Excuse the typos as done at 6am on my phone as I undergo dialysis and will only get a laptop later tonight
Penning down a few words in tribute of a friend who lost his 3 year old child is extremely hard to do.
Thus I looked towards music for something to provide me a form of inspiration and it was Eric Claptons "Tears in Heaven" that gave me strength to write something for S. Kumar who returns from Belgium to do the final rites for his beloved son Haarshenn, taken away at such a tender age.
I am certain that there will not be a single dry eye be it at the home of Kumar or the crematorium as we come to terms of just how cruel life can be.
It was in 2010 that Kumar's wife delivered their first son in Malacca and I visited the wife and newly born with Dato Dr. Ramlan Abdul Aziz.
Kumar was at that time at the Asian Games as he put the nations interest first over family, something he has often done.
Even when his father died in 2010, Kumar was keeping goal for Malaysia at the Delhi Commonwralth Games.
Family always came first for Kumar as he often made his way back to his hometown in Tampin whenever opportunity presented itself.
Making sacrifices for the nation was a ritual for Kumar who was voted Asia's best in 2010 and won numerous awards as best goalkeepers in many an international tournament.
His dream has always been to play in the Okympics and now the burden of fulfilling that dream falls on the shoulders of his team mates in Belgium.
Many a time Kumar had played saviour to Malaysian hockey, throwing his body across the goal for the honour of Malaysia.
We cannot bring back what had been taken away by God, but we can jointly pray that Tai Beng Hai and his motley crew will earn the berth to Rio, thus in a way soothing some of the pain that Kumar is undergoing.
No father should undergo what Kumar is going through and we need to stand by him in this trying time.
Rest in peace Haarshenn, knowing well that your father will miss you a lot.
And together we pray that God will give strength to Kumar to overcome this test in life.
