Curated by Rajiv Mehrotra

The Dalai Lama’s Escape to India
(88 min; 2016; English)
Director: Nidhi Tuli

The journey of the 23 year old Dalai Lama as he was force to escape Tibet in 1959. Disguised as a soldier, the resilient monk travelled over harsh terrain, battling inclement weather and threat of Chinese capture, to safely lead his party to India

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

Release of the book by Ebba Koch (Mapin Books & AKTC) followed by a talk

Introduction: William Dalrymple

Illustrated lecture by Dr. Ebba Koch

Dr. Ebba Koch is pre-eminent art and architectural historian, who has been a professor at the Institute of Art History in Vienna, Austria, and has taught at the universities of Oxford and Harvard. She specializes in the art and culture of the Great Mughals of South Asia and their artistic connections to Central Asia, Iran and Europe and is considered a leading authority on Mughal architecture.

(Collaboration: Agha Khan Trust for Culture)

Lost Horoscope and other New Poems

By Yuyutsu Sharma (Nirala Publications: 2022)

Discussants: Prof. Payal Nagpal, Professor, Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi, poet and critic; Shri Kumar Vikram, Senior Editor and Project-in-Charge, Research and Innovation, National Book Trust; Ms Mandira Ghosh, poet, researcher and writer; Shri C.P. Surendran, poet, novelist, senior journalist, columnist and screenplay writer; and Shri Yuyutsu Sharma, Himalayan poet, journalist, Editor and author of the book

Chair: Amb. Amarendra Khatua, former Secretary, Min. of External Affairs and former Director General, Indian Council for Cultural Relations

(Collaboration: The Poetry Society, India)

By Pt. Rahul Deshpande from Nagpur/Pune

In memory of Shri Vasant Sathe

(Collaboration: Sarvajanik Utsav Samiti, New Delhi; and Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Memorial National Committee)

Speaker: H.E. Dr. Bassam Seifeddin Alkhatib, Ambassador of the Syrian Arab Republic

Chair: Amb. K.P. Fabian, Professor, Symbiosis University, and Indian Society of International law

India and Syria, linked by age old civilizational links for millennia, have maintained cordial and multifaceted relations. India responded with alacrity to the earthquake by sending assistance to Syria

Valedictory Session

Speaker: Prof. Ashis Nandy, Trustee IIC and political psychologist, social theorist and critic

At 19:00
Ensemble Khusrawi

An Indo-Persian musical collaboration bringing together Indian, Persian, and Afghan classical and folk music traditions to perform some of the earliest Sufi poetical compositions in Hindi, dating from the 14th to 17th centuries, along with Persian ghazals performed in both Sufi and court contexts. Conceived as an ensemble of historically-informed performance, Ensemble Khusrawi seeks to innovatively re-create the music of the medieval and early modern royal courts and Sufi poetry salons of South Asia and the Persian world – the musical environment of the Indo-Persian poet and musician Amir K?husraw and his contemporaries. 

Led by Dr. William Rees Hofmann, multi-instrumentalist specialising in both the Indian sarod and the Afghan Rubab
Artists: Dr. Fakhroddin ‘Sina’ Ghaffari, specialist in multiple Persian and Middle Eastern percussion instruments, including his principal instrument, Tombak and the Kurdish Daf; Mudassir Khan, sarangi; Mohit Lal, tabla; Pouria Akhavass, musician and classical Persian vocalist; and Ustad Mustafa Faizi from Kabul, vocalist (Patiala Gharana)

( Collaboration: O.P. Jindal Global University; Ashoka University; and The Raza Foundation ; American Institute of Indian Studies )

Inauguration of the international conference

Welcome Address: Prof. Ramin Jahanbegloo, O.P. Jindal Global University

Keynote Speaker: Prof. Romila Thapar, well-known historian, Professor Emerita, Jawaharlal Nehru University on Gazing Westwards: Traces of Iran in the Indian presence in Early Times

By Ashok K. Lahiri (Penguin Business; 2023)

Discussants:Shri N.K. Singh, economist, academician and former Member, Rajya Sabha; Prof. Pinaki Chakraborty, economist; Dr. Devi Shetty, Chairman and Executive Director, Narayana Health; Shri Rahul Kanwal, journalist and News Director, India Today; and Shri Ashok K. Lahiri, former Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance and author of the book 

CPKA: Five Decades of India’s Built Environment

By Arunima Kukreja and Dikshu C. Kukreja (Roli Books: 2021)

Discussants: Ms Mugdha Sinha, Joint Secretary, Min. of Culture, Govt. ; Prof. Manoj Mathur, Professor, School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi; and Shri Dikshu C. Kukreja, Managing Principal, C.P. Kukreja Architects, New Delhi and co-author of the book

Moderator: Shri Rajiv Mehrotra, writer and Secretary, Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness The Dalai Lama

An exhibition of photographs by Christina Noble and Gaurav Raj Sharma

The Great Himalayas have resisted outside influences for long periods, nurturing unique and diverse cultural systems within its folds. Miyar is located in one such fold in the north west corner of the district of Lahaul and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh. The exhibition looks at the remote Miyar valley and how it has slowly changed over the last 50 years, filtering the outside world at its own pace. The exhibition is timed to capture the settling of Rohtang pass into memory as the new tunnel throws up unprecedented changes for Miyar and beyond

Preview on Friday, 3 March 2023 at 18:00

Ms Gauri Gill, eminent photographer will conduct a gallery walk-through on Saturday, 11 March 2023 at 4 pm