Bigwigs of the Baroque                                                                                                                                              

Bach and Handel: Brilliant music, Contrasting lives  

A presentation by Dr Punita Singh who will take us on a journey with the composers, reviewing major milestones of their lives and works.

The year 1685 witnessed the birth of two illustrious composers—Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Handel—universally celebrated for their brilliant musical contributions. Bach’s polyphonic innovations, keyboard works and religious music continue to be relevant today while Handel’s orchestral compositions, operas and the legendary oratorio ‘Messiah’ resonate across the world in concert halls, at fundraisers, and even in commercial advertisements. Despite being born in the same year in the same land, they went on to lead very different lives. Bach remained in the same general region and turned to the church for sponsorship while Handel enjoyed travel and aristocratic support. Bach was a family man and relatively austere while Handel remained single and was more of a gourmand. Though appreciative of each other’s works, the composers apparently never met, yet their end was intriguingly brought on by a common factor. 

Punita is a musicologist, linguist, acoustician, editor and educator based in New Delhi.
 

The Cultural Collapse

A discussion with Ananya Vajpeyi; K.T. Ravindran; M.K. Raina; and Bahauddin Dagar

Moderator: Ashok Vajpeyi

(Collaboration: The Raza Foundation)
 

Showcasing the dance heritage of Jharkhand with performances of Seraikela chhau, masked dance; Paika, the indigenous martial arts of the Adivasis; and Kathputli puppet traditions

Presented by artists of the Department of Tourism, Art Culture, Sports & Youth Affairs, Govt. of Jharkhand

(Collaboration: Govt. of Jharkhand) 

Sanskrit Inscriptions and Manuscripts: Rare Documents of Cultural Linkages

Speaker: Prof. Shashibala, Dean, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s K.M. Munshi Centre for Indology

Chair: Prof. Mahesh Deokar, Dept. of Sanskrit & Prakrit, Savithribai Phule University, Pune

Sanskrit manuscripts and inscriptions preserved in several Asian countries are important documents containing ample information about two millennia of cultural sharing with Asian lands. Whatever was carried by the sage and savants was translated, commented on, and used for the formation and consolidation of the state and the welfare of the masses. Sanskrit served to legitimize royalty, sanctify lands, set high standards of literary production, and established moral, social and political value systems. It was the language of rituals to win wars or invoke rain, and contributed to the advancement of medical science, and of spiritual and meditational practices to uplift consciousness.

Prof.  Shashibala has 25 publications and 110 research papers on India’s cultural contribution to the world. She has documented relics of cultural linkages with India during her travels outside the country, and worked as Guest Professor in several universities abroad. She is recipient of the Highest Civilian Award conferred by the President of Mongolia. Her website is www.shashibala.org

Sixth in a new series of lectures organised by IIC-International Research Division with the support of Ministry of External Affairs

Registration link

Her Voice: India @75 - Affirmative Legislation for Equitable Women’s Representation

Speaker: Rami Chhabra, pioneer woman journalist and columnist of women’s issues in the national press; former administrator, Member, National Population Commission; Founder-President, STREEBAL

Introduction: Dr. S.Y. Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner of India and author of An Undocumented Wonder – The Making of the Great Indian Election

Concluding Remarks: Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Life Trustee, IIC and former administrator, diplomat and Governor

Chair: Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath, Life Trustee, IIC and Chairperson, Centre for Policy Research

India@ 75 with a mere 15-per cent women in Parliament - less in State Legislatures- is a travesty of the Constitutional promise of gender-equality. The controversial Women’s Reservation Bill (WRB) featuring rotational-constituencies lies moribund in Rajya Sabha. But the soon-to-be-inaugurated-new-Parliament- building with ample space -and the General Election scheduled in 2024 - make it imperative to examine women’s political representation issues anew: for alternatives to harmoniously, seamlessly, assure equity to women. Rami Chhabra had earlier fielded an alternative that merited serious consideration by the Parliament Standing Committee examining WRB. She updates the facts and arguments to urge policy-makers across the political spectrum to unite and fulfill the overdue Constitutional obligation – one that could hopefully also recalibrate the country’s politics to greater accountability.

( Collaboration: WISCOMP )

Poems by Vikram Seth and stories by James Thurber presented by Motley

Recitations by Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Heeba Shah and Kenny Desai

Produced by Jairaj Patil

This presentation is an indicator of the direction in which Motley has been moving for the last fifteen years – to perform on stage without trappings and to depend on words alone to convey character and story. These “fables of our times” draw amusing, perceptive and sometimes scary parallels between the best and worst of both animals and humans. It hopes to show to audiences of all ages especially school children that there is more to poetry than just rhyming couplets and more to stories than just happy endings

Curated by Rajiv Mehrotra

Vignettes of Compassion in Covid

A curation of seven short films followed by a discussion with one of the filmmakers 

Harmeet Basur, filmmaker in conversation with Aparna Sanyal, Curator of the Film Festival and Founder-Director, Mixed Media Productions

The selection of short films (65 min) from the first year of COVID which reflect on the new reality that the pandemic ushered in. The films find unique perspectives to explore – a healthcare worker’s family in her absence, a grandmother caught in the migrant exodus, a cremation site worker during last rites – and ultimately giving voice to the ineffable shockwaves the ‘new normal’ sent through our lives

(Collaboration: Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness The Dalai Lama)
 

Piano recital by Daniele Buccio, eminent pianist from Italy

The artist will present the compositions of Franz Liszt, Beethoven and Scriabin

(Collaboration: Delhi Music Society)

Early Mahayana Caves in Western Deccan                                                                                                                                      

Speaker:  Prof Y.S. Alone, Professor in Visual Studies, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University who has written extensively on Buddhist caves, on popular neo-Buddhist visual culture, a critic of modern Indian art, and an interpretative framework of Dr. Ambedkar and social sciences. His book 'Early Buddhist Caves of Western India' was published in 2016 and reprinted in 2019. 

Chair: Prof. Seema Bawa, Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Dept. of History, University of Delhi

Often the Mahayana phase in the western Deccan is dated to the fifth century CE, this assumption has dominated our understanding for a long time. The lecture contests this assumption and traces the early Mahayana phase in the western Deccan through inscriptional and visual evidence observed in important cave sites such as Ajanta, Kanheri, Kondivite, Panhale-Kaji and Mahad. 
 
 

Panelists: Prof. Manoj Kumar Jha, MP, Rajya Sabha; Shri Jawhar Sircar, MP, Rajya Sabha; and Ms Liz Matthew, Deputy Political Editor, The Indian Express

Moderator: Shri Suhas Borker, Convener, Working Group on Alternative Strategies

This is the 17th edition of the annual discussion started in 2006

(Collaboration: Working Group on Alternative Strategies)