Early Life
He was born in St. Julien Village in Princes Town, to Harry "Chote" Sookchand and Kissoondaye Panday, who were both first-generation East Indian Arrivants to Trinidad. Kissondaye's mother, along with her mother, came on the trip via Fiji (they had missed the boat going back to Fiji, so they took the one to Trinidad instead). Sookchand's Uncle, Joseph Hardath Dube was the General Secretary of the East Indian National Association, and was responsible for enrolling Panday in Presentation College, San Fernando. Before the college enrollment, Basdeo attended New Grant Government and St. Julien Cklkl.M. School.
He was the eldest of three boys, the others being Rabindranath and Subhas Panday, another lawyer and formerly Minister in The Ministry of National Security of the Peoples Partnership Government. In Presenation College he received a Senior Certificate. He also was a football player and was said to be " a Tricky Dribbler in the Left Center field" and "prone to one-manship".
In 1957 he was accepted into Lincoln's Inn, London (Law), the University of London (Economics) and London School of Dramatic Art (Drama). Whilst in England, Panday worked as a labourer on a building site, a clerk at the London County Council and an electrician in order to sustain himself through University. Prior to studying and working in London, he worked as a sugar cane weigher for a year at Caroni Ltd., a primary school teacher at Seereram Memorial Vedic, Chaguanas, St Clement Vedic, Barrackpore and as a civil servant at the San Fernando Magistracy, where he took notes for Magistrates Churchill Johnston and former President of Trinidad and Tobago, Noor Hassanali.
He was also an actor and played small parts in several films, most notably " Man in The Middle", with Robert Mitchum. He also performed on the London stage in several plays, one being "The Bird Of Time" in 1961.
In 1965, Panday was awarded a Commonwealth scholarship to pursue a postgraduate degree in economics and political science at the Delhi School of Economics in India. He postponed the scholarship and returned home to practise law in Trinidad because of family commitments and the changing political situation in Trinidad.
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