Al Fatihah to Amir Ridza Hashim.

After my shower this morning I decided to where 'baju kurung' to work. For some reason I felt weird doing so because first of all I rarely wear baju kurung to work and secondly it was the first thing I saw when I opened my closet this morning. So that was it, I decided to wear the green baju kurung to work.

I arrived work at 8:28 a.m. and at 8:59 a.m. I received a call from my other half. He never does that so early in the morning. I answered and he was sobbing when he mentioned, "Panjang dah meninggal..." (Panjang passed away). I asked my other half if he wants me to accompany him, but he said it's okay he'll go to the hospital and update me from there. In fact if he would said okay, I am like all ready in my baju kurung. Coincidence?

To me and his WMUians,  Amir Ridza Hashim was Panjang which means long or tall. He was diagnosed with cancer in the lungs a couple of weeks into the recent fasting month. I have to admit that wasn't really a shock being a smoker and all....and he left us this morning in his sleep after only battling cancer for 2 months. Cancer has spread to his brain; left him paralyzed on the left side of the body and towards the of his life he had to be tube fed.

I had so many fond memories of Panjang and I want to remember the Panjang I know. However, I am relief that I went to see you last Sunday as a matter of fact for the very last time......

I was honored to have known him since our University years. He was tall, fair skinned, and slangky. I guess that's how he got his nickname. I guess I knew him much earlier than I knew my other half. I would normally hangout with Panjang and his friends (including my other half who was in the process of courting me....hahaha). He drove an old Mazda RX-7. We had best times vacationing to Chicago on several occasions but most of all I enjoyed listening to him play the guitar.

Panjang in red turtle neck next to me me (in shorts).

Panjang in dark sunglasses standing next to me (in black shorts)

There were nights I would hang out at his apartment on West Michigan Ave. Rosman and Mabut cooked dinner. Then we have Nasir, our Cifu who would raise contradictory issues and we sat listening to him. While Panjang and my other half would take out their guitars and start plucking to classic tunes. We would sing to Hotel California, Paul Young's Every time You Go Away, and few Malay songs. My favorite was when Panjang played Eric Johnson's Cliff Over Dover. He would put on the Amp and played along to the tune just like the original piece. Every time I hangout there I would asked him to play Cliff Over Dover.

Credit to On the music path on You Tube, You Tube and Google.

I guess it's time for me to buck-up. I need to stopped the old and bad habits of mine for the sake of my children. To Panjang,....I pray that Allah will weight all the good things you've done and forgive all of your sins. Thank you for your help with my car insurance claim. Thank you for offering a job opportunity to my other half. Thank you for all the fun and good time we spent at WMU. Thank you. Thank you and thank you.

There are so many things I would like to share here but let it remain private. I am going to missed you. Mat Garn will definitely miss you. We all will miss you.

Rest in Peace.

Al Fatihah.