Of course. When I sat for the Bar exams, the guy next to me was Aaron Abraham. He was  then 59.

We became friends.  I asked what had delayed him. He said he had to help out with the family. He had numerous brothers and sisters. He was the eldest. So it is customary in Malaysia that the eldest son takes over the role of the father. He did. I could relate to that. He went into the police force. He became an officer. He rendered yeoman service for 30-odd years. Eventually he became a big shot police officer.

When he retired, he completed his law degree. Finally he sat for the Bar exams. It was rather difficult for him. But he had a quality which inspires me to this day.  He was not one to complain.  He did not say his joints hurt.  He did not complain about his blood pressure.  Or that he did not know how to use a computer.  All he had was a pen and a notepad.  He was industrious. He was single-minded.

We often met for group studies.  There is no other way to understand the law; especially the Bar Finals. Whenever I showed a lack of understanding in any area, he’d take me aside.  We’d sit down.  He’d teach me the principles, one at a time, from ground up. He didn’t have to, but he did. We sat for the same papers,  in the same hall.  When I got through my CLP exams (decades ago) I drove straight to his house and thanked him personally.  He declined to accept my gratitude.  ‘It was all your work’, he said.

We both got into the Bar.

I remained in the city.  He went off to the north to Kelantan, and started a fledgling practice in criminal law. As an ex police officer that was his forte.  That was 1994.   Soon he became a big shot criminal law practitioner.

Twenty years on, I was asked to speak at a seminar.  It was a technical area of the law. The hall was crowded. Some participants stood at the aisles. I have a habit of pacing the hall while speaking. An hour into the seminar I wandered, as I was wont to do, to the rear of the hall.

Right at the end, near the entrance sat an elderly, grey-haired man, bent over,  consulting his seminar notes.

Although he was quite tall, he did not draw attention to himself.

And then he looked up to regard me with a smile on his face.  A sunbeam it was! And it was Aaron Abraham!

He is now over 80.  He still gets to court every morning, as sprightly as ever.

If he can do it, why can’t you?