Al Fatihah to Amir Shaarani

Got an sms from my best friend on 17 May 2007. It reads: "Amir Shaarani have just passed away... please recite al-fatehah for him ... amin"

It was 16.39 pm when I received the sad news. I immediately called my friend and start asking him about Amir's passing. He was at his site-office he said (meaning his cattle ranch lah). He too just got the sms from Amir's hp. He tried to called the no. but can't get thru. He assumed that the person who uses Amir's hp must be busy smsing everybody in the phone list.

I knew Amir Shaarani when we both worked in Malayan Banking (now they called it Maybank) way back in 1981. I was a trainee officer at that time and Amir was the operation clerk. He was such a nice guy who used to teach me and my friend about all the banking operations as he was well versed about it. We as new training officers were assigned to Amir to learn everything. As Amir is a friendly and "tak kisah" kind of guy, he will teach us how to become a teller, how to consolidate the cheques, how to do the balancing, etc. He's such a pro at that. Amir Eventually became a bank officer himself, after getting a Diploma in Banking from ITM - he took evening classes at ITM Jalan Othman, PJ.

Beyond the banking hours, Amir used to accompany us around. Well, us being bachelor at 21 and him a few years older, KL used to be our playground. We would be heading for shopping complexes after work or even went for discos (hey those were the days ok!) in the weekends. I used to bunk over at his house during weekends. We have such a great time together.

However, when I left Maybank in 1982 to further my studies to the US, we didn't contact much with each other. When I came back in 1986 after graduated with MBA, we did contact a few times.

After many years of not knowing where he was and only heard some news of his whereabout, I suddenly got a call from my best friend. That was a couple of months back this year. My best friend told me that Amir was hospitalised in HUKM. I could not see him then as I was immersed with lots of meetings and works. But I did called him and he was surprise to get my call. However we did't talked much as he has some visitors then.

Eventually I made a point to visit him a day before he was discharged from HUKM. My best friend and I went to see him during my lunch break. Amir was lying on his bed.

Amir was surprise to see my friend & I. Imagine that was the first time for me meeting him after more tan 15 years. He was so frail and thin. He told me that he initially had pain in his lower spine. He has been feeling the pain for sometimes. However a few months back when he was in Kuala Terengganu the pain was unbearable and he went to see a doctor. To cut story short, he went to HUKM and the doctor found out that he has cancer of some kind.

Test were taken and he was given some kind of medication. The doctors even told him that the cancer is nothing to worry about and can be eradicated. Well that was what the doctor told him.

I told Amir how my wife have gone through the same predicament and advise him to take care of himself. Although he doesn't look that well, I didn't think he would pass off so fast. Amir told us that he now try his best to do good deed (as if he knows the time has come). He has come to a term that at his age, he now focus for betterment his life and forget the past.

My friend and I left Amir, in his hospital bed about an hour later and I told Amir to keep contacting us as we have not seen each other for more than 15 years. We left the hospital but we keep talking about Amir.

Last Thursday when I got the sms from my friend, I was taken aback. I didn't know that Amir has passed away so fast. He was such a great friend to us. He was our trainer in the bank, our companion to where ever we went, a friends to laughover with and the problem solver when we hit some problems. He was such a hillarious person full of fun and laughters.

Now that Amir has gone, I will always remember the good time we had together. May Allah blessed his soul and place him in amongst the best place in heaven. Amin.