Poems that he liked include those by Tagore and
Tennyson. He often gifted selected books to friends
and acquaintances.
His greatest bequest or parting request to all is a
poem by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) entitled
Remember which reads:
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann’d:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late then to counsel or to pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
—-Pathy’s pithy and poignant parting words
indeed.
Pathy first encountered this poem by chance in
1952 at the Picton Library in Liverpool.
In 1951 he had won the first prize in the all- Malaya
Students Essay Competition on ‘Citizenship: The
Meaning and Implications’ and the prize was
awarded at the SAHC Assembly Hall by the then
British High Commissioner in Malaya, Sir Henry
Gurney himself. In 1994 Pathy was made an officer
of Order of the British Empire (OBE).
He is survived by a brother, Bavanandan, nephews,
nieces, other family members and friends.
V A Pathy, the second son of the late Mr & Mrs
C V Samy of Alor Star was of the pioneer 1951
batch of Malaysians selected to attend a two- year
teacher training programme in Kirkby, England.
Upon completing the course and returning to
his hometown he taught English and History at
two schools there, including his Alma Mater -the
Sultan Abdul Hamid College - for more than a
dozen years.
In 1962 he proceeded to the UK to pursue
successfully an unending series of degree courses
culminating in a Master’s from the London School
of Oriental and African Studies. Meanwhile as a
conscientious champion of the downtrodden
and marginalised he also embarked on a career
of pleading in civil proceedings at the UK’s Royal
Courts of Justice at the Strand in London until
1994.
This long self-imposed sojourn in the UK did
not deter him from being in close touch with
his parents and siblings then settled in Kota
Kinabalu, the Klang Valley and Penang. In
London he was the ever reliable guide and loyal
local host to Malaysian visitors, including some
family members. For a time he was also betrothed
to his sweetheart from, by chance, his hometown.
Pathy’s passion for lifelong friendships and
learning, the English language, literature and
classical music sustained him well into his late
80s when he returned to Malaysia. He was a
solicitous host, an entertaining raconteur, a
bibliophile with an extensive book collection, a
lover of poetry and prose and had always reached
out with affection to his siblings and their family
members.
Needless to say he was a good and reliable friend
to those who knew him.
