Si Budak Pandai
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My nephew got something like 11 A’s in his SPM, the results of which was released earlier this week. That’s a lot more A’s than I ever got. His mother, my sister Kak Teh, was over the moon. His father is as cool as ever, as if these things happen every week to him.
His name is Ashraff but everyone calls him Farouk. It’s one of those things in Malay culture when someone is sick when he or she was a baby, they’d call him or her by another name. And more often than not, these names stuck. I have another name too but it didn’t stick. And I’m not telling. Sometimes some of his friends would come over and ask for Ashraff and it will take a few seconds before it would register on us that they are looking for Farouk. I guessed the tactic worked. Most children get better when their names were changed. I know I did. My mother was tired of me going pale, eyes going white, the works. His sister, Nadia, when she was a lot younger called him Abang Og. Thank goodness that name did not stick. Sometimes some people calls him Luke. I’d go straight to calling him Young Skywalker sometimes.
He’s one bright kid. He sometimes studies like his mother – sitting at the dining table in front of the TV, with the books in front of him. Read, write a bit, watch TV. Read, write a bit, watch TV. Do that over and over till whatever he is watching is over. That was how my sister used to study. If I were to do that, I’d be a dead duck. Next time when I see him and for the following few weeks, I’ll call him Si Budak Pandai. Ha ha….. When my grandmother forgot Lina’s name, she called her Si Budak Kaya, for Lina was wearing a gold bracelet, or maybe two bracelets, at that time.
“Aaamiiiiinnnnn…..Masinlah mulut nenek…..”, she’d say.
People says that he looks a lot like me. I have a portrait of myself, taken when I was 9 years old at the Lido photo studio in Kelang and I must say that he does look like me then, only better looking. No, make that a lot better looking for he’s one good looking kid. Which says that I’m good looking too huh? Hah!!! You so vain lorr, Dudae….
He wanted to be a pharmacist at one time. Then it was a mechanical engineer. I don’t know what the latest ambition is but I think he could be whatever he wants to be. Uh, except a lanun please, not a lanun. That’s a pirate, to you landlubbers.
I’ll never know what it feels like to get 11 A’s in an exam. Ah well, as things goes, each time any of my nephews or nieces do well in their exams, it’s payback time. Darn, these kids are costing me a fortune……
I need a new drug.
.
My nephew got something like 11 A’s in his SPM, the results of which was released earlier this week. That’s a lot more A’s than I ever got. His mother, my sister Kak Teh, was over the moon. His father is as cool as ever, as if these things happen every week to him.
His name is Ashraff but everyone calls him Farouk. It’s one of those things in Malay culture when someone is sick when he or she was a baby, they’d call him or her by another name. And more often than not, these names stuck. I have another name too but it didn’t stick. And I’m not telling. Sometimes some of his friends would come over and ask for Ashraff and it will take a few seconds before it would register on us that they are looking for Farouk. I guessed the tactic worked. Most children get better when their names were changed. I know I did. My mother was tired of me going pale, eyes going white, the works. His sister, Nadia, when she was a lot younger called him Abang Og. Thank goodness that name did not stick. Sometimes some people calls him Luke. I’d go straight to calling him Young Skywalker sometimes.
He’s one bright kid. He sometimes studies like his mother – sitting at the dining table in front of the TV, with the books in front of him. Read, write a bit, watch TV. Read, write a bit, watch TV. Do that over and over till whatever he is watching is over. That was how my sister used to study. If I were to do that, I’d be a dead duck. Next time when I see him and for the following few weeks, I’ll call him Si Budak Pandai. Ha ha….. When my grandmother forgot Lina’s name, she called her Si Budak Kaya, for Lina was wearing a gold bracelet, or maybe two bracelets, at that time.
“Aaamiiiiinnnnn…..Masinlah mulut nenek…..”, she’d say.
People says that he looks a lot like me. I have a portrait of myself, taken when I was 9 years old at the Lido photo studio in Kelang and I must say that he does look like me then, only better looking. No, make that a lot better looking for he’s one good looking kid. Which says that I’m good looking too huh? Hah!!! You so vain lorr, Dudae….
He wanted to be a pharmacist at one time. Then it was a mechanical engineer. I don’t know what the latest ambition is but I think he could be whatever he wants to be. Uh, except a lanun please, not a lanun. That’s a pirate, to you landlubbers.
I’ll never know what it feels like to get 11 A’s in an exam. Ah well, as things goes, each time any of my nephews or nieces do well in their exams, it’s payback time. Darn, these kids are costing me a fortune……
I need a new drug.
.
posted by dudae_simboyo at 12:37
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