"I'M a shark, Miss."
Err, right.
Scrutinising the beaming, bespectacled young lady seated opposite me at a discreet al fresco nook of a popular cafe in Damansara, which overlooks the "street" and its bustle of pedestrians, I couldn't help but wonder whether Selinaah Muralitharan had somehow lost her marbles since we last met back in 2020.
"Shark?" I lob back questioningly at the 24-year-old, whose acquaintance I'd made at her family home in Klang when she celebrated her entry into the Asia Book of Records almost three years ago for her record-breaking, outpouring of love called My Soulmate.
The poetry submission, all of 115 stanzas and 2,641 words in total, penned in 2018 and inspired by "a special friend" was awarded the title "Longest Love Poem (English)", an accolade, I recall distinctly, that the then-21-year-old, second-year medical student at Malaysian Allied Health Sciences Academy University was over the moon about.
Today — and for some reason, in the form of a shark — we're locking eyes once again as the former national shuttler, and younger sister to one of Malaysia's women's doubles ace, Thinaah Muralitharan (partner of Pearly Tan), shares with me her latest achievement.
"Miss, I'm back in the Malaysia Book of Records again for writing the longest melancholic poem in the country!" she squeals, eyes dancing happily under her glasses. No, tell me about the shark first, I tease her, and we burst out laughing.
"Ok, ok," she acquiesces, before elaborating: "I always tell my friends I'm a shark! From young, I've always loved sharks and owned a big collection of shark books. I remember dad used to always put on Animal Planet for me to watch, and every time it came on, there'd be a show about sharks."
Grinning at my quizzical expression, Selinaah, who counts the "Bard of Avon", Shakespeare, among her favourite poets, confides that she likes to say that the shark is her spirit animal. "Miss, do you know that sharks can never stop swimming? Even when they're resting, they're swimming. If they do stop, they die," she tells me, excitement in her voice palpable.
And you're a shark because…? I pipe in, unable to control my curiosity.
"Ahhh, you see, even when I'm stressed or sleeping, I keep swimming," she replies, before continuing animatedly: "Miss, sharks know what they want. When they smell blood, they go full steam ahead to get to it. That's me. When I want something and I know I really want it, I just go for it. I'm a shark, Miss!"
ACCIDENTAL MUSE
Let Me Let You Go, the shark's, I mean, Selinaah's latest record-breaking entry in the Malaysia Book of Records was recently awarded the title of "Longest Melancholic Poem (English)". This latest undertaking took the aspiring young poet, who's only 18 months' away from graduating, six weeks to write and is 25 per cent longer (in length) than the longest love poem that she penned back in 2019 and which got her into the Malaysia Book of Records, and subsequently the Asia Book of Records for the first time.
"This one started out just as a random thing that I decided to do for myself," shares Selinaah, tracing back how it all started. "I was going through my hardest posting (as a medical student) — with the Internal Medicine Department. Ask any medical student, they'll tell you that internal medicine is easily the hardest posting. I was very stressed."
Added to that stress was the angst of having to deal with a very close friend who kept annoying her. Incidentally, this person became the accidental "muse" behind Selinaah's writing. "Don't get me wrong, Miss, I love her very much," she exclaims, before adding wryly: "But she also annoys me so much. I'd been juggling with a lot of things at the time — my student life, my badminton coaching, and then her being so annoying!"
Every time THAT friend annoyed her, Selinaah, whose mother's a doctor and father is an engineer, would find solace from her screen, as she immersed herself in that all-familiar process of putting form to the words that never tired of tumbling out from the recesses of her emotions.
"It started sometime mid-January of this year," she recalls, adding: "There was one week when I wrote 50 stanzas on just how much she annoyed me. The thing is, I wasn't thinking about writing the longest poem at all. That's not my objective. I was just writing to express myself."
It so happened that one night, Selinaah, who wrote her first poem at the age of 16 called The Flawed Ballerina (inspired by her ballerina friend who'd twisted her ankle and was unable to dance) was with another friend from group study. She confided in the friend about what she'd been doing. "She immediately reminded me about my other poem that won the award," remembers the genial Cancer.
Continuing, she adds: "Cut a long story short, our conversation that night led me to thinking about writing the longest 'hate' poem! It became a joke between us. She said to me, 'just go and write the longest hate poem and see what she (the other girl) says!'"
Chuckling heartily, Selinaah, the youngest of 3 siblings, confides: "Miss, I feel like that was the best thing I ever did. Because from then on, whenever she annoyed me, I'd write everything down and then read what I'd written to my friend. Writing took away my stress from medicine."
Suffice it to say, the poem's muse did learn of it in the end. "She could sense I was hiding something from her because I stopped seeking out her opinion throughout the whole time that I was writing," shares the self-taught writer, mischief lacing her tone.
So, what did your friend say when you told her, I blurt out.
She chuckles heartily before replying: "First she was shocked and then she started laughing. She asked why couldn't she have been the muse for the love poem instead of the hate one. It became like a joke between us."
EYE ON THE RECORD
Aside from the two friends, and her parents, no one else knew about this little "project". Selinaah was determined to keep everything under wraps as she trained her sight on another record-breaking mission.
"For some reason, I was convinced I could get another record with it if I put my mind to it," confides Selinaah, adding: "So, after I'd completed my internal medicine exam, I immediately prepared my application, proposal and submitted all the paperwork to Malaysia Book of Records."
She'd initially wanted to submit her poem under the category of the longest hate poem. But the Malaysia Book of Records folks had other ideas. Sheepishly, Selinaah shares: "They said I couldn't put 'hate'. They wanted a better word. In my proposal, I'd submitted for 'the longest hate/dislike/heartbreak/sad' poem and I told them to choose any word they wanted. They chose 'melancholic'!"
A quick shrug of her shoulders and the Harry Potter fan (Selinaah has a rather fetching banner featuring the emblem of Slytherin in her cosy study at home) concedes: "Well, they said that when they read the piece, they found it to be quite sad also. I guess writing about things that you don't like about someone also entails writing about how disappointed you are about the person."
GOLDEN TOUCH
Her eyes light up when Selinaah confides just how much she enjoys the process of writing. "I've always loved playing with words," she says, simply, before adding: "In 2015 and 2016, I sent in a couple of poems called The Flawed Ballerina and Can't See to a well-known poetry magazine in the United States called Fine Lines. My poems were published in their 2015 and 2016 Winter Issue. In 2018, I self-published my first ever poetry book called A Hundred Thoughts."
In August of last year, she joined forces with three other writers to produce a book of poetry, which contains 10 chapters broken down into different themes. "The others are Masters students. Basically, we were juggling with it on the side, connecting with each other through Zoom calls and our Whatsapp group to discuss what each chapter would contain. We took turns choosing the theme." The manuscript is now completed and they're currently looking for a publisher.
With so much passion for writing, I couldn't help wondering why this chirpy young medic didn't just make writing her full-time vocation.
"Miss, from young I'd always loved to pen words — of the romantic kind," replies Selinaah, her face breaking into a big smile. She shares: "You give me a few words and I can create a rhyme very easily. I have stacks of notebooks containing poems I'd written over the years. I used to write every night at one point when I was younger and had so much emotions!"
What do you love about writing poetry? I ask Selinaah, smiling at her enthusiasm. "It's the rhymes, Miss!" she exclaims in reply, before adding: "When you write a poem, there must be two things — a hidden message, whether direct or indirect… it's up to the writer. Secondly, it has to rhyme. For me, these two elements are important — a beautiful message and it rhymes."
Continuing, she concedes: "Everyone has their own style. Some don't focus on rhyming much. They just care about the words alone. My style? My friends tell me they love how I always end my poem. They say I build up a story and, in the end, "bam"! The fact that everything's rhyming keeps them on their toes."
JUST LIKE THE MOVIES
Interestingly, Selinaah's favourite subject at school was biology. The Klang-ite knew she wanted to enter the medical field later as a career. Wryly, Selinaah, who already has a couple of books published on Amazon, confides that she probably needs to have her "medical side" to balance out her more "emo" side.
Chuckling heartily, she exclaims: "I think if I were to do journalism and just get so deep into my poetry, I'd end up being an emotional wreck! Studying medicine makes me think more practically!"
What's the secret to writing good poetry?
"Secret?" Selinaah repeats before replying: "Miss, you need a muse. Once you have one, everything just flows. Like, with my latest record-breaking poem. That friend who inspired it is one of my favourite people. I know a lot about her and we share a passion for reading. She's also one of the few people whom I always show my writing too."
Continuing, Selinaah says it's important to have some kind of emotional connection with one's muse. "For me, I can't take personalities or celebrities as my muse because I don't know them. You have to know them really well. Once I care about you, your emotions affect mine too."
The fact that both her poems are etched in the record books is something Selinaah, who cites watching Netflix and spending time with family and friends as being among her favourite downtime activities, is stoked about. She confides: "It's a good feeling to know that you're making a name for yourself by doing something you love. The high I'm experiencing now is similar to being in love."
What's being in love like, I couldn't help teasing her as the booming sound of thunder is heard in the distance. "Rain," I suddenly mouth to her in alarm and Selinaah nods with a grimace.
As I hastily reach for my notebook to begin packing, the talented youngster pauses to reflect my earlier question before finally replying: "It feels like your whole life has turned into a movie. It's on a reel, that just keeps flashing different scenes. That's how I feel right now. It feels really good!"