April 19, 2012... is a date that will forever remain in my mind. It was the morning I received the call from one Inspector Shahrul informing me that my abah ie. Zabri Adil was involved in a fatal motor accident on MRR2 near Bandar Tasik Selatan at around 8am. My first reaction after the so called lightning through my body was... Abah? Fatal accident? Can't be! He's a very careful driver. He drives at 40km to 60km. Max he would go is 80km on highways. Can't be true!!!
In disbelieve, I asked for confirmation. He asked me to meet him at Forensic HKL. I put down the phone, sat down on the sofa and began to realize that it's true. Everything seems to creep into my mind instantly. My first thought was my mother. She was still on medication for her mild stroke. No way she can take this news! Just no way!!!
Then the thoughts of how abah has been caring for mak the past 3 weeks running through my mind instantly. He was a real gentleman. Despite mak's on-off-off-on "merepek-ness" he was very patience with her. A 78-year old gentleman caring for a sick 76-year old lady. Tabik spring abah!!! U did great!
As if God had planned it, my nephew ie. Airul arrived from buying his McD's breakfast and my wife arrived from a short trip home. In those few minutes, I managed to keep my cool. Only God knows how I felt! I broke the news to my wife while she was still in the driver seat. She was shocked! (Later she confessed her first thought was it was another joke of mine). I then called my siblings ie. Abang Long, Lokman and Ani to break the news to them. I decided not to break the news to mak until I see abah's dead body. I then broke the news to Airul and told him to manage the situation at mak's house while I go to HKL.
Along the way to HKL with my wife, my cell phone doesn't stop ringing. My standard answer to them was "I'm on my way to HKL. Until I see the body I can't confirm anything". So it is. When I saw abah's body lying dead on the hospital trolley and in the black body bag, my heart stopped for a moment. Its true. My abah is gone. Abah is dead.
It was a sad morning seeing him lying motionless and dead. However, his face looked so serene. So clean. A little smile. Like he was happy to go. Like it was not a painful death. I hope he went the way I had thought.
Everything went so fast that morning. Ani and Shah came by not long after I arrived. Kak Long came a bit later. Abang Long, Ady and Farah arrived about noon. And many more relatives and friends were there at Forensic HKL. I had to leave at about 1pm leaving Abang Long to station and manage at HKL. I have bigger and more complicated thing to do. To break the news of abah's passing to mak. Gosh! This is tough!!!
Back home Ani and Kak Long are managing mak and the situation there. Neighbours have started to throng the house. Mak, I was told, was getting more confused with the big crowd. All along the way home with my wife I was thinking on how to break the news to Mak. What's the right words to use? What should I do if she reacted hysterically? Boy... there's just so many things running through my mind.
In the end, I decided to just be bold and blunt in breaking the news to her. To my surprise, she wasn't hysterical. I guess her condition helps. Alhamdulillah. God works mysteriously. There's always a reason to what happened.
Once I have broken the news to Mak, I begin the deployment to prepare for the funeral. Alhamdulillah, friends and relatives were giving a helping hand. Ajak took care of the cemetery approval and arrangement. YB Temb, Pendi, Adi, Pak Tua and some others were with Abg Long at the morgue in HKL. Lokman took care of the operations like drinks, food and tents. The ladies took care of the preparation in the house.
By 3pm, there were not less than 100 people to pay their last respect to Abah. The numbers grew to about double by 5pm. Relatives from Gopeng and Ipoh arrived by 6pm.
Abah's remains arrived at almost 7pm. The autopsy and police reports took longer than I had anticipated. All arrangements were done there. Alhamdulillah... all went well. We let the family, friends and relatives to pay their last respect to arwah abah before we took it for burial just before maghrib.
It was pouring heavily when we took abah to the cemetery. When all was done, the rain stopped. I for one were very thankful that we managed to do all this the same day. Syukur alhamdulillah.
Abah, hanya doa yang dapat kami beri kan buat abah sekarang. Mudah-mudahan doa-doa kami diterima Allah SWT untuk abah. Kami sentiasa akan mendoakan abah dalam setiap solat. Sejahtera lah abah hendak nya di alam barzakh. Semoga Allah SWT mencucuri rahmat ke atas roh abah.
Al-Fatihah
No comments:
Post a Comment