MADAME MAHARAJ
MADAME MAHARAJ
SUCCUMBS TO CANCER
October 31, 2000
Page 8
Trinidad
lost another of its precious gems when “Madame Maharaj”
succumbed to cancer yesterday. Born
Ramdoolarie Maharaj, the 75-year-old internationally accomplished cosmetologist
and hairdresser fought a three-month battle with the disease and died in her
sleep around 5.45 at the Surgi-Med Clinic in San Fernando. Her husband, Sookdeo and five children,
George, Kama, Arrun, Utam and Asha were at her bedside at the time of death.
Madame
Maharaj received the Humming Bird Medal (silver) at this year’s Independence
Day Awards function for community service.
When
Newsday visited Maharaj’s Albert Street home yesterday, an air of sorrow
hung over the household, but Maharaj’s husband and her sons busied themselves
with funeral arrangements.
Other
relatives and friends assembled reminiscing over their beloved Ramdoolarie who
trained thousands of women in the field of cosmetology and hairdressing.
Son
George recalled that his mother spent her last moments very peacefully at the
Clinic. An obviously bereaved Maharaj
said: “Last night (Sunday) she tried to keep her mind active while she waited
for my sister Asha to arrive from Toronto.
She kept counting and chanting and only when she saw Asha she was able
to relax. Then Asha spent the night
with her at the Clinic.”
Maharaj
indicated that while the family knew she suffered from cancer, no one knew what
type of cancer had taken hold of his mother’s body. He revealed that Dr. Ramcharan, a neurosurgeon, attended to her
at the Surgi-Med Clinic where she was treated for cancer, a stroke, and a
broken hip. Only after she was warded
for the broken hip was the cosmetologist diagnosed with cancer.
Even
when Madame Maharaj received the Humming Bird Medal (silver) for charitable
work, in a wheelchair, she was unaware she was stricken with the
life-threatening disease.
When
the news of her death broke yesterday, Oma Panday, wife of Prime Minister
Basdeo Panday, telephoned the family home to express her condolences.
Only
two weeks ago, the Prime Minister and Mrs. Panday visited Madame Maharaj at the
nursing home after opening a jogging track at Palmiste Pastures. Panday and Madame Maharaj had known each
other since childhood and shared a brother-sister relationship. At her High Street hairdresser
business/school yesterday, her students mourned her passing.
Tomorrow,
the Maharaj family will bid farewell to their beloved matriarch, commencing
with a short service at their San Fernando home at 11 a.m., followed by the
cremation at Mosquito Creek according to Hindu rites.
GRANDE DAME LEAVES
LASTING LEGACY
MADAME MAHARAJ FOUNDS AND INSPIRES
ARISTA AND SACHA –
COSMETICS OF INTERNATIONAL RENOWN
November 1, 2000
Page 20
San Fernando celebrity Ramdoolarie Maharaj, better known as Madame Maharaj, died on Monday at the age of 75. she succumbed after a long battle with cancer at the Surgi Med Nursing Home, three weeks after she was hospitalized.
A legend in San Fernando, Madame Maharaj touched the lives of thousands of persons in several capacities – as hairdresser, cosmetologist, teacher, cultural ambassador and social worker.
Born to Pundit Rama Wasi Upaidai in Chaguanas on December 13, 1924, Maharaj grew up in a staunch Hindu home. She attended Naparima Girls’ High School.
As a young girl, she defied her mother and signed up for a hairdressing course – the start of a career which would eventually take her to London, Paris an Las Vegas for training.
She was awarded a Bachelor of Beauty Award for her work in beauty culture in 1949, before going to France where she was dubbed Madame Maharaj.
With her husband Sahadeo, Maharaj opened the largest beauty salon in San Fernando on Sutton Street. Her accomplishments included creating the Arista, and inspiring the Sacha, lines of cosmetics.
Fluent in Hindi and Sanskrit, she was the recipient of the Jagritis Award by the Hindu Women’s Association. She was presented with the Certificate of Excellence from the City of San Fernando and was made an honorary member of the Spiritual Shouter Baptist faith.
Maharaj was also nominated for the Guardian’s Woman of the Year Award, and earlier this year received the Humming Bird Medal (silver) for community service.
A mother of six, Maharaj trained more than 4,000 students in hairdressing and cosmetology, which gained her the title of Grande Dame of Beauty.
Her son Kama, founder/owner of Sacha Cosmetics and chairman of the ruling United National Congress, said yesterday that Prime Minister Basdeo Panday and his wife Oma had extended personal condolences to the family on behalf of the executive and membership of the party.
A statement from the party said Madame Maharaj was “a very enlightened and spiritual person who touched the lives of many – not only in San Fernando where she lived, but throughout Trinidad and Tobago.”
He said Panday shared “a brother-sister relationship” with his (Kama’s) mother, having lived in the same house for many years. He was, however, unable to confirm if the Prime Minister would attend the funeral.
The body of Madame Maharaj is scheduled to be cremated at the Shore of Peace, Mosquito Creek, today at 1 p.m.