Nivram and Bijan.

I am a fan of Cliff Richard and The Shadows. In fact, they were really the ones that inspired the birth of Singapore and Malaysia pop groups in the 1960s, not the Beatles. Although the Malay pop music during that period was called Pop Yeh Yeh, copied from the Beatles' shouting of 'Yeah, yeah, yeah' from their song  'She Loves You', none of the Malay groups sang like The Beatles. Most, if not all of them were singing like Cliff Richard and The Shadows. 

The Shadows were, in fact, an act of their own, when not backing Cliff. Their music was mostly instrumental music, although sometimes they did sing. One of The Shadows' song was called 'Nivram', an instrumental. I thought it was one of their songs that meant nothing because being an instrumental, the word was not spoken in the song. 

I never knew until recently that 'Nivram' is actually the surname of the group's leader and lead guitarist Hank Marvin, spelled backward.

I know bijan is a type of seed attached to some Malay cakes. I never know that the Bijan applies to expensive items like bags. Maybe this is because I never use expensive bags.

I remember during my secondary education in a fully residential school my friends and me used milk cardboard boxes as bags when we went home for the school holidays. After all the bags were obtained free from the shops in town. Wrapped with strings the cardboard boxes became bags to fill our clothes. I for one never felt any shame using cardboard boxes as luggage bags. 

When some Bijan brand bags were found in an apartment belonging to our former Prime Minister, my thoughts were they were purposely named that way. This is because our former Prime Minister's name is Najib and Bijan is Najib spelled backward. This is just like Nivram is Marvin spelled backward. 

I never know until recently that Bijan is a real brand name. It's connection to Najib is just coincidental.

Oh yes, Najib is a fan of Cliff Richard and The Shadows too. He sang their song 'The Young Ones' recently at a Hari Raya bash. I wonder if he had heard of  'Nivram'. But, like me, he cannot sing the song unless he can play the guitar like Hank Marvin.