Names...

Luqman and NAMI (K.D'sdaughter)

My dear friend who endearingly calls me abang arief, tagged me to write about names of my children. Be warned, this can turn into a long entry - afterall, I have six beautiful and special children. *smiling*

I learnt from my late mom that I was named after the local 'Tok Ggawo' or simply translated as the district officer. I actually like my name, and it has a special meaning too - Arif means 'Wise'. And I grew up as an admirer of the Tok Ggawo and was determined to make my mom proud by being as clever and as successful as he was. Later in life, he was a well liked politician, elected as a state representative for many terms over. He died with many legacies related to his kindness and compassion for the poor. I count my blessings for when it was time for me to find a life partner - I could not have met a girl with a more beautiful name. For more than two decades, I have been married to a wife whose name took after the Prophet's (pbuh) wife.

I live to carry a name with a high hope from my dearest mom. In her life time she always reminded me to look after the good name of the family and more importantly my own. So when it was my turn to anticipate the birth of our first child - Along - both LiL and I thought long and hard and did a little research. Finally we settled for a name which carry the meaning of ' A fair and capable leader '. Being the first, and as if our paternal & maternal instinct were telling us there will be many to follow - we wanted our first child to be capable of setting good examples to his siblings, and later to his peers at school and at work.

When Zeti followed, we endearingly called her Angah. But her full name means 'One who possess grace and beauty'. We didn't know then that she were to be our only daughter. And the name has an even more significant meaning now, twenty years later - for she has definitely grown to be full of grace, and her beauty is from the deepest corner of her heart.

Our third is named to be a winner in life for his name means a 'warrior', prefixed with an Ahmad which really means "Yang terpuji". He has proven to be everything his name suggests. Indeed a very polite and cheerful person, at the same time has been very independent and successful in his studies. A very balanced individual who is able to look at glass as half full!

To follow was Amirul Fikri - 'The thingking Prince'. Amirul, an Aquarius is very 'left brained' and a genius in Mathematics and numbers. He has consistently done very well in school and has always been in top three. He is an ardent reader - has read all of Harry Potter series and all of Dan Brown's. Not a day spent when he does not exercise his mind with either Mathematics questions, riddles, puzzles or simply reading.

Then came number five - a boy born at noon and announced his arrival with a vocal of an opera singer. He is a Leo, born to be a leader. His name Mohammed Haziq means 'Yang Bijak' and with the Prophet's name to remind him of Taqwa and Iman.Haziq is energy and vitality! He is very sociable and well liked by his friends of diversed nationality here in Jeddah. If we do move - his farewell will be the saddest.

Luqman Hakim - the jewel in the crown. The last child. The anak bongsu. LiL was pregnant with Luqman when we moved from KL to JB to enable me to work in Singapore and for her to continue working for her employer. We listed many names....including a few girl names. We did not want to know the gender of the baby in LiL's tummy until the day of birth, and Angah has been praying for a litle baby sister. Sofia Afiqah was the favourite name if she was a girl and we settled for Luqman Hakim if he was a boy. No real or special meaning, but the name sounded right.
'Luqman Hakim' of course appeared in Islam history as a wise man. We have little doubt that Luqman will one day lead his life as responsibly and wisely as well.

Six children - each one so special in their own way. A joy is to have them in line behind me in prayer, and to have them saying 'ameeeen' in unison to my doa. In this life, they are my reasons for joy. When one day I am gone.....their visit to my grave and their doa - will keep me smiling in Heaven. LiL and I could not have been luckier to have them all

dialogue # 1.

Me calling from a hotel room in London : "Luqman nak apa-apa ka ayah boleh belikan"

Luqman - from his bed before sleep time : "Luqman nak ayah to kiss me goodnite".

dialogue #2

Luqman whispered to LiL who was having an afternoon nap next to me, today:

"Suddenly I'm hungry...I dont want to disturb ur sleep with ayah...but i am hungry and i know u dont want me to be hungry kan mak..."

I was so tickled, smiled and reached for him. Needless to say, LiL got up to make himsome sandwich.

The above two dialogues reassured me that we have chosen his name very well indeed!

ps: I am not tagging anyone in particular. However invitations are extended to the many wonderful moms who read my blog to write about their children's names.....

I got my 'Fantasia' in Casablanca .....

I came to Casablanca with anticipation trepidation of dark-haired women with dreamy eyes and moist red lips knocking on my hotel door with their black magic wands charming me into forgetting my lovely wife and fall head over heel in love with them instead. Afterall, such was the reputation. And such was also the conviction in LiL's mind that long before I traveled she already hinted about coming along. An Arab friend's wife with whom we had dinner on the night of my departure did not help the situation when she repeatedly told stories about Arab males who have second, third and fourth wives in Morocco.I played it all down, but quietly was quite excited about the adventure to Casablanca for the first time.

The first night I arrived, I went to bed early due to an early meeting the next day. I was awoken by persistent ringing of the room telephone. I picked it up, and was surprised by the giggling of more than one female voice on the end.

"Hello...." Said I. My eyes widened, and my watched showed time to be half past one.

"Ouiii..." Replied one of the voices, giggling.

"Hello..." I straightened up in my bed.

"*%$3%&& more french word sepatah haram aku tak faham @&*%"

I hanged up the phone. Then it rang again.

I picked up and said, "Call room 917 please" I was being mischievious giving the room number of one of my colleagues, a recently divorced man of mid forty.

Then I left the phone receiver off the hook and drifted back to sleep - with a smile on my face.

Next morning at breakfast, my friend was complaining about phone calls from *according to him* some crazy girls. I asked what did they want?

"Some damn children were left alone in their room by their parents who went partying and were playing the fool - they wanted to teach me speaking French, the blarddyyy fools. It was well past 2am" He said seemingly very annoyed. I chuckled and had to swallow my laughter - and quickly excused myself to go to the buffet table.

The next two days I was kept busy with meeting schedules and official dinner. However, I kept my eyes and ears attuned to my surrounding - waiting for a dark-haired woman with dreamy eyes and moist red lips to appear with her black magic wand to charm me. Every woman I met was scrutinized by my suspicious eyes well hidden behind my dark glasses. A few actually fit the description except that they didn't even hint about being friendly enough to encourage as much as a "Hai I am from Malaysia, and here to be charmed by a Moroccon Woman" greeting from me.

On my way back from work today, I asked my colleagues from the office to take me to an Arts gallery. One of my hobbies is buying paintings from famous local artists in new cities I travel to. I was not dissappointed. There in the first gallery we walked into were many beautiful work of arts. I fell in love with one of them the moment I set my eyes on it - love at first sight in this case can be costly. After some flirting haggling for price with the owner of the gallery, cash and the "Fantasia" exchanged hands.

Posing with Safiya the gallery owner and the Fantasia painting I purchased.

Picture with Mr J and Ms A, both are colleagues from my Casablanca Office

Three nights in Morocco, not a single knock on my door!