.:Mortality:.

My grandmother(Atok Mak, on my dad's side) passed away on Tuesday evening. I received the message that she was critically ill after I got back from Tanjung Bin on a company visit; about half an hour later, I got the message from my mom that she had passed away. Innalillahi wa innailaihiraji'un. To Allah we belong, and to Him we shall return.

I went to Mak Andak's house straight after, where her body was already being cleaned and prepared for burial. I kissed my grandmother one last time, remembering how she used to cook pots of rendang for us, while my late grandfather, Haji Ramli, would teach us kids how to properly cook ketupat in the backyard. I remember once when I was the only one who remained by his side to cook the ketupat, when the rest of the cousins trooped in to watch TV or something. He then taught me how to build a bonfire with a few matches and some kindling. I miss him so much, and now, I realise that I'll miss my grandma too. Time passes. Nothing ever stays the same. If I had it my way, I would've loved to spend the rest of my life stuck permanently in 1988, when I was an innocent wide-eyed kid, unexposed to the passions, the treachery, the complexity and the ultimate mortality of human life. My dad was then my hero (he still is, but from a different point of view), my Atok Bah my source of stories and adventure and Makwe was still strong enough to chase after us when we broke one of her flower pots while playing football.

Try as I might, though, I could never stop the irreversible onslaught of time.

I carried Atok Mak's body to the wash-basin, where she would receive the final cleansing before she is wrapped in the kain kapan or the funeral shroud. Where in life she was a formidable woman, having raised 14 children, in death she was as light as a feather. After the jenazah prayer, we took her to the cemetery, where I did what I could as her grandchild, helping the others pile earth into her grave. I left her after the talqin, under six feet of earth, with the prayers of her children and descendants to keep her company until the Day of Judgment.

Al Fatihah.

Every soul shall have a taste of death: And only on the Day of Judgment shall you be paid your full recompense. Only he who is saved far from the Fire and admitted to the Garden will have attained the object of Life: For the life of this world is but goods and chattels of deception. Ye shall certainly be tried and tested in your possessions and in your personal selves; and ye shall certainly Hear much that will grieve you, from those who received the Book before you and from those who worship many gods. But if ye persevere patiently, and guard against evil,-then that will be a determining factor in all affairs. (The Glorious Quran, Ali-Imran, 185-186)