I was driving home from my tuition class in Bagan Serai, singing on the top of my voice along with the songs on the radio (somehow, yesterday was full of my favourite songs) when something Aldeena said (don't ask me what she said, I've suddenly developed a severe forgetfulness and can't even remember what happened yesterday) reminded me of my 'cousin' and what they used to call me so lets talk about nicknames :-)
I guess all of us have nicknames and those names aren't always pleasant ones. My 'cousins' are called Toroque and Korn/Pak Lan, very much different from their actual names and there are always stories behind them though I won't tell it here haha.. My brother Iwan has this circle of friends who call him Ewok and I have a friend whom I'll always love to call Sentot (sorry, Bai!)
I don't really have nicknames. I've always been known as Ayu to everyone.. or in some cases, Kak Yong! However, I do have names my friends used to call me, just for the childish satisfaction in teasing everyone.
The most obvious one would be 'IKAN YU'. Everyone with the name Ayu would get this pet name from their friends. I was called this during my primary school years by this group of friend who loved to 'sakat' everyone, even Soraya wasn't spared and they called her 'Hantu Raya'(Hehe.. remember, Soraya! Adam, Alfy, Iswadi and the gang). Gradually, 'Ikan Yu' graduated to 'Jerung' and continued on to 'JAWS'.
I was never really offended with the name because I knew they just loved to tease, I mean, I mostly went into crybaby mode when they teased me with other people haha.. but sometimes, I'd get irritated when they go a bit far and draw this shark wearing tudung on the blackboard or jumble up the nickname with another boys nickname and writing it all over my books. My simple solution to it was to take the thickest book ever, usually Maths or Alam dan Manusia and slam the book on their heads. Heheh.. yup! I hurt them physically when I'm mad, it'll be no wonder if they just get crazier and crazier. Come to think of it, I feel ashamed now doing that JUST because they teased me but back then, I couldn't think of anything else.
In standard 6, Suri and Azwati suddenly developed this urge to give family names to everyone.. I mean, like Mama, Papa, Pak Long and all that. The few names I remember is Papa for Jalis, Mama for Jesreen, Baby Dome' and Baby anje for Suri and Azwati, Mummy Kalut for Nurul, Pak Ude for Azral, Mamak Nizam for Nizam, Pak Long for Faisal (I think).. I myself was called Mak Su though I still wonder why, since I'm the eldest in my family and I'm still one of the eldest in the class, being born in the earlier part of the year.
Another name I got, which still baffles me till now, (I mean helllooo, I'm wearing tudung remember) is one given to me by this boy in my class, Hairil Ikram or something. He used to call me Wonderwoman and that always made me mad because I hated the sexy superhero's choice of garments and I was paranoid that he'd imagine me like that! I mean, I don't even dress like that, I was always in baju kurung during that awkward time (when I realized I was a lady hehe..) so it was a huge insult to me.
In secondary school, I didn't really have any nicknames anymore besides when once or twice someone would call me a book worm coz I always had my nose buried into a book (not academic books, mind you! I wasn't the studious type but when it comes to fictions, my attitude ws like,"Bring it on!")
Hey! Wait a minute.. I remember people calling me Clown, not because I'm funny (which I know I'm not.. much more clumsy than funny!) but because I was always sneezing nonstop every morning, making my nose red EVERY SINGLE DAY. This also leads to the nickname Kilang Tissue where, in order to prepare myself for my sneezing fits every morning, I always had at least 2 packs of tissues in my pocket, and another 3 packs in my school bag. Everyone knew where to ask for a tissue when I was around.
I also remember another name in form 4 or 5. Ayu Calculator! During my upper secondary, Cikgu Nooriah succeeded in opening my eyes to the wonder of numbers that I always had my pocket calculator in my, well, pocket! Even Cikgu Pah knew she could always find a simple calculator when I was around. Its still my most favourite calculator since everyone including my teachers recognized my calculator so I had no worries of it being lost.
During my matrics aka the dark ages hahah.. I wasn't really comfortable during the 9-month matriculation. Nope, I wasn't an outcast, I was just.. still trying to know myself I guess. I was too shy in classs and only my immediate classmates knew me. But it was different in my dorm. I loved my friends in the dorm! One girl particularly loved to play with my long hair. She couldn't get enough of plaiting it and doing all sorts of things. (Btw, I just remembered another nickname --> Tali Ferry, given by someone who also made my hair as her toy since my hair was so thick, it looked like a rope, once it was plaited). Her name is Syida and she gave me the nickname Tomato. This was particularly cause I was prone to blushing. Sometime, they purposedly teased me so I'd blush. I mean, the slightest thing could make me blush furiously and though now I've learned to control it, I wasn't really good in hiding my blushes then.. sangat malu la kalau cepat sangat blush! And I'm not even THAT fair to blush so much. Even when laughing, blood would just rush up to my face, making me as red a beetroot, or in Syida's case.. as a tomato!
When I entered USM, I thought I was rid of all the nicknames and would be just plain, Ayu. I was wrong! My 'cousins' whom I just got to know during the inter-year holidays in my first year suddenly came up with a new nickname for me.. *sigh* and I thought I was done with nicknames.
Apparently, we had so much 'fun' doing the project I did during the holidays that they told all their friends about me. Some of them already knew me in our Cross-Water elite group but there were a few whom I didn't know. One of them was this guy whom I don't remember his name except that he was called Tok something, I guess.. ape eh nickname budak ni? Anyway, this guy commented on me being a bit 'bulat' thus, the nickname created! Okay! Okay! I admit, I DID gain a bit weight during the holidays but I wasn't THAT chubby. In fact, now I'm way chubbier than then but lets just ay, this guy memang very 'slim ' pun so no wonder he saw me as 'bulat' during that time.
My 'cousins' were calling me Hantu Gigi during that time due to As's story about me always biting her, Yokies even displayed 'Hantu gigi' at EE's pameran statik during konvo that year when he was showing me how to use the software but after that, there was no stopping the name Bulat! I always tell them that its their fault I gained so much weight last year. Ye ah, panggil orang 'bulat' je memanjang. Kalau sehari panggil 10 kali, setahun berapa kali dah? Tu baru sorang, kalau 4-5 orang lagi.. uwaaaaaaa!!!
During my final years, I received more nickname, mainly concerning my height --> Pendek and Kenit and Ketot and Tak cukup tinggi bla.. bla.. bla..
But my most recent nickname was given to me by my friend 2 years ago. I can't remember the reason, maybe because I was always climbing my desk to reach my books, he called me Spidergirl @ Spiderwoman where, I in turn used to call him the Invisible Man since he was nearly always invisible in YM.. and yes Baizurah, I'm talking about my invisible best friend!
By the time I reached home, I was smiling. Reminiscing all those memories and all those names. Reliving all those happy times.
Truth is, today I miss all those friends. I miss being called all those names and Baizurah, not just by my invisible best friend, but by all my friends who've helped to shape the 'me' everyone sees now! What I'd give just to hear someone call me 'Bulat' again..
Memories..
*sigh*
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