What A Damn Good Name!

In 1979 when I was in Standard 1, I don't recall any other boy Malay, chinese nor Indian who has the same name as mine. But mind you, Port Dickson was (and still is!) not that big a town. But no one else I knew was named 'DANIAL' back then.

All sorts of tohmahan aku rasakan growing up as a 'Danial'.

Sekali tu, aku mengamuk-ngamuk kat Mak bila balik dari sekolah because the other Malay kids said that my name is a Christian one, thus, I cannot enter the school surau.

Mak comforted me by saying that my name is nicer than anyone's name and the rest of them were actually jealous. Man, that woman's REALLY smart. I couldn't agree more. Danial is waaaaay cool than Akbar Ali or Zamri.

When we moved to Kerteh Terengganu, and then kat STAR, too, there weren't anyone else with the same name as mine. It was pretty neat to think of how unique my name was.

But all that was soon to change.

I dunno why, but the name 'Danial' became EXTREMELY famous in the 90s. So many babies were given that name.

Ididn't think this would affect me so much at first.

I once went to seek treatment at a clinic bila demam. When my name got called out at the dispensary counter, the clinic assistant ask me, "Anak Encik ke Danial?" Dengan bengangnya I answered, "SAYA lah Danial!"

Bila jalan-jalan kat shopping complexes, selalu gak aku terkejut beruk when I heard mothers sceaming, "BEHAVE YOURSELF, DANIAL!", as if aku ni pervert yang baru meraba pompuan, only to see a kid dok berguling-guling menangis mintak dibelikan mainan. Or responding to the call of my name in public, tengok-tengok some kid or toddler yang berlari towards his mom.

I realised then, I am the older version of the many Danials.

All my life, I actually admired Abah's creativity in naming me. Time orang lain belum terpikir nak letak anak diorang nama tu, he did that in 1972. What a trendsetter!

But while growing up, I always manage to get myself into some sort of trouble either at school, university or in life. Banyak kali I pissed the old man off. And I dissapointed him numerous times, too.

But I think finally, I did justice to the name Abah gave me jugak eventually.

In 2005, I entered the world of animation production. My bosses then assigned me to start an animation project. Had to endure a lot of shit from every one when I started but alhamdulillah, I had a good run. Dengan izin Allah, the project transpired into a full-fledge animation studio. I can now proudly declare to the world that I, Mohd. Danial Sabudin gave life to Animatrix Studio. It is proof of my hard labour. And those who were with me then know what I'm talking about.

The studio's big break was when I develop an idea, concept and scripts about a city boy who is forced to live in the kampung with his grandparents while Mom & Dad's oversea studying. The boy hangs out with other kampung kids. I named the boy -what else? - DANIAL lah of course! Heh heh... So what? I AM THE CREATOR OF 'DANIAL'. Suka aku la nak letak nama dia apa! Haha!

I engaged a determined animation team and my then newly-made friends and mentors Mike the Animation Maestro and Kak Mine the Super Producer helped me worked out the essentials. The 'Danial' series got broadcasted on RTM1 in January 2007 and sepanjang aku kat Animatrix, as the GM and Producer, 2 seasons (26 episodes) were aired.

'DANIAL' the Series (Season 1) Promo Poster

So far, that's the best thing I have done to my given name.

Even Abah yang tak pernah minat tengok cartoon pun waited and watched MY show religiously every Sunday masa tu. And he'd called up his friends, telling them to watch it as well. Even if it goes unsaid, I know the old man's proud of me.

Now I am a Producer at Vision Animation Studio, and have move on to produce international animation series. Matlamat aku sekarang: Take it all a level higher, make a name for myself (pun intended).

Thanks Abah & Mak, for giving me a damn good name!


P/s: Mat khairi, aku pinjam YM id lu utk title post ni!