AL-FATIHAH

I had just returned from town when I received a phone call from an ex-schoolmate informing me that Firdaus Yusoff, one of our friends from high school, had passed away. I knew that he was hospitalised but this was a real shock. Firdaus Yusoff or Oz, as he was fondly known, was a jovial person and was my classmate. We were never really close when we were in high school since he was a 'rocker' and I was not one. Our class had a lot of 'colourful' characters and he was one of them (I only found my 'true colours' after I left school). He also liked to tease me (and another friend, Gush) a lot! He had always been interested in music and music was in his life until he was hospitalised. His first (official) public performance was during our school's Silver Jubilee celebration back in 1982. I might be wrong here but that was the first time I saw him playing. After our public examination, all of us went our own ways and Oz went to one of the public higher learning institutes to further his studies (and played music on the side). Then, his music took over. That was the beginning of his foray into music and he stood by his music till the end. The last time we met was somewhere in Central Market when he was still busking. Through facebook, I managed to get back in touch with a few of my ex-school chums including him. I found out that he was working in Langkawi and from his pictures, he looked truly happy. Now, Oz is gone but the high school memories will always remain. Al-Fatihah.