Ismat Chughtai’s short stories

Reprised by Sunil Mehra in Dastongoi
 
Sunil Mehra reprises Chughtai’s bittersweet stories of marriage, fidelity and sexual liberation
 

An exhibition of paintings, mixed media on paper 
By Madan Meena

The exhibition is a visual expression of an artists’ journey as he carefully makes connections with the world around him through his imagery. 

Opening of the exhibition on Friday, 28 October 2022 at 18:30 by Malvika Singh, publisher of Seminar magazine

Speaker: Prof. Matthew S.Hull, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan
Discussants: Prof. Deepak Mehta, Professor, Sociology and Anthropology, Ashoka University, Sonepat

Chair: Prof. Rita Brara, Editor, Contributions to Indian Sociology, Senior Fellow, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi and Visiting Professor, Ashoka University, Sonepat

The CIS-IEG-SAGE Annual Lecture 2022
 
In 2013, the Indian state of Punjab contracted with a corporation to operate a new police phone helpline. The corporation call centre not only took complaints, but also monitored, directed, and reported police responses to them. An original provision of the Indian Code of Criminal Procedure, maintained since 1861, requires that oral testimony of complainants must be ‘reduced to writing’ by an authorised official. This requirement has been strained by the integration of corporate call centre customer service practices into the Punjab State police procedures. Audio recordings and database text records of complaints have only some of the features of writing and are not produced by a government officer. Nevertheless, the composite records generated by the call takers through corporate customer service software form the basis of quasi-official police proceedings. We can see in this arrangement two parallel tensions: first, a tension between two forms of human and technological mediation—the paper-based records of police and the call centre voice and database records; second, a tension between two conceptualisations of a political subject within bureaucratic procedures: one requiring representation by another authorised person and the other able to present him or herself.

(Collaboration: Contributions to Indian Sociology; Institute of Economic Growth; and SAGE)

(31 min; 2019; English)
Directors: Dr. SinhaRaja Tammita-Delgoda, Hiranya Malwatta 

Introduction: Shri Benoy K. Behl

Recipient of the Best Short Documentary Film Award, Mokkho International Film Festival, Pondicherry 2021; Best Short Documentary, Rome International Movie Awards 2022; Short Film Award, Mumbai International Film Festival 2022; Best Documentary Short Film Award, International Motion Picture Festival of India 2022

Dr. SinhaRaja Tammita-Delgoda will briefly introduce the film, highlighting the link between history, culture and the environment, a story which has several parallels with the history of India

Screening will be followed by a discussion

In Search of the Malwatu Oya is a journey to the heart of an ancient civilization. Starting from the holy mountain of Ritigala, Malwatu River, the second longest river (102 miles) in Sri Lanka, flows across the face of the Raja Rata (Land of the Kings) to enter the Bay of Mannar of the Indian Ocean. The most historic river basin in Sri Lanka, called Malwatu Oya in the native language, the River of Flower Gardens, lies at the very heart of the beginning of Sri Lanka’s ancient civilization.

Jashn e Rampur marks the culmination of the project ‘Forgotten Food: Culinary Memory, Local Heritage and Lost Agricultural Varieties in India’ (2019-2022) funded by Global Challenges Research Fund through the Arts and Humanities Research Council in UK and executed under the aegis of University of Sheffield. The day long festival focuses on the culinary heritage of Rampur with talks, discussions, film screening and performance

SCHEDULE:

From 10:00 to 11:45
Welcome Address: Principal Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi

The Journey of the Project Forgotten Food
Prof. Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, Project Principal Investigator and Professor of Global History, University of Sheffield, UK  ; Dr. Tarana Hussain Khan, Project Consultant; and Dr. Saumya Gupta, Project Co-Investigator and Associate Professor, Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi;

Heritage Foods of Rampur: From Translation to Revival
Rana Safvi, Project Collaborator in conversation with Dr. Jayeeta Sharma, Project Partner Lead, Culinaria Research Center, University of Toronto; Dr. Tarana Hussain Khan; Sadaf Hussain, Project Collaborator; and Shri Birendra Sandhu, Benazir Farms, Rampur

From 12:15 to 13:15
Collecting Oral Histories in Covid Times

Prof. Siobhan Lambert-Hurley in conversation with Dr. Saumya Gupta and her students

From 14:30 to 16:00
Film: Dastarkhwan e Rampur: A Culinary Journey
Yousuf Saeed, filmmaker, Project Collaborator in conversation with Samina Naqvi, Project Collaborator followed by screening of the film

From 16:30 to 17:30 in Multipurpose Hall
Degh to Dastarkhwan: Qissas and Recipes from Rampur
By Tarana Hussain Khan (Penguin: 2022)

Launch of the book followed by an in-conversation 

Dr. Tarana Hussain Khan in conversation with Prof. Pushpesh Pant, historian and writer

From 15:30 -18:30 in the Multipurpose Hall

Desi Delicacies: Food Writing from Muslim South Asia
Rana Safvi, Anoothi Vishal and Prof. Siobhan Lambert-Hurley in conversation with Prof. Claire Chambers, Project Co-Investigator and Professor of Global Literature, University of York, UK

At 18:45
Jashn e Benazir
Rekhtigoi performance by Dastango Fouzia and Dastango Saneya
Introduction: Dr. Tarana Hussain Khan

(Collaboration: Team Forgotten Foods) 

Agriculture and Health in India: Looking back and Looking Ahead

Illustrated lecture by Dr. Ramesh Chand, Member, NITI Aayog; Fellow, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Indian Society of Agricultural Economics. Prof. Chand has more than 30 years of experience in research and teaching in the field of agricultural economics and policy. 

Chair: Shri Siraj Hussain, Promoter Director, Arcus Policy Research Private Limited (APR)
 

Curator: Rajiv Mehrotra

Jnani: The Silent Sage of Arunachala (UK)
(80 min; 2016; English)
A film by Jean-Raphaël Dedieu

The film presents the life and legacy of Sri Ramana Maharshi, one of the greatest sages of India. His life unfolded in the twentieth century and continues to inspire and transform millions worldwide. He nurtured silence and simplicity that taught: when we ask ourselves, “Who am I?”, all other thoughts die. When there is no ego or “I”, there is the Self, the highest form of consciousness.

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

Release of the IIC Quarterly: Autumn 2022

Edited by Omita Goyal, Chief Editor IIC

To be released by Shri N.N. Vohra, Life Trustee, IIC

A guided walk of the Centre’s buildings

Conceptualised by Suhas Borker
Led by Dr. Beeba Sobti

The walk will be flagged off by Shri N.N. Vohra, Life Trustee, IIC in the C.D. Deshmukh Auditorium Foyer

Nitya Amore

A dance collaboration between India and Italy exploring the concept of love through music and dance from both countries
Concept and Choreography: Aranyani Bhargav, Ayana Mukherjee, Francesca Dario and Michele Oliva

Music: Dhruv Bedi, Ganesh Krishnaswamy, Giovani Sollima and Leslie Charles
Dancers: Aranyani Bhargav, Ayana Mukherjee, Francesca Dario and Nunzio Perricone 

(Collaboration: Embassy of Italy and Seher)