Deputy Consul General Dr. Manoj Mohapatra was chief guest.
The organization Friends of MP celebrated their second annual picnic at Liberty State Park in New Jersey, on September 18.
The weather was predicted to be inclement, but eventually turned out to be ‘picnic-perfect’. The number of people attending, close to 200, and venue, were double in size from last year, according to a press release.
The whole-day picnic was a grand success, with participation from people of all parts of the Tristate area, mostly with origin from different parts of Madhya Pradesh. The chief minister of the state had visited New York recently.
The picnic, spread over a large ground with two covered pavilions – named ‘Sarafa’ and ‘ Rajwada’ – both landmarks in Indore, started with Indore’s traditional Poha laced with Ratlami Sev, Jeeravan and accompanied by Kesar Jalebi, all made fresh.
Then followed some sports and games. Along with enthusiasm for cricket and volleyball, there were some with passion for ‘Sitolia’ and ‘Patang’ also. The highlight this year was the entire ‘Rajwada’ pavilion transformed into a ‘Mela’.
This was put up totally by the Ladies Volunteers in the group, helping folks reconnect with their childhood. There were very popular booths for Face painting, Fortune Teller, Treasure Hunt, Tattoos and more such, all being managed by the kids in the group. The main draw was ‘Baraf Kaa Gola’ (Snow Cones) and ‘Gudiaa Ke Baal’ (Cotton Candy), which was really relished by people of all ages. The Selfie Booth had many taking pictures with traditional ‘Malwi Pagdi’. Just before Lunch, the ladies put an exciting Flash Mob dance.
Lunch had the signature Choorma – Dal – Batee, which was really relished by all. This was followed by a social hour of introductions and Bingo Game.
The Deputy Consul General of India in New York, Dr. Manoj Mohapatra, was the honored guest for the day. On behalf of the Indian Consulate in New York, Mohapatra praised the efforts of Friends of MP group, in bringing the MP diaspora community together.
Nandlal Ramdya, originally from Indore, who came to the US in 1959, gifted the group with a coin of 1890s of Holkar state. The afternoon had more snacks, family games, group pictures and kids’ talent show.
The planning and execution for the event was managed by a core team, comprising of Jitendra Muchhal, Rakesh Bhargava, Dr. R Kakani, Rajesh Mittal, Pankaj Gupta, Avinash Jhawar, Rajiv Goyal, Raj Bansal, Nipun Joshi, Navneet Trivedi, Anupam Sarwaikar and spouses of many in the core team.
The website of Friends of MP is www.friendsofMPNYNJ.com