By Alex Davidson
Chan Jamoona said she decided to open the city's only vegetarian Hindu senior center in South Ozone Park because her house was just too small to host, feed and entertain all her mother's guests, who regularly came to socialize during all hours of the day.
So in October 1998, Jamoona got together with friends and family and decided to open the United Hindu Cultural Council's Senior Center in her own home using her own private money and her house as a headquarters. The group would later move to a new, 5,000-square-foot facility at 118-09 Sutter Ave.
“My house was so busy I didn't have space for anything,” Jamoona laughed as a semi-closed office door dulled the Hindu songs sung by the senior citizens. “I would listen to their stories, their problems, about how they were finding it difficult to mix in – (the guests) needed a place to get together.”
What started off as a household operation initially funded privately and by former Borough President Claire Shulman has now blossomed into a city-funded hub for the area's elderly Indian, Guyanese and West Indian communities. The center now offers daily vegetarian meals, yoga, meditation, Hindi classes, citizenship seminars, voter registration drives, home-delivered meals and health education fairs.
The men and women who come to the center are transported to and from the facility for free using the center's van.
The seniors “are sort of learning to live and get a sense of adaptability,” said Jamoona, the center's director, of her largely immigrant population. She said people come to the center from Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Ozone Park, Kew Gardens and all over the city.
Umadath Maharaj, a regular at the center, said he had been coming for more than three years. He said the center has a lot more to offer the seniors than what they would be doing at home, which in his case would be watching television.
“This is more than heaven for me,” he said during an interview in a back office after taking a break from stretching and breathing during his yoga class. “There is no center greater and better.”
Maharaj said he enjoys the center's regular prayer ceremonies, which include sitar, drum and other music performances, and gets along well with the workers who run the facility. He said the amount and variety of entertainment at the center will keep him returning for years to come.
Maharaj and other seniors at the center regularly gather around the tables surrounding a bright red carpet where teachers lead the yoga and meditation classes. Jamoona said the facility is becoming crowded as more than 150 people come to get free meals and talk with friends from all over the borough.
The center's vegetarian population seems to cherish the one place they can get free meals that make them feel comfortable as immigrants while they adjust to their new American environment, Jamoona said.
Volunteer Ahila Surujnarine said most meals include rice dishes, beans, tofu/curry, lentils, salads and other favorites like fried rice.
“Because the center is the only one for the Hindu community, it is greatly appreciated,” said Surujnarine, who has been volunteering at the facility for more than four months. “I'm trying to get my relatives to come in and see what they do here.”
Jamoona said the senior center partners with local temples, churches and mosques to draw in people from all parts of the borough. She said the Department for the Aging, which provides the center with a portion of its funding, helps to establish menus, exercise programs and seminars.
“We have designed our programs to address the special needs of the elderly people of this community,” she said. “We took a survey and found there are more than 10,000 elderly people of South Asian descent in the area.”
Jamoona's mother, Jagwantie Bhagirathee, participates in the daily, one-hour yoga classes and said she could not imagine what her life would be like without the senior center.
“I feel very happy, I don't want to stay at home,” she said. “I have more energy, more power to do things.”
Jamoona, who is responsible for running the day-to-day operations of the facility along with four other regular volunteers, described at length the number of services and classes offered at the center. She fired off details of the menu, walked around to participants to greet them when they entered the center and even took some time out from the interview to take part in a yoga class.
“When you create something, you really put your heart into it,” she said.
Reach reporter Alex Davidson by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or by phone at 1-718-229-0300, Ext. 156
