Our new identity – Latika – was revealed to our community at two jam-packed events on 21 August. The morning event – one of our proudest, most emotional, ever – took place at a jampacked ICFRE Auditorium at the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun.

With performances by our children and trainees, the show was attended by about 550 children, parents, friends and staff, spilling into the aisles on all sides.

The audience was all agog as Jo Chopra, our Executive Director, shared a rendering of our new premises slated for completion in 2025.

One of the fathers in the audience knelt in front of the stage to take a video of his child. He had tears in his eyes as he told us he’d never dreamed he’d see his kid on a stage.

The evening event, at our own premises in Vasant Vihar, was attended mostly by children and families from Latika Vihar, our inclusive play center. The festivities concluded with snacks and a very special souvenir – a keychain with our new logo and tagline.

Our new look, designed by the amazing Ashutosh, Richa and Ruhi and their team at Cracker and Rush, is inspired by the language of play.

The blocks have their own characters and potential, just like our children. When put together, they make an amalgam of bright colors and shapes filled with endless potential. “Each of us has different needs but some needs get labelled “special.” It’s time we change the way we think, from inclusion to participation,” they said, about their experience. Our mantra – ‘Embrace Your Difference’ – exhorts us all to recognize that we’re all different and unique, with our own strengths, challenges, talents, quirks and idiosyncrasies. It is in embracing ourselves completely that we can truly accept and embrace others.

So, Latika it is – shorter, sweeter (Latika is a version of Lata or bel or climbing plant. And as all bel need support to grow and flower, we think it’s just right for what we do for our kids). It continues to honour Latika Roy, the visionary educationist, in whose memory we received our first grant, with a fresh new twist. We hope you love our new look and feel as much as we do.