Newsday photographer Sureash Cholai passes

Sureash Cholai, 58, a senior photographer at TT Newsday, passed away this morning suddenly of an apparent heart attack.

Cholai joined Newsday in December 2003 as a photographer when the company had taken a decision to build its photography team.

Cholai, originally from Cedar Hill, Princes Town went directly to the media from school at ASJA College in San Fernando, joining the T&T Mirror and Sunday Punch, where he rose to the role of senior photographer.

Azlan Mohammed, currently chief photographer of AZPNews, remembered him as an experienced photographer who delivered when TTNewsday’s chief photographer was considering Cholai for the new line-up.

“He knew news, he knew sports,” said Mohammed, “He won awards for his work.”
“He was polite, patient and dutiful on the job, just a great guy.”

In recent years, Cholai’s life was marked by tragedy. After marrying his wife, Sharmilla, he moved into her family’s Santa Cruz home, but three years ago, his wife passed away. Three months ago, his sister-in-law also passed.

Sureash Cholai was deeply interested in his children’s future. His daughter Nadirah recently graduated from UWI in business. His son Ijaz had just completed secondary school and was interested in ICT.

Keen to ensure their future, he’d been pursuing his wife’s gratuity from the public service since her death, hoping to pass it on to his children.

He was due to retire in a year and was looking forward to spending more time with his family.

Stunned by the news and other recent losses in the media community, Azlan Mohammed urged media personnel to be mindful of their health while doing their work.

“He had assignments today,” Mohammed said, “I saw him working a week ago. He seemed fine.”