Makujina's mission

"I think it’s the world’s best Dar-e-Mehr. Up on the hill, étli shanti chhè (it’s so peaceful). It’s the best place for prayer,” Amy Makujina des­cribes the Rustom Guiv Dar-E-Mehr in San Jose built and maintained by the Persian Zoroastrian Organization (PZO) in conjunction with the Zar­thoshti Anju­man of Northern California (ZANC). On a brief visit to Bombay in February 2007, the propagation of her late husband Ervad Jimmy Makujina’s prayer CDs was her primary task. And all proceeds are dedicated to the Dar-E-Mehr Fund.

A member of ZANC of which she had been secretary for two years, Amy, née Suteir, recalled their life in California. Jimmy had worked in the marketing and sales department of Intuit, a company that made software for the government’s revenue department. He had also served for nine years as secretary and later as president of ZANC and Parsiana recalled the soft-spoken volunteer priest’s visit to the office to present the publication with a copy of ZANC’s first directory sometime in the mid 1980s. Later he had continued as a member of the board of directors. Amy had meanwhile functioned as senior secretary in Syntex, the biggest pharmaceutical company on the west coast until it was taken over by Roche, she tells us. In later years she took early retirement, the better to tend to Jimmy. Now she volunteers with a local hospital.

Amy and Jimmy Makujina: accent on prayer

Jimmy’s health problem — his weak heart functioned at only 15 percent capacity, noted Amy — had required him to cut back on a lot of activity including community work, so that he was able to cut only two CDs but his interest in and devotion to the goal of setting up the Dar-E-Mehr could not be denied: "He was very active in seeking donations for the project. He wanted to see everything done properly,” remembers Amy who has preserved her Christian faith. Friends and supporters through difficult times had been Ali Jafarey and his wife, also named Amy.

The Makujinas had come together in Bombay’s Sydenham College. They migrated to San Jose in 1978 as Jimmy’s sister Aban Shumays was already settled there since a decade. Though the union had no issue, Amy’s devotion to the man and his cause has outlas­ted his death in January 2002. "Jimmy was not orthodox at all. When you are too stubborn in your ways, you put off the new generation,” says Amy, happy that relations with the PZO have been improving with younger people on the committee, even though functions are not held together yet. There are religious classes for kids every third Sunday and occasional talks for adults, the lady speaks of ZANC activities under its president Bomi Patel who is currently vice president of the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America.

Makujina’s mellifluous voice recites a medley of prayers from the basic Ashem Vohu, Yatha Ahu Vairyo, Deen no Kalmo and Doa-e Tandarosti to excerpts from the Srosh Yasht, the Gathas and other Yasna prayers on one CD. The other is devoted to teaching children their navjote prayers. The CDs are available from ZANC in California as well as from Arnavaz Driver at Bombay’s Tata Colony in Parel (tel: 24151326) at a cost of US $10 plus shipping and handling charges for each CD. Amy Makujina may be contacted on amyjimmy@ pacbell.net

A. S. M.