The Roma Exodus and Reconnection with a Forgotten Diaspora

Illustrated lecture by Dr. Punita G. Singh, acoustician, musicologist, linguist, editor and educator based in Delhi. She has taught at Washington University in the US, McGill University, Canada and is currently, Visiting Faculty at Ashoka University, Sonipat

India is regarded as the original homeland of the Roma, yet most history books in schools omit mention of a Roma exodus and research and scholarship on the subject has been sparse. If the emigration of Roma out of India dates back to a millennium or earlier as posited by some scholars, the parallel influx of traders, invaders and colonizers over the intervening period seems to have overwritten their story. This presentation reviews the story of the Roma and their connection, disconnection and reconnection with India.

Panel discussion led by Amb. Shyam Saran, President IIC, former Foreign Secretary of India; Prof. Madhavan K. Palat, well-known historian and expert on European and Russian history; and Amb. Rakesh Sood, former Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan and Nepal

Moderator: Cmde C. Uday Bhaskar
 

“Time is on my side”: Vivan Sundaram (28 May 1943-29 March 2023)

Talks by Ashish Rajadhyaksha, cultural theorist and curator; and Sabih Ahmed, curator

(Collaboration: Sher-Gil Sundaram Arts Foundation)
 

Including teachings and practices led by senior monastics from the order of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh
Chair: Dharmacharya Shantum Seth

The programme will include launch of the book by Thich Nhat Hanh, “Good Citizens Creating An Enlightened Society”

(Collaboration: Ahimsa Trust; and Aleph Book Company)
 

Singing Poetry

The Poetry of Dharamveer Bharti, Sarveshvar Dayal Saxena, Vijadeo Narayan Sahi, Kamlesh, Ajit Kumar, Dhoomil, Rajkamal Chowdhry, Raghuveer Sahay, and Shrikant Verma

By Chinmayi Tripathi, Mumbai

(Collaboration: The Raza Foundation)

Panelists: Amb. Arun Kumar Singh, former Ambassador to Israel, France & USA; Gen. (Retd.) Deepak Kapoor, former Chief of the Army Staff; Dr. Surjit Bhalla, former Executive Director of India, International Monetary Fund, Independent Researcher; and Dr. Zorawar Daulet Singh, Adjunct Fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies

Moderator: Amb. Surendra Kumar, Founder President, IAFA

(Collaboration: Indo-American Friendship Association, New Delhi)
 

Panelists: James McHugh, Professor of South Asian Religions, University of Southern California in Los Angeles; Malayka Shirazi, researcher, writer and Filmmaker who has worked extensively on the attar and the attar sellers of Old Delhi s a researcher for Smells Assembly; Projit Bihari Mukharji, Head, Dept. of History, Ashoka University in conversation with Naman Ahuja, Professor of Art History and Visual Culture, Jawaharlal Nehru University and General Editor of Marg

The conversation marks the publication of MARG’s latest volume that explores the histories of perfumes in India, the people who make them, their use in traditional medicine, the genealogy of their recipes, their visual representation through Indian art history and more

(Collaboration: MARG)