A few months ago I met this amazing couple Suzette and Bhawani Persad at a wellness fair. I went to that assignment to cover a story on a man who is a triple amputee and an Ironman Triathlon athlete. He was cool enough, but meeting Suzette and Bhawani and hearing their story was very moving. Their story was an amazing story. I go to work everyday with hopes that I find an amazing story to write. Somedays, I get those stories, and that makes me want to be a journalist. So I hope you enjoy my story of Suzette and Bhawani – it certainly is a beautiful one, and to date, my favourite article. 

 

The Story of Suzette and Bhawani Persad  

Suzette Persad fell in love with her blind husband, Bhawani, the day he told her that “God made me in his image and his likeness, and I am perfect just the way I am.”

Suzette is physically challenged with a walking impediment, and until that day hated being born that way; however, Bhawani’s love of his life and disability made her love herself too.

“I never liked my disability. I wondered why I was the only disabled person in my family. But if Bhawani could say God made him beautifully when he cannot see colours, see life, then I, who can see, could love myself,” she told Newsday.   

Suzette, 44, and Bhawani, 55, have been married for 13 years. They met when Suzette was 31-years-old, and Bhawani has been the only man she has ever dated.

“At that time, I was not allowed to date because I was differently-abled. My mother did not allow me to date, so we started dating over the phone,” she said.

A friend of Suzette’s introduced her to Bhawani. She was looking for a job, and he was looking for a guide as a visually impaired person.

“I was monitoring the news for him. I used to do it at home, but he said he needed to meet me. After he met me, he told me he was not interested in working with me, but getting to know me better.

“I was taken aback, I was not thinking anything along those lines, so I told him I was not interested in dating,” Suzette said.

She told Newsday she was scared of getting into a relationship because her family kept her protected. She said, “I was scared. I was not interested in boyfriends and dating. And mummy used to ask me how could I be interested in a visually impaired person. She said we wouldn’t make it.”

Bhawani was persistent in his pursuit of Suzette. He constantly told her that they should give it a chance regardless of what others thought of them. He subtly courted her over the phone by calling her every day, and eventually, Suzette fell in love with him.

“We talked about how we were going to cope on our own. He said what I could not do, he could do. Bhawani always says he is my feet, and I am his eyes,” Suzette said.

Before Suzette met Bhawani, she was kept at home. She said she was home doing nothing but Bhawani encouraged her to become educated and get a job. He sent her to computer classes, and through that, they were able to have their first and only “real” date.

“He was sending me to computer classes. One day he called me, and said don’t go to class. Instead, I went over by him. We ate, and laughed, and enjoyed being alone together.

“But my mom caught me. She called and asked if I was in school. I told her yes, but she said I was lying because she could hear cars in the background.”

Suzette got grounded that day. She said though she was 31-years-old, her mother always tried to protect her.

“You always feel helpless when you are challenged. No matter how educated you are, people always see you as helpless. He (Bhawani) changed my life. He showed me that life as a challenged person does not end at one point as long as you put your mind to it,” Suzette said.

Bhawani proved it to her many times, but the most outstanding moment Suzette could recall was the day he met her family. 

“He always wanted to meet my family. He wanted to speak to my mother. One day, he showed up at my house in Santa Flora. He showed up unannounced, in the rain, without any assistance,” she said.

Bhawani did not have the exact direction to Suzette’s home, but he insisted that he had to prove to her family that he was capable of taking care of Suzette.

“I was shocked. He spoke to mom, and my parents finally gave their blessing to our relationship,” she said.

After that day, Bhawani made frequent trips to Suzette’s home to spend time with her and her family.

Even though he got to frequently visit Suzette, he called her every night to talk, and they would talk for hours. One day, Bhawani went to Suzette’s home, and asked her if she wanted to go to Gulf City.

In the middle of their “second date” Bhawani got on one knee and asked Suzette to be his wife. She had no idea  that he was going to propose, but she said yes to him immediately.

Six months after the pair met, they vowed to spend the rest of their lives together at a small wedding at Suzette’s family home on January 28, 2000.

Though Suzette’s parents welcomed Bhawani into their family, they were still concerned for the couple as disabled persons.

“Mummy was concerned that both of us are disabled. The hardest thing was to get people to realise that we could make it on our own, but when people see us, they think we are helpless,” Suzette said. The couple has lived alone for the past 13 years without any assistance, proving those who doubted them wrong.

For Suzette, one of the happiest moments in her marriage was the day Bhawani took her to get a passport.

“One of the first gifts he gave me was the opportunity to travel. A day he met me in Siparia, and he said he was carrying met to get a passport,” she said.

The couple has traveled to many places around the world. The first place Bhawani took her was to Barbados on their honeymoon. The pair has also traveled to other countries like Pakistan, India and St Lucia because of Bhawani’s involvement in blind cricket.

“I thought in the beginning we would not last because a lot of people said we wouldn’t, but we are still so much in love. We talk about everything, and that is what makes us so wonderful,” Suzette said.

Suzette and Bhawani have had a lot of challenges in their marriage over the years. She admits that one of the most difficult parts of their relationship is that she and Bhawani are yet to conceive a child.

“For me, that is the most challenging. We would do anything to have a baby,” she said.

The couple has tried to conceive for their entire marriage, and have even visited the Trinidad and Tobago IVF Fertility Clinic to explore their options. However, they cannot afford the fees the clinic charges.

Despite this hurdle, the couple remains devotedly in love with each other. After 13 years of marriage Suzette is still in awe of her husband. She told Newsday “After all this time, he still loves me. He gives me chocolates and flowers. He always had such a way for making problems easy. He makes me smile, makes all the problems go away. I thank God every day that I have him.”

 

This story first appeared in the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday on July 21, 2013