I am Shai. How do you do?

It's weird. Really.

I don't know if the name Nurul Syahida is so difficult to remember but I guess I have been facing this issue from the day that I can spell my name. It seems that people can't really remember my name or even spell it correctly. And I thought becoming a writer will finally give my name justice of some sort, but I end up seeing my name being spelled in so many weird ways, like,

"Penulis Nurul Syuhada ini merupakan..."
"Karya ini ditulis oleh Nurul Shahida..."
"Aku suka baca tulisan Nursyahida ini..."
"Buku ni dari penerbit Media Prima dan ditulis oleh Nurul Syuhaida..." (<- this is the worst, cuz I don't think my publisher is too happy to be mistaken for TV3.)

I have no qualms about it anywhooo, since I have been facing that all the time. My teachers from standard one to form 5 kept calling me the wrong names - my BM teacher called me Syuhaida, another called me Rashidah, and my KH teacher called me Syahira... and you think being the female noun for martyrs (syahid-a), one would actually say the right word, but nnnnnno. (I just left some part because some of my lecturers and teachers nicknamed me so they can remember me better... like Shushu - which actually means Pakcik in mandarin, or Paprik - by my love for Leonardo diCaprio... dont ask!, or Juhi - the Hindi actress that my teacher loves so much, or LRT - by the speed of my speech, or 2532 - Rahman Tang seemed to think it is easier to call me by my matric number like I'm some kind of a prisoner on death row.)

The funniest thing about my name is that even a guy in my school got it wrong. He was trying to hit on another girl, whose name is Nur Shahida (a.k.a. Ida), and instead he got my phone number. It was an odd phone conversation because I seriously do not understand what he's babbling about (you know high school guys and their long long stupid conversation starter like, "What are you doing?", "Is your father home?" to which I went, "Yes, he is. Wanna talk to him?" and he was so scared by that question, I seriously wanted to actually go to his house and see his expression), and it kinda pisses me off.  But luckily he just got the wrong girl, because THAT just turned it from annoying to funny.

And now you're an adult, you thought people would remember your name, or at least knew how to spell it correctly. Nope. I think it will stay like that forever. I will forever be known as Nur Sahidah, Nur Shahida, Nurul Syuhaida, Nurul Syuhada, Siti Syahida, Nor Syahidah, Nurul Shuhaidah, Nurul Rashidah, Nur Syahirah and whatever it is they're gonna think of... Well, as long as there is the word 'novelist' behind it, I don't think I would mind anymore.

Just call me Shai.

If I have a kid, Imma do an A. Samad Said on them. Sita Subuh, or Siti Senja, or just plain AZ ("I wanted to name my boy from the letter A to Z, so I just named him Az," he said). That old man is a literary genius.