From the day I landed in Oman, I have interacted with Adil Mansur for a host of issues – from visa to resident card to admin issues to HR issues. He is the Admin Manager of our company, and I had a very good rapport with him. Whenever we bumped into each other in the corridor, he would say, “kief halak” (which means, ‘how are you’, in Arabic), and enquire how much of Arabic skills I had mastered in my two years of stay in Oman. Whenever I pounced on him for some serious issues, he would cool it down with his clean wit and cheeky smiles. For me, he was one Omani in office, who would speak very good English, and had solution at hand for anything and everything.

Today morning, I was glancing through the newspaper and was dumbstruck looking at a condolence message. A couple of calls later, my fears came true. Adil had died of a heart attack yesterday night. I am going to miss him.