The Pundit’s wife

HEADS TURN as Nalini Persad steps out of her Toyota Hilux and walks briskly toward the decorated shed where her husband, Pundit Balram Persad, will be conducting a religious ceremony for hundreds of devotees. She quickly becomes engrossed in the Hindu ceremony, closely following the service in the Holy Ramayan as her husband leads the devotions. Attending yagyas (prayer meetings) — this one took place the Jankie’s residence on Mandingo Road, Princes Town — is a regular part of life for this attractive 42-year-old mother of six and grandmother of one.

She firmly believes that her deeply religious lifestyle has given her the strength and ability of persevere in her multiple roles as wife, mother and working woman. “Without the presence of God in one’s life there are always problems,” she explained. “When you have done your devotion, only then you are able to gain the strength you need to battle the problems that pop up from day to day.” Nalini,  a lab assistant at the Swaha Hindu College in Sangre Grande, insists that she is only able to successfully maintain her busy schedule because of her faith. “I am not in control, God is. I wake every morning at 4 am and within two hours I do most of my household chores and I am ready to get out the door to another job that awaits me.

Then on evenings I have enough time to take a rest, prepare dinner and get ready to go out for religious service in any part of the country.” Through it all, she said, her family comes first. “Women are homemakers first we need to do the maths with time management. That ten minutes we spend doing absolutely nothing can catch up with us if we are not careful. Even if we have to take in a movie we need to organise the time to do it,” she said. Born in Arima to Kemraj and Sybil Maharaj, young Nalini had just finished her O’ Level exams and was about to get her first job when she met her husband. They got married when she was 17.

According to Nalini, life as a pundit’s wife is very fulfilling. She said she has received a lot of inspiration and guidance from her husband and in-laws and also her own parents. She credits them for the successes she has achieved as a wife and mother. “A lot of people say they have major problems with their in-laws. In fact many marriages fall to pieces because of interference from in-laws. However, I met humble and unique individuals who wanted to do everything to make sure I was happy. I thank God for leading me into a second home that was so beautiful.” However, Nalini has faced some major challenges — one of the biggest was having to take care of twin sons and hold down a full-time job at the same time. It all worked out in the end and Vasistha and Varishtha are healthy young men who have excelled academically. Her youngest son Vinayak who is just ten years old is also very much into the religious work.

Daughters Ambika, 24, Swatika, 19, and Chandika, 18, have also excelled academically and are now living fulfilling lives working and doing their spiritual work in the Swaha temple. Nalini said as a mother she had to set an example in her own life for her daughters to follow. “If a young girl is constantly looking at her mother struggling and seeing that she does everything for her family’s happiness, she will be forced to do all that is right. Even if she finds herself entertaining the negative thoughts, somewhere in the back of her mind she will be reminded of the kind of family she belongs to.”