been married to Pinky for the past 14 years describes her as headstrong, grounded and an amazing mother.
“We had the same circle of friends.
I met her through her brother. What interested me at first were her good looks, but as I got to know her, I saw the similarity in values that we share – most of all, I liked how open minded she was,” Raj shares.’
He recalls their first date held at Carnivore Restaurant, Nairobi as simple, but lovely. “It was an amazing night with great conversations, nothing over the top, but we thoroughly enjoyed the night,” he adds with a smile.
Lovely Pinky
As they got to know each other, Raj had to leave for the UK for further studies. Pinky found a way to join him there and enrolled for a media course in the UK. They courted for a while before finally having their wedding in January 2007.
When asked about the difference between Pinky the mother, wife and the media personality, Raj says Pinky is the same all through. “What you see her as in public is what she is in person, she does not tolerate nonsense even from her children or myself,” he says. He continues to share how his wife is always herself and real all the time. The only side that might be new to the public, is her sense of humour.
The couple, however, has different weather preferences ! “Weird, right? I love cold weather, but my wife hates it and will have electric heaters, extra blankets and hot water bottles in every room. If we lived in cities that drop negative degrees, I wonder how we would have survived,” Raj says.
Four miscarriages
In recent years, Pinky has opened up and shared her tough journey to motherhood, which involved four miscarriages. Her first miscarriage happened in 2008 just one year into their marriage losing the pregnancy at 10 weeks. She, however, got pregnant a year later. At six weeks, it was discovered she had a blighted ovum. This occurs when a fertilised egg implants in the uterus, but doesn’t develop into an embryo.
It is a pregnancy where a sac and placenta grow, but a baby does not. It is also referred to as an anembryonic [no embryo). She again got pregnant for the third time. Fortunately, she carried the pregnancy to term and delivered their daughter Ariyana Raj Sehmi in 2010, through a Caesarian-section because she was afraid of any complication that would arise. When her daughter was one year old, she got pregnant again, but unfortunately, she lost the pregnancy at nine weeks. Five years after their daughter was born, the couple welcomed their son, Arian Didar Sehmi in 2015.
“Any loss is hard. For women, they talk about it and this helps in their healing journey. For us men, there are no outlets or safe spaces for a dad to mourn a child. We are expected to be brave and somehow move on without proper therapy, I believe that men should be allowed to experience loss without judgement and tough love,” Raj shares.