ALTHOUGH enjoying her life in Queen’s, New York, Shamin Dudhnath has never forgotten her Caribbean roots. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, she feels she is ‘half’ Guyanese too, following her marriage to Guyana-born Davindra Dudhnath of New Amsterdam, Berbice.

Shamin has been keeping busy during the pandemic and has been pursuing her interests in music and cooking, and much to the delight of her many Guyanese fans.
She has written a new song in observance of Mother’s Day, called, “A Mother’s Love” that was released in Trinidad earlier this month, paying tribute to her mom, Meera Ragoonanan. “I was inspired to write this song to send out a strong message to cherish your mother when she is alive and not to wait until it’s too late,” Shamin told Pepperpot Magazine.

Life is too short, she acknowledged, especially during this time of the pandemic when life should be appreciated even more. “Put whatever issues aside and live in love and harmony with your mom and everyone else.”

Shamin hasn’t seen her mom in over a year since the pandemic broke out and she said it hurts that she is unable to do anything for her. “She is sickly and I grieve to see her, so with this pain I am going through, I decided to share it with a song that everyone can understand.”

“I love writing songs and singing. I sing a lot of acapella on my Facebook, as well as on my Youtube Channel. Although my channel is based on cooking, I also have some entertainment there. Thanks to my son, he recorded it and forwarded it to my producer, Kishore Wizzy Ramdath,” Shamin explained about her latest production.

Here are some of the lyrics to the song: “A mothers’s love will never end. She will be your best friend. Cherish her every day; don’t do it only when it’s Mother’s Day. She’s the one who took you nine months until you due, the pain that she went through; don’t forget what your mother did for you. She sacrificed a meal or two so she can give to you, she lose her rest during the night so you can be alright; some things she wouldn’t tell you about the struggle she went through, and what she had to do, to grow you up, you really never knew. Worship your mother every day, don’t keep her far away, the blessings that she gives to you will never go away, so do your part and do it now before it is too late; a mother’s love is great, so do your best to get in heaven’s gate.”

Apart from her music, Shamin uses her social media platforms to share her cooking techniques, many of which she learnt from her in-laws in Guyana, to her followers. Known as ‘Shamin Di’, she has a large Guyanese following for her live cooking shows.

Owing to her background, Shamin focuses on West Indian food that can be found throughout the Caribbean and even has a Facebook group called West Indian Delight and Entertainment with over 12,000 members.

She is not a caterer, but because of her passion for cooking, she does her own recipes to share. After she starting getting a lot of positive feedback on social media, she decided to go live regularly to share her recipes.

The response from her viewers, whom she said are made up of about 75 percent Guyanese, motivated her to continue taking to social media to cook live. She even manages a Youtube Channel.
Shamin said she cooks in a setting that is very much like the ones Guyanese enjoy with their drinks, music and family. “I play music while I am cooking, so it’s real home style. I am cooking in the comfort of my home and not in some fancy restaurant,” she pointed out.

She spent a lot of time cooking with her mother-in-law Dhoorpati Jagoo and said she learnt a lot from her when she was younger. She was taught to clap roti, make bara, cassava ball, egg ball, fried channa, and things like that.

Shamin also believes that her love for cooking stems from when she was young and had to ensure she finished cooking before her parents returned home from work in their garden. They were hard workers.
Today, Shamin loves to cook curry and dhal puri. “It doesn’t matter what type of curry, but I just love to cook curry.”