IN MEMORY OF ZOOB

I was going through my old GMails, dating back to 2005. I plan to delete them. I chanced upon this email from my dear friend, the late Zubir Zainal Abidin, or popularly known as Zoob. His untimely death on 22nd July, 2007, just a day after my 57th birthday had left a big dent in the comradeship of our KUTUKINGDOM. The Kutus are the batchmates of students from RMC who enrolled into the College in 1967. We were the Class of 67.


Zoob had always lived life to the fullest. His zest for adventure and challenges became his trademark. In almost all the Kutu activities, he would take the lead, whether it was just a simple Teh Tarek session, a cycling trip, participating in the dualthons or leading the Kutu climb of Mount Kinabalu.


What other better way to remember this great man than immortalising this email he sent out to fellow kutus on occassion of my ROAD TO 55 challenge.


Very soon ARZ will get on his saddle in Perlis and take up what is to be his biggest challenge in his lifetime. Speaking as a truly converted cyclist, it is great fun to ride weekends. However, to ride for 20 days, 100km per day and eating up 2000 odd km is another ball game altogether. The body will ache after the first day of cycling. The skin will burn after three days. The body carbo will be depleted after 5 days. Mentally, you will be sick of the bike after 7 days.

However, our comrade Kutu ARZ have fixed his mind for this ordeal. He had put in a lot of training. Fellow kutus like Pujangga have given him encouragement in form of a brand new Proton mountain bike. He has a deep personal reason to take this challenge and its ok by us if he has yet to reveal it. I got the hint that it is along some spiritual lane.

The other reason which is of no lesser importance and already disclosed is what we must admire. He will end his journey in a home he grew up that have now been converted to an Orphanage. (Allah bless this man). This is where we can join in as fellow Kutus. Lets chip in towards the Orphanage and make this 'ARZ's Road to 55" more memorable. More meaningful not to just ARZ but also to us.

The idea of giving to an Orphanage is noble in the eyes of any religious belief. Its a Universal cause. So lets rally amongst ourselves to make a donation. Please write your cheques to : YAYASAN ANAK-ANAK YATIM KELANTAN. Donations are Tax Exemptable. Receipts will be made available after the ride.

So guys. ARZ is going to burn his legs (and arse) for twenty days. Our role is much easier. Just to pen a few words on the cheque. To the unfortunate orphans, every cent means future to them but I am sure Kutus are capable of Ringgits. Big Ringgits?? The day will come when we will all meet our creator. We appear in front of him with pride that we have been a good worshipper. Have done what He told us to do. Have avoided what He prohibits. But when He asks what we have done to help those that He had made less fortunate than us.....it can get embarassing, right?? So...please chip in and 'make the difference'. Salaam.

Semoga roh mu sentiasa dicucuri rahmat, kawanku Zoob. Amin