Yusoff bin Abu Bakar (1924-2010)

My arwah atok..
Kept thinking about him eversince he passed away on his 86th birthday..
Yes, you (I!) tend to miss a person only when he/she is gone..

I thank God I went to his funeral at the cemetery as I get to observe 1st hand how a 'pengkebumian' was handled.Part 'pembacaan talkin' sangat2 menginsafkan diri that I wasnt thinking of arwah atok much, but more about myself.

'Dah ready ke aku kalau tiba2 Allah tarik nyawa aku bila2 masa?'...

Arwah atok left behind my nenek, 13 anak (1 sudah meninggal),56 ke 57 grandchildren and 23 ke 24 great-grandchildren.

When Fiya first visited her moyang, Atok took out a piece of paper with rows of his anaks' names and marked '2' under 'Eda'(row) and 'Perempuan' (column)(My mom has 2 granddaughters) .Fiya is/was great-grandchild no.21.
Atok even remembered all his grandchildrens' n great-grandchildrens' names..

I saw a man whose life was complete..Semuanya sentiasa cukup.
How atok and nenek raised all 13 children is beyond my imagination...Adding to that,he even took care of some of us cucus when our parents' all at work.

I used to have my mengaji session 'alif ba taa' with nenek when I was 5.Before sleeping time after lunch would be sessi mencari kutu by nenek (wakaka)..We'd go lepak at the buaian,play galah panjang,football, police entree(camni ek eja?),pukul berapa dato' harimau,kena kejar dengan angsa yang atok pelihara etc.Masuk sekolah rendah, we'd go to Agama school in the morning,walked back to Atok's house,have lunch, wait for Kak Ani's bus to Convent pulak..Kalau bab lunch cukup selera dengan ikan masin sepat, papadom,and my all time favourite ikan sembilang masak berlada.Sometimes,when we got lucky,we get to eat fresh ayam kampung and ayam belanda (turkey-kitorang panggil ayam kluk2)yang atok sendiri ternak..Nyumms....Teringat pulak arwah Nek Tong time ni...

When I was 17, my parents went for Haj and they had asked Atok and Uncle Jamani to send me back to my residential school in Raub. Atok did that willingly, and we sempat singgah makan lunch at a famous Kari Kepala Ikan shop he used to frequent when he got posted somewhere in Pahang..

I regretted not visiting him often as I should.
But my memories of him as a very very good atok will always be in my heart.
I love you Atok...Semoga Allah menerima doa dan Al-Fatihah Meeha untuk Atok..Thank you for everything you've done for me,Atok. Maafkan Meeha..
Semoga Atok tenang di sana..
Al-Fatihah.