India-China Relations: Dealing with Asymmetry

Speaker: Amb. Shyam Saran, President, IIC
 
Moderator of the series: Suhas Borker
Introduction: Vinay Kumar, Secretary General, Press Club of India (PCI)
 
The series of Conversations with Media is jointly organised by IIC and PCI; and is hosted by them alternately every month
 

Pandhari ke Rang (India)
(36 min; Hindi/Marathi with English subtitles)
Directors: Sachine Shirke and Pankaj Sharma

A colourful documentary, covering the equally colourful career of legendary makeup artist in Hindi cinema, Pandhari Juker popularly known as "Pandhari Dada". The documentary traces the creative journey of Pandhari Dada, in the much ignored art of "Make-up"

Bhovra (India)
(45 min; Hindi with English subtitles)
Director: Sachin Shirke and Pankaj Sharma

Based on G.A. Kulkarni’s Sahitya Akademi winning book “Kajalmaya”. Story of a tender relationship between middle-class family members, based in the rural Konkan part of Maharashtra. 

Producer: Chandrasheela Arts 

The Struggle and the Promise: Restoring India’s Potential

By Naushad Forbes (HarperBusiness: 2022)

Discussants: Dr. V. Ananta Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India; Shri Dammu Ravi, IFS, Secretary, Economic Relations, Ministry of External Affairs, Govt, of India; Shri Tarun Das, Chairman, Sasakawa India Leprosy Foundation and former Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry; and Dr. Naushad Forbes, Co-Chairman, Forbes Marshall, former President, Confederation of Indian Industry and author of the book

Moderator: Dr. Rakesh Mohan, President and Distinguished Fellow, Centre for Social and Economic progress (CSEP) and former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India

Closing Ceremony

Chief Guest: Dr. S. Jaishankar, Hon’ble Minister for External Affairs, Govt. of India

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC

Followed by

Peace Notes

Concert presented by South Asian Symphony Orchestra

Conductor: Alvin Arumugam

Introduction: Amb. Nirupama Menon Rao, Founder-Trustee, South Asian Symphony Foundation

Coordinated by Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Ashok K. Mehta

Myanmar Today two Years After the Military Coup

Panelists: Gen. M. M. Naravane, PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM former Chief of the Army Staff; Amb. Rajiv Bhatia, former Ambassador of India to Myanmar; and Dr. Udai Bhanu Singh, strategic analyst and formerly with M.P. Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses

 Chair: Maj. Gen. Ashok K. Mehta

 Two years after the military takeover of Myanmar, the civil war between the military and the People’s Defence Forces assisted by some ethnic armed organisations has reached a stalemate with the collapse of the economy and grave human rights violations. The ASEAN five-point consensus has failed to take off as the military threatens to hold elections in August. India is actively engaged with the military in its national interest

Dhrupad Recital

By  Prabhakar Narayan Pathak from Delhi, son and disciple of Pt Narhari Pathak Mallick and Pt Jagat Narayan Pathak Mallick

At 19:00
Bharatanatyam Recital

By Season Unnikrishnan from Chennai, an alumnus of Kalakshetra  

                               CANCELLED

'Does Contemporary Minimalist and Electronic Music have to be boring? Check it out!'

Illustrated lecture by Amb. Gautam Mukhopadhaya, former Indian Ambassador to Syria, Afghanistan and Myanmar. In the course of his life and career, he developed a taste for progressive rock and jazz, Hindustani classical and regional music, and later, South American, some strains of Western classical and religious, African, Arab, Ottoman, Iranian, and South East and East Asian music

Minimalist and electronic typically conjure up sonic images of either repetitive, unchanging, monotonous music in which nothing happens for long periods of time, inducing yawns; or loud, mechanical or 'techno' dance or rave music defined by heavy, deadening drum beats that drive one away. But the two distinct, but sometimes intriguingly related sounds are rich in experimentation and creativity, ranging from early pioneers from the fringes of jazz and world music in the 1960s, to the edges of rock in the 1970s, to the more classical work of people like John Adams, the experimental vocals of Meredith Monk and Pauline Oliveiros, the cerebral yet hypnotic works of Steve Reich, the very 'visual' and often lush and melodic music of Philip Glass using mostly acoustic instrumentation, among others

Two books will be discussed

Vibrant Voices: An Anthology of 21st Century Indian Women Poets 
Edited by Seema Jain

Mosaic of Poetic Musings: Contemporary Women Poets from India
By Seema Jain (Authorspress: 2022)

Discussants:  Dr. K. Sreenivasa Rao, Secretary, Sahitya Akademi; Prof. Malashri Lal, academic and author who is a specialist on literature, women, and gender studies; Ms Seema Jain, Dean Academics, Associate Professor and Head, P.G. Dept. of English, KMV, Jalandhar, bilingual poet, short story writer, critic, editor, and translator and Prof Laksmisree Banerjee, Eminent Poet, Editor, Critic & Educationist

Chair: Shri K. Jayakumar President, The Poetry Society (India) and former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Kerala

(Collaboration: The Poetry Society, India)

Phanigiri: Interpreting an Ancient Buddhist Site in Telangana

The Jewel in the Crown: Lessons on Heritage from Phanigiri
Illustrated lecture by Naman P. Ahuja, Curator and Professor, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University

A Gateway to Phanigiri: Reading Architecture, Constructing Narrative at an Early Buddhist Site
Illustrated lecture by Parul Pandya Dhar, Professor of Indian and Southeast Asian Art History, Dept. of History, University of Delhi

Chair: Prof. Nayanjot Lahiri

The remains of what must have been a jewel of a Buddhist monastery, perched high on a granite massif, have been found at Phanigiri, 150 km away from Hyderabad. The main construction and artefacts date between the 2nd to 4th centuries AD – a decisive period when Buddhism was sharing space with a rising number of organised sects. Naman Ahuja will take the audience through the astounding quality of sculpture at Phanigiri and focus on just one piece: a stele that shows Siddhartha sacrificing his turban, the mark of his inheritance. This narrative forms one of the key moments in Buddhist art. Parul Pandya Dhar will speak about the unique torana gateway of the stupa, which is the only one of its kind in all of peninsular India

(Collaboration: The Marg Foundation)