MISCHA OF SM-A LOVER FROM THE BEGINNING TILL THE END

Papa was, on his way, back to Kuala Lumpur after a hectic two days in Muar, having completed his mandatory sawit run whence his hand phone, of which, had been quite silent since early morning, rang amidst the perpetual drone emanating from the diesel engine of his near decade old twin cab four- wheel pick-up. The, two boys, were fast asleep, rocked by the gentle swaying, resulting from the truck’s harsh suspension, loyally getting about, doing its job. The missus too nodded off, exhausted after literally running around tending to the boys, the reason papa’s sister would always tag along should the kids be included into any overnight outstation trips. However being nearly three score years of age the little monkeys, would: without fail- outrun her. At times, papa does wonder, at, his quite ‘unique’ situation of being bestowed two little boys, nearing the mid century point in his life. Not that the missus is young but contrarily so: only a few years younger but no one can really turned down such wonderful gifts from The Almighty, can’t one, particularly after being childless for that long while. They were clearly Godsend and papa and the wife would not want anything else.
Papa took the call, it was The Prince Guy inquiring, whether, papa was going to arrive that late afternoon or later on in the evening. Since the time was only about 2.30pm the likelihood of papa, being back before 4pm is quite probably than most. Papa answered exactly that whence the prince related unkel’s wishes of going for karaoke later in the night and the venue chosen was Seri Mutiara or SM for short. Papa answered by saying that he could not be sure as he could be too tired to go out so soon after the weekend’s sawit excursion but he will somehow try. The Prince, in turn, conveyed unkel’s insistence on having papa along as the outing would not be the same without him. Papa said conditional upon the missus approval as she might that bit concerned about him being too exhausted after the long trip. The Prince understood but still hoping that papa could make it.
And: so it was papa standing in the private car park situated behind the building housing The Dangdut Club and Karaoke Lounge Seri Mutiara having parked his Proton Iswara there. The three, ringgit fee paid was worth the convenience offered along with the absence of niggling doubts, should, the car, be parked at any of the free spaces abundant in the area. Not ten meters away he could see two chaps he was very familiar with, one had a visibly protruding paunch in his person and the other a not so tall bloke with a discernibly much spirited kind of stride whilst walking. Reaching not three meters in front of papa the fellows turned out to be Unkel and The Prince.
Without wasting any more time the three friends proceeded straight to the club making their way to the back entrance of the dangdut joint. As the singing hall is on the second floor, unkel took his time climbing the stairs. He has to take a breather especially after every flight due to sometimes, acute breathlessness he experienced particularly after partaking in some form of near strenuous exertions, on the whole, this past year or year and a half. He still has not complied with Doc Yunus advice of going for an Angiogram the soonest possible in order to get rid of any doubts and remedial treatment should the ailment, if any, be treatable during the process. Entreating papa and prince to continue ahead of him, unkel maintained his one flight of stairs distance from the two compatriots.
It was, when papa, passes the first floor housing the dancing segment of the club that he noticed a sexily clad girl entering the back door to the hall. She was wearing a kind of see through dress, red in color with her underclothes partly albeit teasingly visible. Her attire looked lacelike in material but her undergarments, was obviously not of the military kind. In turn, they greatly enhanced her entire outlook, together, with, the subtle wiggling of her hips: she was HOT. Realizing that unkel would have loved her company for the evening papa asked The Prince to wait up for unkel whilst he inquired about the girl. Her name was Vivian but she was already reserved for the entire evening or that was what Mummy Ani related to papa. Disheartened papa joined unkel and The Prince along the corridor prior to the next flight of stars reaching the second, singing hall floor, of the club.
Upon making their way up to the karaoke rooms Vivian was directly behind unkel obviously going the same way also, papa was quite surprised since they did not book her as she was already called for. Noticing the perplexed looks on the three friends’ faces, she conveyed to unkel that her customers, her regulars preferred to sing for that evening. The reason they arranged for the biggest room there was, in the night- spot. She continued by entreating unkel to come again the following evening and would gladly informed the mummy should unkel be able to confirm immediately as that moment. Unkel was not able to, the reason she gave her numbers to him asking unkel to call her latest before 9 pm the next day if he feels like having her company for his next albeit much soon after, bout of singing at SM’s karaoke hall. One strange thing that papa noticed was the fact that Vivian only talked to unkel throughout the entire happenstance conversation. Her eyes, was noticeably fixed on him only, with hardly, a glance, aimed towards, his two buddies, despite the prince’s near frantic endeavors albeit unasked suggesting to the girl that papa’s person being the boss among the three and the underwriter for that particular nocturnal outing. Howsoever his unrelenting efforts did not even incur the batting of an eyelid from her. His repetitive mouthing of the word ‘Dato’ alongside papa’s name the numerous times whilst relentlessly interjecting into Vivian and unkel’s much animated parleying somehow struck the rather comical note deep inside papa. Little: the prince realized the salient fact that papa, could only, be regarded, by the dangdut fraternity as one of a number of dangdut elders and nothing more beyond that. A dangdut dinosaur that did not serve any purpose apart from becoming: flower pots, ornamenting any or another dangdut joints. Should he, in any, fantastical way, be awarded, a title, the dangdut grapevines would come to know about it much earlier on. Furthermore, a genuine Dato would arrive at the club in an entourage comprising of his faithful aide, personal bodyguards and sometimes even a court jester will be in tow. The girls mingling would be the best looking and the most desirable. Not in all circumstances would be three goons with one pretending to be a notable. Somehow, the prince could sometimes be so obstinate but good naturedly- that being so. Maybe in his peculiarly blamelessness way he just wanted to imbibe that little bit of respect into the grouping but spuriously quite of course.
Coming back to Vivian how: was it that she was able to sense the little bit correctly that unkel was the one with the aphoristic fat wallet and inside it would in all likelihood be the few K, ringgit wise, neatly arranged. Howsoever the quaint albeit relatively strong aroma of new notes, could, motivate Vivian, utilizing her acute sense of smell, to somewhat, detect the cash. The adage that some people could smell money, as, yet poignantly: must, only be taken, in its literal sense. Then again, moneyed individuals, can, be, said, to have in them that certain gait, that at most times, betray their incongruously- modest dispositions. Vivian in all probabilities, being a seasoned player, must also have that keen insight to read the obvious anomalies especially among the patrons visiting the club.
The karaoke room accorded to the three compatriots had an unmitigated- flaw, the air conditioner was not functioning. Papa and the receptionist-a youngish bollywood bombshell look alike tried each and every one of the multi Japanese, Korean even English sounding names associated with the remote controls units she had with her, undertaking to jumpstart the unremitting air conditioner in the room. It was to no avail their near vigorous efforts attempting to work the electrical item. So then how: it came to be the three goons being ushered to the next available room, one mystically named after the constellations- the Cancer chamber. Unkel was the bit perturbed thinking that it could be a little portentous but the insuppressible prince dismissed it all together by saying “No Lah”. Papa asked the bollywood bombshell to call for mummy Shima saying abang zul gagap requested for her, but not before the aspiring starlet prepared the karaoke machine ready for singing. It was a good ten minutes wait before Shima entered the room and papa was just starting to croon over the song ‘Beautiful Maria’. Strangely, he could not reach the- key, it was too high, to the extent of, his throat; becoming stuck, resulting in him deciding to have a closer look at the amplifier control. Small wonder the key button was set at three steps up, that was the reason the good prince shrieked like an excited schoolgirl whence singing the song ‘jujur’ an original Indonesian number by the rock group ‘Radja’ and prince’s favorite. Unkel asked Shima to choose whomever she finds suitable for the grouping since, he and his friends, can, be, said to be a dry group- they do not drink. Knowingly, she said, she already, had someone, in mind. The short while later: entered Mischa into The Cancer room, to be, introduced to, the three chums. She was a bit tall slender and quite fair in complexion. Also- kind of, mature, maybe in her early forties even though she said she was thirty- five when inquired by unkel half way through the sing along session. Only unkel could do that could not he, breaking the biggest taboo of all- by asking a woman her age.
Unkel’s favorite number came- up, it was one of Jamal Abdillah’s signature song, one called ‘Kekasih Awal Dan Akhir’ or A Lover From The Beginning Till The End in English. The word lover may not be appropriate if taken into context, as it may carry some other connotations, a sex partner or even a kept- person( one has to be politically correct considering the global trend nowadays- tsk tsk ) among others. A love Interest should be the better meaning but for the sake of this post’s title, papa took the liberty of adding a sort of sinister perspective to the heading. Papa and the prince would not give justice to this song, as their voices do not really suit its feel rather than unkel being the more suiting interpreter, the fact being he does sound like Jamal.
However, Unkel as usual would not finish the whole song, passing, the microphone among his friends after only, singing a line or two. The prince kept on passing the microphone to papa and in turn papa to him that an irksome, Mischa, grabbed the thingamajig from them. Lo and behold, she belted the song like a pro only would, making a mouth agape unkel all, the, more encouraged that he fisted the other mike to his lips and wholeheartedly joined Mischa singing the unrestrainable number. They complemented each other, especially by each singing a line after the other and simultaneously when reaching the chorus part. Truly magical and the little bit romantic if one may say so. Both the prince and papa clapped, till their palms hurt when the song reached its ultimate segment First time saw unkel sang that commendably and what can papa say to Mischa except Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!.
It turned out that Mischa was a hotel lobby circuit singer during her other life but stopped short when she found it the bit untenable selling her face- as she would called it- each and every night. However, the folks in KK would have remembered her, say late eighties, perhaps, as she must have been that memorable of a singer. Coupled with her quaintly East Malaysian accent and her- quite, immaculate- pronunciation of English words, all songs, after that, chosen mostly, by unkel, was, attacked, by her, with much gusto and feel.
The prince and papa were also immensely joyful singing the various evergreen duets that Mischa picked from the list of songs in the computer. As the system, too, was quite wonderful, the much newer songs that the prince, would normally include, during previous sessions were not even considered, for this particular one.
Boy, can Mischa, also dance, she tackled, the, four- step, formula, ever so fluidly, after papa only had shown her the few basic movements. The slow numbers too were not thrown too waste as both the prince and papa would take it in turns dancing with Mischa every time they turned up. Howsoever the reticent unkel would always refuse any invitations to move to the sentimental numbers.
It was during a short lull and the rest were of the gang were busy talking that papa tried to highlight if any Ahmad Jais Songs in the system. They were plenty but papa could not remember the titles so he chose the one he thought he recalled best, the song: Halimun Malam. When attempting the number, papa, was stuck, at the melody so he switched on the MTV mode, it turned out, to, really be, that soulful and heartfelt. No wonder The Good Don Diego is a loyal fan of this particular Malayan singer.
The bollywood, starlet, made her entrance as expected nearing the most exciting part of the evening, a killjoy if one, may be, allowed to, quip, having with her the cost of damages to settle for the night. Unkel: being, prepared, beforehand, slipped a couple of notes into papa’s front top pocket not five minutes before she arrived. Papa handed the cash to her whist unkel just sat nonchalantly, his eyes fixed on the TV screen. Unkel has this strange thing of not being seen the one paying for everything but do not mind really as we all had a fabulous time. When inquired if the little grouping would like to continue dancing downstairs as the karaoke hall would be closing one hour before the dancing floor, unkel said no.
Well, yet another memorable evening but this time quite the best there was. Cheers unkel .Thanks for everything mate, should you want to visit SM again, just holler, for sure papa will come running and The Good Prince too- undeniably so. We would love to go sing with Mischa one more time. Yahoo!.