"TAYLOR Swift or Shakespeare? Oooo, I'd rather be Shakespeare!" exclaims the short-haired, bespectacled girl seated in front of me, before breaking into a hearty chuckle that ends up permeating the cosy study we're in.
Mirth lacing her voice, Selinaah Muralitharan, who recently celebrated her entry into the Asia Book of Records for composing the "Longest Love Poem (English)", continues: "I don't want to write and tell the world about my love life! I mean, tell me who doesn't know about Taylor Swift's love life? I'd rather be like Shakespeare — a big mystery!"
The 21-year-old's animated response is in reaction to my inference that there are many similarities between her and the hugely successful American singer-songwriter whose narrative song-writing often centres around her personal life.
"I write poems to release stress, or when I'm sad or angry. It's my way of releasing or regulating my feelings…." Selinaah's earlier confession rings in my ear and I remind her so, before adding mischievously that just like Swift, her claim to fame has also come at the back of an "outpouring of love", in the form of her record-breaking love poetry, My Soulmate — all 115-stanzas-and-2,641-words of it!
Peals of laughter ensue again as Selinaah, a former national badminton player, concedes good-naturedly to my ribbing before swiftly pointing out that her "winning" poem, which she began penning in November 2018 and completed in January last year, has nothing to do with jilted love or suchlike. It's actually inspired by a "special" friend.
"How special?" I tease and Selinaah looks bashful. "It's a special friend lah," she reiterates, before elaborating that she's known this person since she was 15. "It's my perception of this person and also about how I feel about this person."
The constant use of "this person" to describe the subject baffles me. "It's a 'he' or 'she'?" I probe. "I like to leave that ambiguous; let the reader decide. It's not important anyway," replies Selinaah somewhat mysteriously, her eyes dancing under her glasses.
"Do you know Shakespeare does that a lot?" she adds, almost as an afterthought. I shake my head in bewilderment. "Leave his characters ambiguous, I mean," continues Selinaah, elaborating: "Sometimes you can't tell whether he's writing about a man or a woman by the way he's describing them."
Suffice it to say, this aspiring young poet and a second-year medical student at Malaysian Allied Health Sciences Academy University (MAHSA University), is a fan of the "Bard of Avon". "I like to read Shakespeare's sonnets in my free time but I haven't managed to read them all. I think I've done about 15 so far," confesses Selinaah, pride lacing her voice.
Shakespeare, or William Shakespeare, the famous English playwright, poet and actor wrote 154 sonnets (poems) published in his "quarto" in 1609, covering themes such as the passing of time, mortality, love, beauty, infidelity and jealousy.
Enjoying the sudden change in topic, Selinaah, who cites the Scottish novelist, poet and travel writer, Robert Louis Stevenson as her "other" idol, elaborates: "If you read Shakespeare's sonnets, you'd notice that he used simple words to explain complicated situations. That realisation inspired me. I also want to do the same thing. I want to be able to take a complicated feeling and put it in simple words."
A pause follows as Selinaah allows for her words to sink in. Just beyond the closed door of her study (draped with a rather fetching banner featuring the emblem of Slytherin, one of the four houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from Harry Potter), I can just about make out the sound of a distant bustle; presumably her parents pottering around in the living room.
"You know, I never attended writing classes or read much poetry books before I started on my poetry-writing journey," Selinaah says matter-of-factly, adding: "I just wrote because I wanted to write and I was good at making things rhyme, even from early on."
Sheepishly, she confides that she has always loved to pen words — of the romantic kind — from young. "You can ask my mum, my grandma, or my friends," says Selinaah, adding that every Mother's Day or birthday, she'd always write a card. "You give me a few words and I can create a rhyme very easily."
Her first poem, The Flawed Ballerina was written back in 2015 when Selinaah was 16. It was inspired by her ballerina friend who'd twisted her ankle and was unable to dance. "She was so sad because she couldn't go for ballet or school, so I thought I'd just write something to make her feel special," recalls Selinaah.
The four-stanza poem was later posted on her Instagram and was very well-received. "Everyone, even my teacher, Puan Renuka, who found out about it expressed their surprise and they all urged me to keep writing. That kind of spurred me too," confides Selinaah, the youngest of three siblings. Her sister, Thinaah, just a year older at 22, is a national badminton player who's still active on the circuit.
Turning excitedly to a stack of notebooks on one side of her table, Selinaah declares: "This is where I keep all my poems!" I pick up one of the notebooks and couldn't help exclaiming over just how methodical she is with her writing. Contained within the pages are neatly written poems of differing lengths — four stanzas, 10 and so on.
"I have so many notebooks with my poems. Sometimes I'd keep them in my handphone or in my PC," confides the young writer excitedly. "I used to write almost every night at one point when I was younger and having so much emotions! Nowadays, it's more spaced out."
OF SOULMATE AND THE STARS
Tell me more about My Soulmate, I request, steering the chat back to her record-breaking poem. I'd recall reading somewhere that she'd completed 40 stanzas in one night when she started writing this piece.
Her face breaks into an eager grin. "Oh, it's a typical love poem, riddled with the usual melange of emotions — happiness, anger, confusion, etc. The whole poem is just a roller coaster ride to be honest," replies Selinaah.
Pressed whether "the person" she wrote about is her ideal "person", the bubbly Klang-ite once again becomes bashful. "The person isn't my crush lah. More like my muse! Yes, that's the word! We're close because we're similar in some ways."
So what are the traits of your ideal guy then, I ask, enjoying the banter. "Ooo, definitely loyalty comes first. I cut people off very fast if I feel they're not loyal to me. I guess that's the Cancerian in me — you know, the crab's claws come out," confides the young medic jovially, before adding: "They also have to be ambitious. If not, they won't be able to vibe with me! Someone who's passionate is also important!"
Realising that she'd veered slightly off-track, Selinaah chuckles before returning to the topic of My Soulmate. "Normally I write about four to five stanzas. That particular poem I'd penned down 10. Then I thought why not I just keep going. So I wrote 20. It so happened I was doing my Foundation for my Semester 3 that time. And of course, I was so stressed. As a form of release, I turned to writing."
As she wrote on through the night, her curiosity was suddenly piqued. She started wondering whether there was a record for the longest English love poem. "I remember rushing to Google to see whether someone had achieved this feat," recalls Selinaah, adding: "There was! And it was a guy from the UK. I think his record was 105 stanzas or something. Somehow, I'd expected more."
The Brit in question, a cyber-security specialist and hopeless romantic, wrote a rhyming poem called Divine Verse, an ode to a woman but "… not for anyone in particular!" Split into four parts, the poem totalled 2413 words.
And THAT spurred her. As far as the youngster was concerned, she could write MORE. Shares Selinaah: "Every week, whenever I was inspired, I'd write about 10 stanzas, and then 12, and soon it was 15. Eventually it slowly increased and before I knew it, I'd reached 100. I got excited at the thought that I could potentially beat the record."
SETTING A RECORD
Having completed her monumental undertaking, Selinaah was determined to see her name in the record books. The Malaysia Book of Records, a Malaysian project to publish records set or broken by Malaysians, entered her radar.
Excitedly, she recounts: "After I'd completed the long poem, I called the Malaysia Book of Records' office to ask if anyone had an entry for writing the longest love poem. They told me that they did — but it was for a syair (a form of traditional Malay poetry made up of four-line stanzas or quatrains). But I wanted to know whether anyone had written an English poem. The reply was 'no'."
However, she was told that if she wanted to submit an entry, she needed to send an appeal for a new record category to be created. "I remember the person telling me that this would be harder than actually just breaking one," recalls Selinaah.
Undeterred, she proceeded to write a very long application. "I wrote pages and pages on why I deserved this title! I told them about my book, what I do, about the guy in the UK… And I called them every week for updates. A few months went by and I finally had the call I'd been waiting for," shares the 21-year-old. "They congratulated me and said I had the record. This was in April 2019."
Upon her friends' urging, she next trained her sights on the Asia Book of Records. But her application, made sometime in February, to be recognised was rejected. The reason? Lack of documentation. Recalls Selinaah: "I was advised to patent the work as it's a record. But the patent process took a while because of the MCO. I had to be patient. But once I got my patent, I reapplied in August for this category. After two months, I received an email confirmation stating that I'd got the record!"
Her next target? The Guinness World Records, formerly known as The Guinness Book of Records, in which world records of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world are listed. "This is my next goal — and my Christmas mission!" exclaims Selinaah determinedly. "I've done my checks. If I want to apply, they'd need to create a new category for me.
Brows furrowing, the eloquent young medic concedes that she doesn't harbour high expectations for this next leg of her record chase. But, as she puts it: "Even with the Asia Book of Records, I wasn't expecting anything. But I just tried because I didn't want to regret anything. For this Guinness World Records, I'm not going to expect anything either but I'll still try. I've nothing to lose. I'm already the Asia record holder!"
JACK OF ALL TRADES
Selinaah was in Form 1 when she got selected into Bukit Jalil Sports School. The previous year, her elder sister received her call-up. At the time, Selinaah was ranked number 2 (as a shuttler). "The school was perfect for athletes who wanted to focus 100 per cent on sports. But I didn't feel it was right for me," confides Selinaah, voice low.
She goes on to add that while she enjoyed the environment and the teachers, she somehow didn't want to sacrifice her high school years to be there. "For my sports-loving sister, it was a no brainer. For me, although I love sports, I didn't feel it was my path," says Selinaah, adding that she actually told her parents that she wanted a more "50-50" life.
"After three months, I informed them I wanted to return to the state team (from where she'd got upgraded to the national team) and return to my convent school — Convent Klang," she remembers. Her engineer-father initially tried to make her stay and asked whether his daughter was certain about her decision.
Shares Selinaah: "He saw me as a full-on athlete. But my mum (a doctor) understood how I felt. Finally, they both came to terms with it." Unsurprisingly, her stint at convent school yielded many sporting successes. In fact, take a wander in the spacious family living room and there's no missing the rows and rows of medals and trophies lining the shelves and cases.
Beaming, Selinaah says proudly: "Usually every sports day I'd get three gold medals — for running, long jump and high jump. I also did well academically. My favourite subject at Form 4 and Form 5 was biology. That's how I knew I wanted to get into the medical field too."
Wryly, the Klang-ite, who already has two books published on Amazon, confides that she needs to have her "medical side" in order to balance out her emotional side. "I think if I were to do journalism and just get so deep into my poetry, I'd be an emotional wreck," she says, chuckling heartily, before confiding: "When I'm studying medicine, it makes me think more practically!"
Her initial plan was to pursue something related to physiotherapy. "I told my mum I wanted to still be in the sports side somehow," remembers Selinaah, adding that she was also interested in coaching kids in badminton. But for that, she didn't need a degree. It would be her "side" thing.
When she informed her mother of her aspiration to be a physiotherapist, Selinaah's mum suggested that she should look into being a sports doctor instead. "That's the reason I'm doing medicine — so I can specialise in sports medicine later. And I love studying it. I study during the day and at night, when the house is silent, I might write. Nowadays, I write one or two poems a week."
Her eyes light up when she tells me just how much she enjoys the process of writing. "I've finally realised that this is me," exclaims Selinaah before adding swiftly: "Then again, during the early days, despite discovering my new love for poetry, I was still active in badminton; I still went for tournaments. I was more of a doubles player for the national junior circuit."
Silence descends as her brows furrow again in reflection. The sudden pause compels me to look intently at this driven Cancerian in my attempts to decipher what she might be grappling with in her mind.
Eventually, Selinaah muses: "I'm not about to let any of my talents go to waste. For example, my badminton, which my father was so instrumental in. He sacrificed his time to ensure that I'd excel. And it's taken years for me to be good at my sport. That's why I made the decision to coach badminton to the kids. In fact, I was supposed to start coaching schools but then the MCO came."
With her medical studies, her badminton and now, her "poetic" pursuits, this talented youngster, whose ambition is to be a sports doctor, coach and an author of a trilogy of poetry books, certainly seems to have her hands full.
Is there anything else you might want to pursue, I jest, while slowly gathering my things together for an eventual departure. I certainly don't want to be caught in the famous Klang traffic jam at rush hour!
And again that familiar beam in response. "Learn the guitar!" exclaims Selinaah, leading my eyes to a handsome acoustic guitar propped up near one of the cupboards. I duly learn that the instrument was purchased by her non-guitar-playing father four decades ago from some pasar and cost him RM30!
Continuing, Selinaah shares: "I started learning online last month. You know, whenever I watch these music videos and see those people strumming and singing, I'm always like, woah, they look so cool. I wish I could play!"
Ahhh, Taylor Swift? She writes music, sings and strums the guitar too, I couldn't help teasing the affable youngster again. Selinaah, a fan of R&B and pop music, rolls her eyes in mock horror before laughingly confiding: "I can't sing. Sometimes when I try to sing to my friends, they immediately switch off the video call! Anyway, I just want to be able to play the guitar to my kids one days, maybe a bedtime song or something!"