Immigrants crave a taste of home

For Ava Mukerjee, one Thursday every month rates high on her list of favorite activities. It's the day a taxi comes to the suburban house she and her husband share with their son and takes her to the Sharon Community Center.

Here, as the aroma of curry and chutney fills the air, she joins other retired people for an unusual event: an ethnic meal and entertainment designed especially for older immigrants.

While lunch programs for seniors have existed for decades, some are taking on a foreign flair to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse culture. In Sharon, sari-clad grandmothers and a sprinkling of grandfathers savor familiar Indian dishes.

Native cuisine is only one of the attractions. "I meet people, I see people," says a smiling Mrs. Mukerjee, dressed in a blue and white sari. "I enjoy the environment. At least I can come out of the house."

Getting out of the house to enjoy favorite foods ranks as an infrequent pleasure for many older foreign-born residents. Some speak little or no English. Many do not drive. Those who live in the suburbs, where public transportation is often nonexistent, may be alone all day. Some waited until their retirement years to join adult children in the United States, adding to the challenge of acculturation.

To ease their isolation, social-service groups offer not only ethnic meals but also cultural and educational activities geared for specific ethnic groups. The combina- tion provides what Norma Simons Fitzgerald, executive director of the Sharon Council on Aging, calls "food for the body and the soul."

"Many older people, especially widows, are here without money," Ms. Fitzgerald says. "Their children are off working and don't even realize Mama doesn't have 25 cents to go on the bus. Mama doesn't want to burden the children. In their own country, they live in areas with a lot of relatives. Here they don't have as much opportunity for the same kind of socializing."

Sharon, 25 miles south of Boston, has a higher percentage of minority residents than surrounding towns. The Sharon Council on Aging and Hessco Elder Services, sponsors of the Indian meal program, host a Russian meal as well. Funds for both come from federal and state money, as well as donations.

On this autumn Thursday, more than 35 retired people, one-quarter of them from India, gather around festively covered tables. After a session of "chair yoga," a young Indian woman, Veena Teli, explains the significance of India's Festival of Lights to non-Indians in the group.

As participants enjoy an Indian vegetarian dish with chutney, lemon rice, yogurt, and a holiday dessert called burfi, quiet conversations in Indian dialects and English fill the air. A local restaurant prepares the food from a menu chosen by nutrition director Chandra Ganapathy to meet federal nutrition guidelines.

Mukerjee and her husband followed their son and his family to Massachusetts. They have moved wherever his job dictates - Minneapolis, San Antonio, Miami, and now Boston. Referring to her family, she says simply, "They are busy with their own things."

Sampath and Chandra Nallappa, two other regular participants, also live with their son's family. "At home we are lonely, because both of them are going to work, and our grandson is in middle school," Mrs. Nallappa says. Mr. Nallappa spent 45 years as a personnel manager for a large company in India.

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