.

My hubby was telling that maybe Betty Boob had some puppies here (before we moved in) and perhaps her puppy did not live and that gives her reason not to leave this spot. Wow! dogs do have strong attachments too.

Whatever history, I hope one day I will crack Betty’s mystery.

GOD works in myterious ways....

Weird thing happened early tonight...while my husband is fixing the hammock outside, a strange looking man, kind of dark complexion, in long sleeve shirts had also the good morning towel hanging around his neck came knocking on our front gate. Eeemmmm quite strange looking. He stood out of our front gate and asked for something, which we could barely hear. Neither my hubby or myself wanted to budge and get closer to the stranger. The guy was mumbling asking for our phone number or he wanted to borrow our phone...it wasn't very clear.

We couldn’t see his face....as it was getting dark.

I kept trying to capture a clearer view of him but some potted plant with sprouting branches were blocking. My son was out closer but I told him to stand back, twice. That spooked us a while. My hubby replied to the stranger....”tak da, tak da.” And the stranger just left. Just like that. My hubby and I kept asking each other who was he…and stared blankly. So quietly we continued to finished up on the hammock and went inside the house.

Later I thought IT maybe sending some kind of message to me to get into the house since its just passed Maghrib. Tak elok duduk luar senja2 ni and pergi solat.

It really gives me the creeps. The stranger keeps on playing in my mind. Who was he? Well he may not be any important. But it just puzzles me....maybe one of these days I will asked the Montessori a house away...if they happen to speak to the stranger. I noticed their front gate were wide opened earlier. The stranger must have stepped inside.

Thinking about it gives me the shivers. And to top all that about 7 pm we took the kids on their bikes around our taman until Maghrib!

I guess God works in mysterious ways... Maybe it has been a long day for us and we were just too tired.

But question still arise...who was he?