Shivana Persad: The role of woman in the Festival of Lights

KIERAN ANDREW KHAN

Dr Shivana Persad always knew that she would pursue the medical sciences. It’s not just that her dad was also a doctor (PhD but nonetheless). Or that her grandfather would always encourage and challenge her to attain the same in education as her father. It was something more – stemming from something this country needs more of – her empathy and understanding of other people.

“Divali is our family’s favourite time of the year,” the doctor, wife and first-time mother to a two-year-old son noted. But when she refers to her family, she is not just pointing to her immediate family unit, but the wider clan of uncles, aunts, cousins and more that comprise the family behind SWAHA International – a Hindu non-profit organisation started in 1993 by her grandfather.

“My grandfather had seven children, six of them sons and those six became pundits; one of which is my father,” she explained. “Apart from the well-known aspect of light over darkness, it’s important to remember that this is when we celebrate Mother Lakshmi. As a woman, wife and mother that says a lot to me.

"Sometimes being in the multiple roles required of a woman you also feel as if you do need the four arms that Mother Lakshmi is symbolised as having,” she pointed out. “Those four arms are to represent the goals of humanity as preached by Sanatan Dharam or Hinduism which are dharma (pursuit of ethical, moral life), artha (pursuit of wealth, means of life), kama (pursuit of love, emotional fulfilment) and moksha (pursuit of self-knowledge, liberation). Her role is to impart these tenets to mankind on a large scale,” the doctor explained.

"My recent experience as a mother and a woman reminds me that I have many roles on a smaller scale, one of which is to a tiny human who will become part of the larger society. So at this time, I take the time to reflect on the role of the woman in society – the mother, the wife and sister, the aunt and more. Now being able to raise a child as a mother myself and to contribute, that’s very important to me. This time of Divali, where we celebrate this awesome goddess, is truly meaningful to me as a woman and a mother.”

Women are at the centre-point of her family’s celebrations too. “We all live in the same area, it’s something that my grandparents insisted on and we still do to this day. So we start the day by going to my grandmother’s house where all the women in the family get together to cook. After that, we go back home to light up and then return to our family’s home – our grandparent’s house. And since I was a child, my grandmother would then bless each of us with some kajol before the end of the night,” she recalled. “That aspect of Divali – family – is the heart of the celebration for me.”

Persad’s sense of enlightened purpose comes from many things. After graduating from St Augustine Girls’ High School and completing her MBBS at Mount Hope in 2006, she went on to graduate as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, making her an eye specialist by 2014. Along the way, she served in many capacities in SWAHA International from a child, playing the keyboard in temple and studying Hindi on weekends which also smoothed the pressures of medical school in the later years. Her specialisation in Ophthalmology also was something that she had in mind since she was a child. Having first considered several other branches of medicine she arrived at her decision based on the impact it would have in her patients’ lives.

“If you don’t have your voice, or your hearing, yes it impacts your life and greatly so. But if you can’t see – it robs you of your independence at least initially and certainly affects the quality of life of your family as well. I get a great sense of purpose knowing that my work can help to improve the lives of people I am in contact with at Mount Hope,” she noted. Her husband is also an eye specialist and the young couple often spend consecutive weeks on 24-hour call, meaning that for one week they must respond to any calls at any hour in that week. “I would have had to resign my job if it wasn’t for my parents who help out so much especially on those weeks of call,” she chimed in.

SWAHA International has helped to provide a healthy framework as well to her busy life. “We believe in non-violence and in helping others. So we ascribe to vegetarianism and advocate for holistic lifestyles that include activities like yoga. It’s a very scientific approach to religion with a solid base and organisation behind it,” the doctor revealed. “I do believe that every human being has some godliness in them and between my contributions as a person in helping others, in my profession and especially as a mother, it has really heightened my ability to empathise and channel that as a tool in every facet of my life,” she mused.

For the foreseeable future, after 14 years of graduate study, including some of the toughest medical exams to complete her Fellowship, Persad is looking forward to enjoying her life with her husband and son. “Everything is in place after so many years of work and sacrifice so I am genuinely looking forward to serving as best as I can in my profession and turning my attention to my son who’s just started off in school. It’s funny that just as I have completed that aspect of my education we now have our son started on his, but that’s all just the cycle of life,” she concluded. As we celebrate the festival of lights, it would do us all well to embrace the knowledge that life is indeed cyclical and that we are here to help as best as we can in the time that we have.