Valiama

Lady Valiama Narain (1869-1954) was the Tamil Matriarch, daughter of Tamil East Indian immigrants coming from the city of Nagappattinam in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. Valiama spent quite a few years on the island of Martinique where she and her parents were indentured.

Valiama married at a very early age to a young man by the name of Matrizan and adapted to the french society. They had a daughter together Anise. Problems arose between Valiama and Matrizan's family, and Valiama left Martinique with her daughter Anise who was 3 at the time, her mother Peroumal, and sister Alice around 1888 to arrive in Trinidad, where she worked with the De Boissiere family who owned the Champs Elysee Estate in Maraval Trinidad. Tamil being her mother tongue she spoke French creole and English Fluently. Valiama was an excellent cook mastering in French culinary and was taught by her mother the art of massage. Her abilities were so high in demand Valiama built a great relationship with her clients and hosted parties and massage sessions.

Shortly after her arrival to Trinidad Valiama was around twenty when she was approached by a young Tamil east Indian immigrant who settled in Trinidad by the name of Narain The two made an excellent match and Peroumal Valiama's mother had arranged for them to marry and settle at her home on cotton hill. Narain had adopted Anise Valiama's daughter from her frist marriage and they together had several children of whom seven survived. In order was: Julia, Victorine, Mayotte, Edmund, Imelda, John, and Marie Louise (known as Susi). They all had Western and french names due to Valiama being Roman Catholic. Alice Valiama's sister met a young man by the name of Gosine and settled in Todd's Road Rio Claro. Around 1900 Anise was a 15 year old young woman and was sought out by a young man just 18 by the name of Tamby Pillai who wanted to marry her.Tamby's father Shiva Subromaniam Pillai who had emigrated to Trinidad from the city of Coimbatore in the southern state of Tamil Nadu on the John Allen Ship in 1873 got together with Valiama to discuss further arrangements about the marriage of their children. The two were married and settled they had eight children in order, Pulleh, Babe, Armogam known as (Edward Joseph), Christo, Rita known as (Little Ma), Lucile, Elsie, and Sylvan born 1925.

Valiama's mother grew old and they had to care for her. Some time after 1914 Peroumal passed away and was given a Traditional Tamil funeral, a horse drawn hearse proceded by drummers and pennies thrown in front of the moving hearse and collected by mourners with sacred prayers by the Pujari or Pundit - (Priest), She was buried at Lapeyrouse Cemetery. Suddenly after the birth of Valiama's last child Susi, Narain passed away leaving her with their seven children and none were adults as of yet. Times were tough, but as usual Valiama supported her family with her profession of Culinary and Masseuse and she also bought cows to generate dairy for sale. As Valiama's children got older they all married Julia to Lutchman, Victorine to Chubbiah, Mayotte to Chatee, Imelda to Narine they had 7 children in order, Florence known as Akaa, Eugene known as Clayton Dada, Peter known as Sweeny Dada, Cecilia known as Doreen, Robert known as Tuggy Dada, Kelvin or Carlo known as bella boy, Teresa known as Daisy, and Loretta known as Marion. , Edward to Helena Maycock, and Susi to Venkaya.

Lady Valiama died in 1954 at the age of 85 yrs and was buried in Mucurapo Cemetery in Trinidad leaving a legacy of rich Tamil East indian culture to the caribbean. Her riches was in her large family as her descendants are blessed by her gracefulness

References: de Verteuil, Anthony. 1989. Eight East Indian Immigrants: Gokool, Soodeen, Sookoo, Capildeo, Beccani, Ruknaddeen, Valiama, Bunsee ISBN 976-8054-25-5