Vogue-U Potion - Big HUG

May Peace Be With You.......

Do you recall the children’s TV program “Teletubbies”? Well it used to conquer our TV during our children’s era in the mid 90s. I recalled my children would sit in front of the TV and would not barge until the program ended, not even a hitch!!!

The Teletubbies - from left... Dipsy, Laa-Laa, Po & Tinky Winky

Well, at that time Mak Pah only had 2 kids, eldest girl being a very young toddler at around 2+ yrs old and my son was less than a year old baby. Mak Pah asked my hubby to buy a VCD player considering it was the in thing at that time and we were like so outdated still using the VCR player which was already about to go kaput. So one night, we headed to a so-called famous electrical outlet in Beauty World Centre. After going through the various models, we decided to get the JVC-VCD player that met our budget. When my hubby was about to pay for the player, my eyes caught upon a Thomson 21” colour TV which could at least have a better viewing than the one at home, a Sony 14” TV (now in Mak Pah’s room). Considering we still have extra budget, my hubby agreed and paid for the 2 items. Being cash n carry, obviously we had to bring back the items on our own. So I booked a bigger cab where hubby sat in front and me with the children sat at the back with the TV, while the VCD player in the booth compartment. In fact while waiting for the cab to arrive, I’ve managed to get a Teletubbies VCD for my kids as well, which was selling like hot cakes in the VCD shops.

When we reached home, all of us were so excited and spent the night putting everything together. Then it was time to play the VCD. Both hubby and me went through the catalogue on how to get the VCD to telecast over the TV. The funny part was we could hear the music but not the pictures. My children upon hearing the jingles were dancing away and singing to the songs played (that time my son was in the play pen). In the end we managed to view the pictures but not from the video channel but those searched channels. So the pictures were like distorted with slanting faces and with horizontal and vertical lines passing up n down, left to right and all over the screen.…. hehehe.

Finally both of us got tired trying to figure out how to get the video channel up coz the catalogue was damned complicated to read and did not mentioned how to do it as well. I told hubby to go back to the shop to query. The next day, my hubby returned to the shop with the catalogue and the receipt. When he came home, he remarked, “You know what!!! we only need to press this button from the remote control or from this button on the TV to select the video.” At that point of time I gave a loud chuckled and remarked “My goodness, we went through hell last nite and it’s only this button or that button????? Where the hell in the catalogue did it state, man????”

Nevertheless, my children upon seeing the video was up, were dancing away with excitement. So each time I wanted them to behave and sit still, I will on the Teletubbies VCD. And at the most common exclamation was the "Big Hug!" which one or more of the Teletubbies will invariably call for during the course of an episode, resulting in an enthusiastic group hug in the end. So upon hearing the “Big Hug”, my children would also run and requested for the “Big Hug” too.

Exactly 1 year after we bought the Thomson TV, it went kaput and has been replaced.

Just a few weeks ago my eldest daughter recalled the Teletubbies program and remembered the 1st VCD we had at that time, she giggled and said now when she watched the program, she felt so funny and didn’t realized it was so popular at one state….huhu. And when she recalled the hustled her parents went through to get the video up on the TV, she roared with laughter!!!!! Hahahahahaha. During our Vogue-U clan's exchange emails last week, we accidentally mentioned about the Telletubies program and suddenly memories about them gave me the idea to post this in our Vogue-U blog.

In fact behind the story about the Telletubies, I actually wanted to point my view whereby, we as parents can be strict at times but inevitably will mellowed down when certain things needed to be adjusted or go with the flow, and will try our best and all out to get better things for our kids. And the things may not be expensive though and yet could be cherished. And we don’t know whether our children will take note of all the sacrifices their parents had gone through to build up the family. Well only time will tell. And hubby used to tell me, “Never expect from our children to repay us, but we have to prepare ourselves to be financially capable when we aged. Our main concern is as long as they acknowledge us as parents, considered it as a blessing”. And as the saying goes “Without parents, there’s no you”…….

So children out there, including myself, have we given our parents the “Big Hug” yet???? Maybe if we're shy, why not appreciate them in other manner like calling them more often (which reminds me…. had I call my mum this morning....hmmm. Oh ya I did... Thank God... "she had just finished her breakfast"). Money is not the issue here, however, it's the gratitude we should show in many ways we can. Sometimes as age is catching up they tend to get very lonely as their children are busy with their activities and at the point of starting their own life/family and eventually the house becomes so empty and quiet....and, and, and many more if we go on and on. Nevertheless, don't worry, be happy..... we try our best to look at things in a positive way.


OK vogue-u-ers.... a “Big Hug” from Mak Pah to All……. Remember to stay Vogue, Caring and Sharing too…..

May Allah Bless Us…..Amin.



PS: A very Big Hug to my beloved mum. And to my late father, my late mother-in-law and my late father-in-law - May Allah Bless your souls….Amin.