@TeeAssBee on Twitter or Tuan Senang Besar on Facebook was a man I get to know from social media. Yesterday, he was no more. This is an account on how he existed or what I perceived of him and it has a lot to do with how social media connects us.
Kharis, his real name died on 13th of October 2011 while he was running somewhere near his house. I got to know the news through Twitter upon waking up at 8am. It was from @rafairahman (who will hate me linking his name here) about not believing that Kharis is gone. I didn't too. I asked my wife to really read all the tweets coming in while I took a shower. I came out of the shower seeing my wife making a call. She hung up and she said, through Abby Latif, another twitter friend, the news was confirmed. I told my partner and office that I am taking the whole day off.
I stayed awhile at the morgue and saw his remains, saw friends started to turn up (mostly from social media) and I followed the whole event until the moment his remains were on the way to the cemetery. As I have my own family matter to take care off, I didn't follow the funeral procession. Between the morning until the moment of send-off, you can see how well-known was this person. At 35 he had touched so many life. I wish I could say the same about me.
When I first met him I was afraid to talk to him or more like didn't find the need to talk to him. It was at Las Vacas, a butchery which serves cooked steak too which I have been hunting all my life to exist in Malaysia. It seems that they have existed two or three years before 2010, the year I discovered them but if not for social media and @TuanSenangBesar (his tweethandle then) I would have never discovered it. It seems he was also the one who set up the Twitter account of @lasvacas and then relentlessly promoted it. If not for it, I wouldn't have known a few other people from Twitter. And to think that, the night before the tragedy struck
#RockKapak is the hashtag we created among a few friends on Twitter who appreciates good music which mostly comes from the rock scene in 70s and 80s, from rock band long forgotten. The Online Pub was where we held the gatherings every Thursday and Sunday. Those who had the gall to sing did and @TeeAssBee's favorite was Kamelia from Sweet Charity.
He is also a good eater. Unlike most who knew him through running and his exercise regime, I met him more at the eateries than anywhere else. I did doubt some of his preference but as a fellow eater, I can appreciate his eclectic taste in food. As for his exercise regime which seemed to have made him a few friends, I only trekked with him once with a Twitter group which trekked nearly every weekend (once).
If you read or talk to anyone else, it was never easy to say good thing about his demeanor. He asserted himself until you feel he was a snob. I guess it was just his way of making a statement. I can relate as a fellow person who is as big as him, who realised you will never get the world delivered to you on a silver platter, you fight for it and you stand your ground.
I never had long conversations with him or I can claim I know him as a great friend. However, a young man died at nearly the same age as me. That affect me a lot...
#RIPTSB
Here are other blogs which posts are dedicated to him :
His blog : TSB in Bolehland
The Cosmic Abyss by Abby Latiff
Rambles of My Head and Heart by Lotfi Ismail
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