One life begins, another ends.

27th October 2010 was a happy day that my family celebrated and welcomed a new addition to our family, my little nephew - Hazir. He was born at 0048 that day and we were all very excited when he came into this world.

At about noon, i was at the hospital visiting this beautiful new guy when the husband called immediately when he touched down from work. I told him the good news and he too was very happy that all anticipation of whether or not the SIL will give birth that night was over and everything was all okay. A few seconds after, he called again. This time he was the one bearing news. But sadly, not a good one. Our friend, Geeva had passed on. I couldn't believe my ears. "Who?" I asked again, thinking i had heard him wrong. "Geeva?".. Paused. "Geeva?????".. again, in all disbelief. He replied "Yesssss, Geeva..." also from his voice, i could sense that he couldn't even believe himself.

In his next phone call, my husband told me that my cousin is on his way to pick him up to go pay their last respects and visit his family. I was at the hospital still trying to digest the info. We were all still in shock (my eldest brother, the youngest brother, my SIL and me were all having a hard time to get this info across). My brother had texted him along with the others to share the happy news the night before but little did we know he would never receive it. He passed away that same night not long after Hazir was born.

I have been avoiding facebook for a couple of days after bidding him goodbye and seeing so many more on his fb wall. A close friend of his created and dedicated a special page in his memory for us to share fond memories of him when he was living his full life. It just made me so sad. Only then that i got to know that he had such a hard life growing up. Obviously, he never showed it.

Here's a story on how we met..

I got to know Geeva about 4 years ago when he joined our racing team, Kazzen Motorsports. The first time i met him was at the 2007 MME race. I was cleaning up at our pit and was heading for the thrash when he came up to me and said, "let me get that for you..". At that time i didn't even know who he was.

Geeva's recruitment to the team was rather special. As the name 'Kazzen' suggests, the team mainly consists of our voluntary family members (mostly cousins) and friends who share the same passion for cars. When i asked the husband if he had known Geeva long, he told me that he didn't know him before but when they were working together one day, he approached Geeva after observing him in doing his job. He told Geeva about the racing team and asked if he would like to join us at the track some time. They have been friends ever since. Not just with the husband, but the whole clan, me included. It was so easy for everyone to be around him as he was always full of laughter, very hardworking and never once he complained about anything. Needless to say that sincerity always shines through in whatever he does. Just look at his profile picture putting up sticker on the race car. Even that.

He recently told the hubby and my cousin that he would one day loved to do up his car and drive at the track. Sadly, this day will never come. We are very saddened by the unfortunate news especially when he had just passed his exams and had finally become a certified engineer (a Licensed Aircraft Engineer to be exact), full of hope and a promising future ahead. The husband kept repeating that full of regret. But after knowing that cars were his true passion, i am glad that he was given the opportunity to do what he loves best together with the team and that we are very honoured to have the opportunity to have had him on board. For me personally, I am truly blessed to have known one of the nicest person i've ever met.

Today, after the shock from the news, even after reality has seeped in, i still find it hard to believe that he is gone forever. The image of him working on the car, joking around while having meals, calling me 'boss' to annoy me keeps playing in my mind and had brought me to tears. We last saw him in September back at the track, sitting down having kfc together sharing small talks after a private race. I never thought that that would be the last time we ever saw him. I guess we all took advantage thinking that he will always be around....

I hope you know that you are truly an amazing person, Kazzen Geeva. Thank you for everything that you've done for us. You are deeply missed. May your soul rest in peace.