Passing...

...of a Friend.

The Birch a.k.a. mad redo1 spent the morning of Friday, February 4 with two of his ex-Semesdians friends, Achey and Mat Ming. At first, the intention was to have 'Ketupat Sotong' (Squid stuffed with glutton rice served in coconut milk plus a few other items) for breakfast, a craving of the former who had the dish the last time he was back in Kuala Terengganu.

Unfortunately, it was not the season of the squids and the scarcity of the calamari perhaps influenced by the monsoon which is yet to cease. So we settled for another local dish, the famous 'Nasi Dagang' (another glutton rice base dish) which much to our amazement came with fried chicken and hard boiled egg.

To the uninitiated, nasi dagang are usually served with 'Ikan Aya' (Tongkol for non-Ganuan, Tuna for English speakers) and pickles. Mat Ming who joined us a bit later helped himself to a plate of 'Nasi Minyak'.

After all the dishes were safely tucked inside our stomach and paid for, we went our seperate ways. Then just as I was getting ready for Friday Prayer the phone rang with the familiar tone of a message was received.

After all the laughter this morning, it was a shock to read the message which came from another ex-Semesdian friend, Ku Jimmy. A friend of ours, Ridzuan Safuan or more affectionally known as Doer has passed away in the morning.

'Arwah' suffered from brain cancer and had undergone surgical oncology a few months back. It was the second time he had gone through the procedure but this time time around it resulted in him losing his eyesight.

mad redo1 and a few other friends paid him a visit while he was still in the Intensive Care Unit at the USM Hospital in Kubang Kerian. That was the first time I saw him since our last meeting, way back in 1991 during a reunion of ex-Semesdians at the Motel Desa.

He looked frail and weak (who wouldn't be after having your head cut open?) but responded to the sound of our voice. It was a sad moment but at the same time gave us a bit of a lift with his reaction. It was a fifty-fifty situation but subsequent news from his family were positive despite him did not regain his eye-sight.

Thus the news of him passing away on Friday came a bit as a surprise. Unfortunately, prior commitments prevented me from attending his funeral, so were a few other friends.

Admittedly, he was not one of my closest friends and the amount of conversation we had during our five years stay at SMSD were minimal to say the least. Perhaps it was more due to the fact we were placed at the opposite ends of our hostel, I was in the A Block while he was in the D Block.

But as we grew into adults the difference during our adolescence years just went away and despite not keeping in touch for a number of years, the news of Doer suffering from cancer and his subsequent demise tugged at my heart and it felt like I am losing a friend.

So Doer, may you rest in peace.

Al-Fatihah.


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