Well, now I am living it and honestly, it sucks.
Your death was tragic and that element makes it so difficult to heal properly. The sudden collapse of Hotel Christopher, and the brutal nature of the whole ordeal makes it so difficult to separate my suffering from yours. Your pain lingers in my sorrow. Those last few minutes that you never had are so long for me that I have tried to imagine every conceivable scenario of how you left us. But in all cases, one thing remains constant, your calm demeanor. I am certain that you left this world with calm amidst the chaos of the quake.
I am almost certain of one thing, you were thinking of Jafar in those last few minutes you never had. Well, he is the only thing that is left here from you.
You left so quickly just the way you would get up and leave when you were amonsgt us. I have to let people relive this story, so they can appreciate your impatient nature- not that it makes a difference nowadays.
One time Mamadou decided he wanted to help Yebe (one of his younger sisters) move while he was on vacation here in DC. After 15 minutes of "helping", he came to me with a very serious demeanor and asked me to get him home. I replied: "you are not possibly serious?" I could not believe it, but yes he was serious and an hour later, we were on our way back home. That's Mamadou in a nutshell. Unpredictable and blunt like you can't imagine.
Another time when I was supposed to meet him on the platform at the Bethesda metro station but couldn't find him even after waiting for a long time. When I got home I found out that he had in fact been on the platform but in his impatience had only waited for 3 min before I arrived and left because I was late. He even called me later to shout: "Hah! that will teach you to respect your word!" I was perplexed and told him: "well, I think you are the one you wasted two hours riding the metro from Gaithersburg to Bethesda."
You meant a lot- actually you meant so much. We realize how wise and honest you actually were. You were a purist (literally) I must say. You always corrected me in mid sentence when I used the wrong grammar or when I spoke FRENGLISH. You kept oil from mixing with water. In chemistry there is a process to make that happen (don't ask me what it is called?) but you made sure that only the elements that needed to meet actually met. Your discretion is something that at times I tried to understand but Da Kadi said it best, "your left hand never knew what the right one was doing."There has been so much happening lately that I believe you would have enlightened me on. Guinea had its first presidential elections and a civilian government will be put in place in the comming weeks. How much we would have talked about that! How ironic, you were the one always giving the scoop on what was going on but now it is my turn to tell you what you probably already know is insignificant news.
On January 12, 2011, it will be one whole year since you died. I have lived it with you in my mind every day. I wake up sometimes thinking about you. I sometimes am mad at you for not taking a vacation right after your boss returned from his or taking a sabatical. Why did you not quit that job a year earlier? Why did you not leave the office to go get a coffee next door? Why did you not call in sick that day? Why did you not respect the meeting you had with your colleague at 16:30? Why did you not go outside for a walk? Why did you not accept the private equity deal your friend was offering you in Washington a year earlier? Why? Why? Why? So many decisions I assumed are the correct ones if they could have saved your life. Sometimes, I get the answer, FAITH, ALLAH!
Kadiatou came back from Mecca, and I respectfully should call you El HADJ MAMADOU BAH. I pray that ALLAH accepts you in his kingdom. May your hadj be accepted with grace and benediction. May your soul rest in PEACE!
MAHMOUD BAH
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