Goodbye Cousin Pete ; Gone Too Soon. Peter Abisheganaden (1960 - 2024)

 

The cousins (circa 2010) at Selangor Sports Club

From left : Me, Peter and Gerard 

My first cousin, Peter Abisheganaden, who was 2 years my senior, passed away last week on the 8th Feb 2024 around 5.15 pm. It was a major shock to all in the Abisheganaden family, close friends, business associates. The polo community worldwide was in shock as Peter had been a tremendous ambassador of the sport since he ventured into it, in his early teens.

He leaves behind his beloved wife of 28 years, Natasha, and 3 beautiful children, Zack, Zaine and Zulaiha. 

We were close when we were in our tween years. Peter and Jacintha are the children of my father's younger sibling Alex Abisheganaden. 

I remember fondly the days in the late 60s to mid 70s when we went almost weekly to Uncle Sudan's (as he was fondly called by all members of the family) place to have some dinner made by Aunty Eileen's maid. They lived in a single storey bungalow along Jalan Pemimpin those days till about the late 1980s.

Peter moved up to Malaysia, in the early 90s if I recall him telling me. After his migration up North, I met him perhaps less than a dozen times over the 30 years he has been in Malaysia. I recall we all went for his wedding to Natasha in 1995.

He was a gentleman, a great guy and someone whom I had looked up to when I was in my early teens.

One memory I recall back in those salad days was when we were in his garden and I wanted to practice my karate moves. So he put on his boxing gloves and danced around me, jabbing me. I was confused and got one square on my jaw, and went down. I never forgot that contest as I thought I was invincible with my karate. 

His love for horses, horse riding as well as show jumping etc was developed in the late 70s. I believe he represented Singapore in equestrian jumping and won the SEA games gold medals in the 90s.

A true avid sportsman, talented businessman, father, husband and all round great ambassador of the sport of kings.

Rest well, Pete. We had so many missed opportunities in this life.