Pongpongalong

It was on the 4th of January 2013, after Friday prayer. As I was entertaining a couple from Felda Chemomoi in my kitchen, I received a call from my fellow alumni, sdara Khairi Anuar aka Baduk. He asked whether I knew about the passing of the late Hj Anuar Yatim? My visitors saw the change on my face and they started to console me. After confirming the passing of a great sdarian, I started to send smses and update my fb.

So much I want to share here but I couldn't fight my tears. It took me more than a month to really found the courage to write this piece.

I first met this great sdarian in 2005. We had our tt session at Subaidah MITC that night. He was with his walking stick. While we were busy eating and sharing good stories, he was busy at the counter, payinbg for the foods and drinks. He was all smile. Indeed, he smiles a lot. Through out his living years, as Kak Zah once told me, "Abg Nuar kau memang sentiasa senyum.' Which I found out to be true. As his health deteriorated, his smiling face was all I see.

Before I met him, I was not keen to get involve in SDARA, my alumni. After meeting this great personality, I started to question my refusal to play a role in my alumni. It started when I got 'elected' to head the Melaka committe for the Kembara SDARA in 2005. The three of us, namely Hj Muhammad and the late Hj Anuar Yatim, really put our heart, mind, soul and money to be part of this excellent activity. We went to JB, Seremban, KL and of course Melaka for our fortnightly meeting to make sura that this program would run smoothly. Later, Hj Azhar Ismaun got involved as he is our permanent MC.

Hj Anuar's spirit and determinatain, though he had difficulty to start walking, really put myself to shame. And I said to myself if this super senior, who needed an impetus to walk, can commit his time, enegry and money, why shouldn"t me? There were a few hilarious moment when I forgot to jump start Hj anuar to walk. After walking for a few minutes then only I realised that Hj anuar was standing still far behind. So I ran back to him while laughing and apologising.

After Kembara was done, we had a few programmes in Melaka. We had a few iftar and hari raya gatherings, apart from our usual SDARA Melaka monthly breakfast. All these gatherings, the late Hj Anuar was part of the success story. As he became more dependent, his absence from our breakfast was deeply missed by all, especially myself. Since he can't come, we had a few gatherings at his house, either by Melaka Chapter or by his batch mates. one thing that I realised was that, we in Melaka, namely SDARA Melaka, we had less gatherings or none at all since Hj Anuar's condition worsened. Maybe we missed his aura and charm to move. That was his great influence to SDARA Melaka.

His passing on the 4th of January has left e deep hole in my heart. Hollow would be best to describe losing a great sdarian. The always smiling sdarian. May ALLAH grants the late Hj Anuar jannah, forgive his sins and light up his grave. For all of us, who are still above ground, please make a special dua for our great sdarian.

'Sikit soghe' was his trademark quote.

Below are the pictures courtesy of Hj Suffian Yahya, fiver 80.