What else can they say?

Recently a colleague at work received a phone call that his mother passed away. He rushed back to Malacca. He was away from work for almost a week. My condolences to him and his family during this difficult period.

I saw his car parked in the basement today and I do not have any thing planned of what to say to him. A few scenarios playing in my mind and when I reached forth floor I had a plan.

For Display purposes only. Credit to Google Images and news.bbc.co.uk

As I expected other colleagues were there to comfort him. I decided not to approach him. Maybe a bit later I said to myself. I am sure he is still sad and distraught of with what he had just went through. The whole day, I have been busy and occupied with my work, rushing datelines, replying e-mail, tele-conference with UNAIDS Geneva.....but on and off I took a glance at him telling myself. I just wanna make sure that he is in his comfort zone...... no, not yet.....and then,..... it was 10 to 5 pm.

So I decided to pop by his workstation. "So you apa khabar? He replied he is doing good though the death was unexpected. Then I said, I purposely tak datang jumpa you much earlier sebab I am sure ramai member2 akan datang. I rasa biar you relax dulu. Anyway, takziah ya. I am so sorry to hear about the passing of your mother. I pun tak tahu macamana nak cakap lagi. Kita berbanyakkan doa and sedekah Al-Fatihah ya". I am lost with words. So I kept quiet and looked in his teary eyes. Then he opened up. Sebak jugak rasanya.


I have lost both of my parents; one at an early age and then the other at my later age. Two different types of emotions I carry around. You can never imagine the feeling how a person who lost someone close to them and in this instances our parent. If you ever heard people say, " Yeah, I understand how you feel..." trust me no other person can understand how we feel. The feeling varies from one another. Yes, you may say that I'm not being sensitive...I know they are being polite....and that is nice......what else can they say at this point of time?



This 12th May marked the 5th year my dad pulang ke rahmatullah.....hmmmm....all I can say is I have my dad's features that I can see him everyday whenever I look in the mirror.  Constant reminder he is always with me. And when I look at my sister, I see my mom....mom been gone 37 years.

Al-Fatihah...mudah-mudahan mereka yang telah pergi menyambut seruan Ilahi, ditempatkan di kalangan orang-orang yang beriman.

 To Amran, saya doakan agar you tabah sebab God has other plans for us...