Complications

My father, whom I missed, passed away whilst on holiday. The complications are immense... I normally don't blog such morbid stuff but I cannot bring myself to blog about nice things and happy thoughts.

When a person passes away in a foreign land, one needs to make a decision whether to repatriate the body back, or to cremate and bring the ashes back. That was one decision point I had to go thru.

Repatriating the body back is also another headache. It is not cheap. For my dad, it will cost me close to 5K Euro. I need to start moonlighting at Jalan Chow Kit to make up for the expenditures.

And if you thought that having tons of cash expedited matters, you are wrong. You need all manners of certificates from the foreign land like death certificates, burial cert, enbalming cert, doctor reports, police reports etc etc.. all things that will drive you crazy.

Already I am multi tasking between work and planning for my father's "trip back home". Getting the approvals is another headache. My father passed away on Tuesday morning. It is now Thursday night. I don't know when my father will be sent back.

As I write this, I feel an immense heaviness in the heart, an immense heaviness in the eyes. Yes, I can simply blame work.. (which I still have to do, if not I cannot pay the bills.. for all of you who still think I am paid a lot, I keep telling you I am not. Please believe me). I owe it to my father, who has thought me the virtues of working hard.. I remember the times when I finished my SPM. Straight away he threw me this book and forced me to learn typing. That's why a lot of you wonder how come I can type so well. It is my father's guidance.

Yes, there are a lot of things attributed to my father. He had a bald patch.. my school friends used to say that Phil Collins was my dad. I am also balding.

My father has a very strong silent characteristic who will support his students during exams and during his teaching days. I guess some of that also rubbed off on me.

I pray that the red tape gets cleared soon so that my father will be back home soon.