An evening at the UN headquarters

On a breezy Friday evening, i am back at the UN Headquarters on 41st Street,New York. This is my second attempt to get into the sacred place. The last one an unsuccessful attempt during my previous visit to New York in the summer of 2008 when i landed at the gate at 5 PM to be only told that the last visitor entry was at 4.45PM. Disappointed though,I had to be contented with a picture outside the building with the so recognizable UN headquarters in the background. UN as an institution has impressed me so much that during high school, i took part in every test they conducted on UN awareness and still cherish the experience and often look at the certificates i earned with a sense of pride. More recently i was disappointed when Shashi Tharoor lost out on the race for the top job.

The Headquarters of the United Nations is located along the East River in New York City. This 18-acre site is international territory and belongs to the Organization's 192 Member States.The United Nations has three additional, subsidiary, regional headquarters at Geneva ,Vienna and Nairobi. These adjunct offices help represent UN interests, facilitate diplomatic activities, and enjoy certain extraterritorial privileges, but only the main headquarters in New York contains the seats of the principal organs of the UN, including the General Assembly and Security Council. I was lucky this time to be on time to get a guided tour of the UN headquarters. The guided tour took us about an hour and half or so and mainly consisted of three parts - The Security council hall, The General Assembly and the hallway that houses unique and rare gifts to the United Nations by its member nations.Of the gifts displayed here are the expensive gifts by the South Asian countries and the one that stands out as unique is the AK47 remodelled into a guitar by the famous Columbian musician Cesar Lopez, the creation that is known as the Escopetarra - A creation that raised much needed awareness about gun related violence in many affected societies, now regarded as a symbol of peace.
The site of the United Nations Headquarters has extraterritoriality status which means the rules here override the laws of New York City, but it does not give immunity to those who commit crimes there :-)

The next stop was the majestic General assembly hall, this is a huge hall where representatives from all the member countries can be seated together and important issues that needs collective world's attention is discussed. The aura of this place is something that can certainly be felt here. There is a method to locate one's country seating in the 1800 seater hall. I tried but couldn't, the tour guide meanwhile told us that 'The General Assembly is not a world government - its resolutions are not legally binding upon Member States. However, through its recommendations it can focus world attention on important issues, generate international cooperation and, in some cases, its decisions can lead to legally binding treaties and conventions'.

The UN has its own postal system called the United Nations Postal Administration which issues stamps and cancellations. The basement of the visitors center has a UNPA post office from where postcards can be mailed throughout the world using the UN stamps. For a fee, once can have a customized stamp sheetlet with your photograph. See the 98¢ stamp of myself! truely thrilling for the philatelist in me (Ranjini, however differs and calls it self-glorification though).

By the time we came out of the UN complex, it was quite late in the evening and Ram, my colleague at IBM GBS and I walked back to the 33rd street Path station via 42nd street, the Indian high commisioner's office and then stopped in front of Macy's at Herald Square for some pictures of the holiday crowd before heading home fully soaked on the spirit of NYC, no surprises when they say I ♥ NYC