A gift of Love

A DVD of seven monajats (devotional songs in Gujarati) has been Mani Rao’s unique way of commemorating her son, the late Arvind Rao. The 500 pieces she commissioned, priced at US $ 10, have been donated to the Zarathushti community of Chicago to raise funds, notes the president’s message in the February 2007 newsletter of the Zoroastrian Association of Metropolitan Chicago (ZAC).

Not only did Mani conceive of the project, she used her vacation time in Bombay to search out a professional recording studio, explained to them the meaning of the songs so that they could compose appropriate music and lent her own melodious singing voice. "I have heard this DVD and I can feel the love and passion in your voice (and) remember Arvind, Anita, Murali and Mani ­— the Rao family,” writes ZAC president Hosi Mehta, congratulating her on the product and the community for being blessed with such "giving people.”