Day +546 : “Ting, is this u?”

I am fine today.

I received the above SMS from an old time course-mate. We were doing our first degree at University Putra Malaysia (UPM) about 19 years ago, and we didn’t meet each other for a long time.

If I knew the position she held in the public service when we met, I would certainly think that I am the candidate for the next Malaysian astronaut. She is Dr. Nafizah Khan, the director of Space Operations and System, Malaysia Space Agency :-)

She was closely involved in the launching of our first astronaut into space by Russian Space Agency, and she is the one who knows the project inside out :-) She brought me so many interesting stories about the project and the space agency.

When she heard about my condition from another course-mate today, she rushed to visit me at Puchong. It was so touching to see her cried when we met last night. “Don’t worry, Kak Nafi, I am still alive,” I comforted her. This showed that the strong friendship that was established long time ago didn’t deteriorate over time at all :-)

Kak Nafi was our class representative. She took care of her class-mates like an elder sister taking care of her younger brothers. All our class-mates, regardless of races and faith, looked for her help when we encountered problem and she never failed to assist us :-)

Based on the conversation with her tonight, I could sense that the determination to uphold principle and integrity in the government agency had turned her hair grey, but this also boosted my respect to her.

“You are still the Kak Nafi that I know before,” I told her before she left.

I am very glad to have a good and caring friend like this.

See you next post :-)