UNICEF India @ 75 : Krishna Mahapatra and Neena Gupta, UPGI EC and LINK editorial team

UNICEF India celebrated its 75th Anniversary with a grand Carnival on 10th May 2024 at the sprawling lawns of the India Country Office, 73 Lodi Estate, New Delhi. A special invitation was sent to all the retirees to be part of the celebrations. Of course, we turned up, in good numbers, in our best finery and spirits to visit the office once again, this time to have fun - and we were not disappointed.

The beautiful blue and white décor of UNICEF colors splashed all over the canopies, balloons, and other props and had a cooling effect in rising Delhi temperatures.

We were all given white T-shirts, specially made for this occasion with a colorful UNICEF@75 emblem on the back, which we promptly wore over our attire, even though facing some challenges in both heat and fashion.

The carnival began with Mr. Sanjay Wijesekera, Regional Director and Ms. Cynthia McCaffrey, UNICEF Representative, inaugurating the event with positive pep talk to match the fun environment, after which the MC’s - Brijesh (Young UNICEF), Jessinda and Kavitha (Staff Association), took over to entertain the gathering, calling on colleagues to sing and dance with prepared as well as extempore numbers.

Ashish Naik mesmerized the audience by dressing up as a peacock and enacting the peacock dance in the Bharatnatyam style. Geeta and I (Krishna) couldn’t stop ourselves swaying and dancing to a beautiful crooner Keslang, and then we saw Nikku, our young at heart retiree perform a sizzling Bollywood number, which soon pulled in many others to join with more Bollywood dance music ending up in a flash mob on ‘Jerusalema’, with total abandon, the South African hit song that became a global hit during the pandemic.

There were the game stalls arranged in the carnival spirit – darts, break the pyramid, ring toss and blindfolded can sorting –recreated an old school carnival vibe, bringing together over a hundred participants, all of whom left with beaming smiles and chocolates, as well for over 60 winners!! Between the energy and the cheer that the games brought about, everyone including the photographer got so engaged with their inner child that we forgot to take pictures of the same.

Since no carnival is complete without food, there were food stalls, serving delicious chole bature, dosas, idlis, all being prepared right there, and served hot. To beat the heat, there were fresh fruit juices and ‘kulfi ‘on sticks which too were freshly frozen there and then!

Meeting colleagues new and not so new, some after many, many years was a treat. While some heads had grayed, there was little change in spirit. The youngsters of today seemed such a fascinating lot, extremely vibrant, talented and, to top it all, friendly and courteous. It was indeed a pleasure to meet them and to add a real person to some of the familiar names and faces on Facebook and other media. Brijesh, the compere, represented Young UNICEF and Jessinda, with her beautiful smile, deserved kudos for the excellent organization of this event. Not to mention the helpful Kavitha, the sparkly Sapna and vivacious Anita, the super ladies, the many volunteers, meticulously attending to every nitty gritty requirement at organizational level, taking utmost care of the retirees and other invitees, and at the same time being the hub of the fun and frolic with dance moves to put experts to shame.

The event concluded with the gifting of souvenirs and even a pick of a book from a pile of old fiction, comic books, inspirational books and the like. We left with a smile on our face and goodies in our hands, taking away memories of a very special day made even more special by our young colleagues and SA, feeling proud to be part of the UNICEF family.

Krishna Mahapatra and Neena Gupta.

UPGI EC and LINK editorial team members

10 May 2024