A Farewell to Friends

Some things in life is unavoidable: death is one of them. In the last few weeks, I have lost two friends to illness. A few weeks ago, Fairus passed away. She was one year my junior at university. Before she passed away, she taught at UPSI.  The last time I spoke to her was perhaps a year ago. I was in UPSI for a meeting. I remembered that she was at the language centre and thought of dropping in but I had dropped in unannounced before and found that she was not in her office because she was in class. So I gave her a call. She had taken the day off that day because she was making laksa for some gathering that she was going to. Offered some laksa but I had to decline because I had to be back in Kuala Lumpur for another meeting. I learn a valuable lesson that day: if you have a chance to meet up with an old friend, take it. We never know if that meeting will be the last you will ever meet that friend.

Today, I received news that my old school friend Syamsul Akmal had passed away due to illness. I am glad I had the chance to share a few drinks and reminisce with him at the last meeting of Kajang Haigh School Old Boys.  He was already ill at the time and he looked tired.  It seemed as if the world was becoming an unbearable weight on his shoulders but he laughed and smile when we shared our silly escapades in school.  We were prefects in Kajang High but that did not mean we were angels. Far from it.  One thing was true however, we were boys and that meant we were prone to getting into all sorts of trouble. Another thing was also true then as it is now, we were friends. I am certain that my friends who heard the news of SYamsul’s passing this afternoon all feel an ache in our hearts: it is as if someone had ripped a hole in our world. A hole in the form of chubby smiling boy in the KHS prefect’s uniform.