No.2 Son's congratulatory sms on Father's Day reminded me about it. In fact I received another one from Jack Harper, and I wish him the same thing, being a father himself. But there's silence from the other three. But it's ok. I've never celebrated this thing, anyway.
I remember a "hadis" which says "the duty of a father is give his offspring a good name, educate him/her, and marry him/her off." It's for this hadis I chose my children's names carefully, spent a lot of money on their studies, and provided for their marriages.
Since my own name starts with the last letter of the alphabet, I was determined to pick names with "A", the first letter. So we have Azat, Ashraf, Ahmad and Amalina. That "Ahmad" was because of another "hadis" which says "if you have three boys, name one of them after the Prophet."
I remember in school, it was in Std. 6 and the teacher was Mr. D'Cruz, and he read out the results of a class test. He'd finished reading out the names and the scores, but there was no me. I raised my hand and asked "what about me, sir ?" Mr. D'Cruz looked at his list and couldn't find my name. Then he turned over the paper, and there was my name, the only one on that page. And I think I beat everyone, except Peter Kam Chin Aik, the dental surgeon's son.
And through life, when it came to lists, I always end up last. Even on my university graduation day. So "A" it was for the kids, and they're always on top of their own lists. But not necessarily on top of the class ha ha !
No.2 Son did one better than me. He has given all his four boys the names Arshad Ashraf, Amer Ashraf, Azim Ashraf and Arish Ashraf. So they're all "AA" ! But we call the last one with the "gigi ngongak" simply "Aya".
I sent No.1 Son to Hawaii-Pacific University. No.2 Son went to Charls Sturt University in Sydney. No.3 Son went to UiTM and later obtained his Chartered Accountancy from Glasgow. Dekna also went to UiTM, and got a double-degree in Law, with a First Class Honours to boot. So I think I'm all right on the education-provision for the kids.
They all picked their own life partners. I set up their marriage ceremonies - three at the Seremban town hall, and one at the Dewan Merak Kayangan Felda in KL. They were not extravagant, to be sure, but they were not to be ashamed of either. But the guests contributed enough to cover the catering costs in all of them. So, again, I think I'm all right on the marriage obligation of the hadis.
Dato' Sulaiman says I married late. That's why my eldest grandchildren are only in Form 3, when he says he has three already in the university. But that's understandable. I graduated at 23, worked for 4 years and then got married. He was an H.A. at Seremban Hospital and naturally married a nurse there (who else) in his early 20's before embarking on his successful legal career.
My 11 grandchildren seem living a good life. In all cases, both parents are gainfully employed. My wife stopped work after marrying me. Now my silent prayers are for their good health and good fortune in life.
In the meantime, after the sms, I replied with a dollar sign and a question mark. No.2 Son's answer was a dollar sign with wings. "Flown"!
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