Wednesday 22 July 2009

Uncle Zoob

Kiddos,

I'm sure you all remember Uncle Zoob, your one and only favourite uncle.
How he used to make you laugh at his jokes and his teasings, how he could draw you guys out of your shyness and have you sing while he played his guitar, how clever he was with his camera with you as the subjects of his photography, how versatile he was be it at sports, as a musician, MC, nikah spokesman, imam, etc.



For everything that he did, he put in 101 percent if not more.

Uncle Zoob returned to Rahmatullah 2 years ago today. With Aunty J's kind permission, here is Uncle Zoob's e-mail message to us on the occasion of his 55th birthday in December 2006.

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Thank You
to the Clan.

At 55 today, I join the "warga Emas" sector and tradionally should be off into the retirement phase. However, donning the kain pelaikat and making the beeline to the kampong is no longer the fashion. For me, at least. Born in the Adat Perpateh Clan, I have no kampong. The Perpateh men moves out to build his own kampong.


Hence, Kampong Tropicana it shall be. As far as the kain Peleikat is concerned, my attire can perhaps be described as going in the opposite direction. The shorts are getting shorter. First the biking shorts. Then, the running shorts. Now, the
swimming trunks. I am not a good cyclist. I am not a good runner nor a swimmer.I just want to be a Triathlete. My 2007 target. If age is just a number and the number increases steadily (and rather rapidly too...),there is nothing we can do about it. Come today, even if I shift the numbers around...it remains 55. So, you see I have grown 10 years suddenly. Yesterday, with the "clever" manipulation of figures, I was 45. It does bother me though not to the extent of worrying me. As long as the weight goes down in inverse proportion, I am the happy 55 year old cycling around the country, running 10km within the hour and swimming 1km in 45 minutes.

Alhamdulillah, Allah gives me the interest and ability.
I am blessed being surrounded by a very loving wife who had recently taken up a new additional role as the support car driver and three adult sons who tries very hard to keep up with me on two wheels. I am blessed with the beautiful closeness of the Hassan Clan. I am blessed with the "jemaah" friends who have stuck with me since I knew them 8 years ago. I am blessed with Uztaz Shihabuddin who have yet to surprise me by not turning up in my house on Tuesday nights...for the last 5 years. Thank You all for the best wishes.

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We miss him very dearly, indeed.
May Allah forgive him, have mercy on his soul and grant him Jannatul Firdaus. Amin

Al-Fatihah
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6 comments:

LeZebre said...

One of Uncle Zoob's favourite song he used to belt out Tears in Heaven.

mamasita said...

Al-Fatihah for Uncle Zoob.
Orang nya nampak sangat friendly dan baikhati.May Allah Bless His Soul.

Also, your entry gives me an additional reminder not to waste life being unhappy.And to rajin2 berbuat ibadah.
Why Tuesdays?

Zendra-Maria said...

Thanks mamasita. Not only was Uncle Zoob friendly and baik-hati, he was tough and firm in his decisions when situations warranted.

Tuesday nights were Usrah nights and still are, Alhamdulillah.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for recalling my memories of dear Zoob. I was in Acheh when told of his passing while swimming at his dream triathlon. Among the flood of memories of him that followed was our happy banter 2 weeks back on the goals at keeping fit in our fifties ".. no problems in putting miles of cycling and running, but swimming ...yang tu sure aku mati!"

Zendra-Maria said...

Anon, I'm pretty sure who you are, why don't you tell us about your dream of arwah?

Anonymous said...

It was like one of the clan gatherings with him going to everybody telling how happy he was what with everybody still coming with his/her everyone(s). I told him he looked very well, so youthful, sparkling eyes..(no specs!)and he grinned, flashing very white teeth (I was going to remark you have finally stopped smoking!). Then I woke up.. he had passed away more than a year ago!