The Unexpected News

"Auntie, attendance!" That's one of the normal dialogue lines in my UNGS
2040 class - Islam, Knowledge & Civilization. Auntie is Ms. Selvarani, one of the three 'senior' students in the class together with Uncle Chew and Mr. Shukri. All of them are students of Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws. She's a police officer and I suspect that's the main reason why Bro. Hikmatullah had chosen her to be the class monitor of a bunch of (mostly) young people from all over the globe. So far, this is the most internationally diverse class I've attended in IIUM - with students from China, Egypt, Africa, India, UK, and several other countries. Not to mention that thelecturer himself is from Singapore.

Although the class is for Islamic studies subject, both Auntie and Uncle Chew participated actively in the class making the class very lively. As the class is made up mostly of presentations and discussions their participation is really felt among the generally not-so-active younger students. Being the class monitor Auntie keep tab on our attendance on behalf of the lecturer. A bit overkill using a police officer to check on students attendance eh? She'll also SMS the lecturer when he's late and ask wether the class is on or not. Either way we'll still sign the attendance.

Today I came to class a bit late with a sleepy head and quite surprised a low turnout. 'Class cancelled again maybe,' that's what I thought so I start looking for Auntie. To my surprise she's not there - an oddity considering her almost perfect attendance. I sensed something amiss when I saw the lecturer sitting in front instead of standing and Uncle Chew is reading a report from a Chinese newspaper. He's reading a report of a fatal accident, and I wonder what it have to do with the class. Missed most of the story I ask the other Firdaus - what happened? 'Auntie passed away in an accident'

The news shocked me, I took quite sometime to accept it. It seems so unreal, I still could imagine her sitting a few seats across me handing out the attendance and her cheerful demeanor. But seeing the sombre faces of other classmates brought me to reality. The class was cancelled today but not before the lecturer announced that we are all awarded ten marks for being her colleague. As a result, the test also deferred to another week.

11 September 2006
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Deepest condolonces to the family of Asst. Supt. M. Selvarani