Ask Singaporean singer-songwriter Shazza what turned her into a better person, and she will not hesitate to point to her cat.
Rayyan, a 12-year-old former stray, has taught her to be more patient, responsible and deeply present in her own life.
Shazza, whose real name is Shareefa Aminah, credits Rayyan for helping her slow down.
“My life gets quite hectic, as I’m always busy and I often stay up late. Then there is Rayyan, who asks me to play with him,” says the 25-year-old, adding that this is when she drops everything to spend time with her cat.
“He brings calmness into my life,” she adds.
“Rayyan is a very sweet cat. He is friendly, loving and manja (Malay for affectionate),” says Shazza of her “youngest sibling” in the family. She is the middle child and has two brothers.
“I always say there are six of us in my family. My parents consider Rayyan to be their fourth child. My brothers and I consider him to be our younger brother; he is the baby in the house.”
Growing up, she had always wanted a cat, but gave up on the idea because her parents refused.
It was through her mother’s act of kindness that Rayyan became part of the family.
He was a stray hanging around a hawker centre in Yishun when local charity Cat Welfare Society rescued him and matched him with Shazza’s aunt. He was about a year old then.
Things did not work out at her aunt’s home and the family suddenly had to decide on his fate about 11 years ago.
“At that point, there was no way we could put Rayyan back out on the street, so my mother agreed to take him in,” Shazza says.
“I met him when I was 14. I’m 25 this year, so he’s a very big part of my life,” says the Right Person, Wrong Time (2023) singer. “He’s become an important part of the family.”
Rayyan, whom a vet suspects is an Abyssinian mix based on his coat and behaviour, is as quirky as he is affectionate.
“There’s such a humanness to him, which sounds creepy, but you sense it when he addresses you with his eyes,” she explains.
“When I’m sick, he would come and sit on my chest, or when I’m crying, he would know what to do… It’s like having another person in my life.”
He still behaves like the “hawker-centre cat” he once was when the family eats – appearing by the table, hopeful for a bite of meat.
When Shazza sings or records at home, he may leave the room if things get too loud, but she is convinced he is “an appreciator of the arts”, having grown up surrounded by music.
She has written an unreleased track about Rayyan that contains some of her favourite lyrics.
Being responsible for Rayyan’s well-being has also pushed her into making more adult decisions.
As he is now in his senior years, Rayyan is scheduled for his first major dental procedure on April 1, which requires general anaesthesia.
Rayyan hates having his teeth cleaned, and is currently having dental problems. He is also “a very difficult cat when it comes to medicine”, but Shazza sees these vet visits and post-operation care as non-negotiable responsibilities.
“I’m a bit nervous about his upcoming procedure, but I do hope everything will go well,” she admits.
“We figured it’s better to do it now than wait for him to be older… I’d rather he not live out the rest of his days in pain in any way.”
In the midst of building her creative career and figuring life out, Shazza finds herself turning to Rayyan for comfort when human relationships feel uncertain.
“There are days when I wish I weren’t single. I might not have that kind of romantic, forever love in my life yet, but I have Rayyan’s unconditional love and I know it’s not going to last forever,” she says.
The awareness – that Rayyan’s time with her is finite – has fundamentally changed how she sees her own days.
“When I look at Rayyan for a bit too long, I get really emotional, because I know that there will come a day, probably not that far off, when I will not be able to look at him like this anymore,” she adds.
She calls it a kind of anticipatory grief that constantly nudges her towards gratitude.
“Being able to come home to this kind of love is something I don’t take for granted.”
She adds: “Rayyan teaches me to be grateful and to be a more conscious and kinder human being.” – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
