IIC DIAMOND JUBILEE POETRY READINGS – CULTURE AND CREATIVITY – LEGACY AND CHANGE
Conceptualised by Gitanjali Surendran

A Lamp in the Sun: An evening of raga-poetry through two millennia in six languages

S. Anand, a student of words and music will explore how a Tamil Sangam-era poem, a vachana in Kannada, an abhang in Marathi, a nirguni shabad, a sutta in Pali, and a ghazal in Urdu find comfort in ragas. In this land, ye des, indha nadu, where hierarchy, inequality and cruelty thrive, two areas of unparalleled excellence have been open to all: poetry and music. Poetry, sometimes secular, sometimes clothed in the colours of belief, is mostly remembered and passed on as song. It is habitually and helplessly beautiful. The words, sung to the accompaniment of a tanpura, flicker with meanings and throb with awareness
 
Anand is the publisher of Navayana, and a student of raga music with the dhrupad exponent Ustad F. Wasifuddin Dagar. 

Coordinator: Ms Anu Jindal
 
Waking up to Disordered Sleep

Speaker: Dr. Vivek Nangia, Principal Director and Head, Institute of Respiratory, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Max Hospital, New Delhi
 
Moderator: Ms Anu Jindal
 
While we have known about the science of sleep since time immemorial, most research in modern medicine with regards to our sleep has occurred only in the last 3-4 decades. Although an individual spends nearly one-third of his/her time sleeping, very little attention is paid to monitoring sleeping patterns. With increasing obesity, sedentary lifestyle and abnormal timings of sleeping, sleep disorders are becoming more and more common. The number of hours that is required in sleeping, what timings to follow and what impact these have on our lives need to be understood. Dr. Vivek Nangia will address some of these issues and highlight how a good sleep can transform our health

An exhibition of quilts made by the women of the Kalbelia community in Rajasthan as part of the Kalbelia Craft Revival Project

Inauguration by Ritu Sethi, Founder, Craft Revival Trust and Mewa Sapera of the Kalbelia community on Tuesday, 19 July 2022 at 18:30

As part of this exhibition, there will be a talk on Saturday 23 July 2022 at 18:30 in the Annexe Lecture Room II on:

Quilting Memories
Illustrated lecture by Dr. Madan Meena, a practising visual artist, curator and researcher who is working extensively with rural, nomadic and tribal communities

The talk will focus on the cultural history of the Kalbelia community, their distinct practices and professions which is reflected in their quilts and distinguishes them from other quilting traditions in India. An example is the embroidered patterns on their quilts which draws references from the texture of snake scales. As a traditional snake charmer community, the references of the snake is evident in their folklore, music, dance, costumes, as well as in their crafts and lifestyle

(Collaboration: Kota Heritage Society)
 

Ret Samadhi 
By Geetanjali Shree (Rajkamal Prakashan, New Delhi: 2022)

Discussants: Dr. Sachidanand Joshi, Member Secretary, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts; Ms Mridula Garg, writer and columnist; Prof. Kumud Sharma, Professor, Dept. of Hindi and Officiating Director, Directorate of Hindi Medium Implementation, University of Delhi; Dr. Shah Alam Khan, Professor, Dept. of Orthopaedics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences; and Dr. Geetanjali Shree, novelist, writer and author of the International Booker Prize 2022 for this book

Chair: Shri Ashok Vajpeyi, poet and former Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi
 

Challenges Africa Faces Today

Speaker: Amb. Gurjit Singh, India’s former Ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union
Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC

Welcome Address: Suhas Borker, Convener, Working Group on Alternative Strategies
Closing Address: H.E. Mr. Joel Sibusiso Ndebele, High Commissioner of South Africa

A career diplomat, Amb. Gurjit Singh is one of India’s foremost experts on African affairs. Amb. Gurjit Singh was posted as Deputy High Commissioner of India to Kenya (1995-2000); India’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and African Union (2005-2009); and he headed the undivided Africa division at the Ministry of External Affairs in 2001-2002 and was later Additional Secretary and Sherpa for the second India-Africa Summit 2009-2012. He has also served as India’s Ambassador to Indonesia, ASEAN and German. Amb. Gurjit Singh is Honorary Professor of International Studies at IIT-Indore; and is the author of the recently published book The Harambee Factor – India-Africa Economic and Development Partnership (Macmillian, 2022)

The Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture was instituted at IIC in 2018 to mark the Centenary of Madiba

(Collaboration: South African High Commission; and Working Group on Alternative Strategies)

Anthology of Humorous Sanskrit Verses

A collection of over 200 verse translations from different Sanskrit anthologies. Translated by A.N.D. Haksar (Penguin Classics, New Delhi:2022)

Discussants: Prof. Ramesh Chandra Bhardwaj, Vice-Chancellor, Maharshi Valmiki Sanskrit University; Prof. Balram Shukla, Professor, Department of Sanskrit, University of Delhi; Prof. Sujata Tripathi, Professor, Dept. of Vyakaran, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University; and Amb. A.N.D. Haksar, former Diplomat and author of the book

Chair: Dr. Sachidanand Joshi, Member Secretary, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts
 

Á Nous la liberté (France) | Click here to watch
(97 min; 1931; b/w; French with English subtitles)
Director: René Clair

Recipient of the Audience Referendum Award, Most Amusing Film, Venice Film Festival 1932; Kinema Junpo Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Kinema Junpo Awards 1933; and NBR Award for Top Foreign Film, National Board of Film Review, USA 1932

 An engrossing satire on modern society’s belief in the new industrialization age, showing the Machine was not mankind’s salvation. It is the classic film that inspired Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936). The heady film of French director Rene Clair impressed with its startling images of mass production on the assembly line and humans acting like robots in a factory setting. Its leftist radical politics was delivered with an easy going breeziness and its intermingling of song throughout made it feel uniquely like an operetta.

https://archive.org/details/a-nous-la-liberte

Horizon: Why do We Dream? (UK) | Click here to watch
(58 min; 2008; English)
Director: Charles Coleville

Horizon uncovers the secret world of our dreams. In a series of cutting-edge experiments and personal stories, we go in search of the science behind this most enduring mystery and ask: where do dreams come from? Do they have meaning? And ultimately, why do we dream? What the film reveals is that much of what we thought we knew no longer stands true. Dreams are not simply wild imaginings but play a significant part in all our lives as they have an impact on our memories, the ability to learn, and our mental health. Most surprisingly, we find nightmares, too, are beneficial and may even explain the survival of our species.

https://www.documentarymania.com/player.php?title=Why%20Do%20We%20Dream

Virunga (UK) | Click here to watch

(100 min; 2014; English)
Director: Orlando von Einsiedel

Multiple award winner including Festival Prize, Budapest International Documentary Film Festival 2015; Jury Award, Con Science Award, Docville 2014; Documentary Award for Best Cinema Documentary, The Grierson Trust British Documentary Award 2015; Audience Award, International Selection & WWF Award for Best Documentary Film, Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival 2015; among others

In the forested depths of eastern Congo lies Virunga National Park, one of the most bio-diverse places in the world and home to the last of the mountain gorillas. In this wild, but enchanted environment, a small and embattled team of park rangers - including an ex-child soldier turned ranger, a carer of orphan gorillas and a Belgian conservationist - protect this UNESCO world heritage site from armed militia, poachers and the dark forces struggling to control Congo's rich natural resources. When the newly formed M23 rebel group declares war in May 2012, a new conflict threatens the lives and stability of everyone and everything they've worked so hard to protect.

https://www.documentarymania.com/player.php?title=Virunga

An eight-part BBC series in which British art historian Dr Gus Casely-Hayford explores the pre-colonial history of some of Africa's most important kingdoms.

Episode 8: Bunyoro & Buganda (60 min) | Click here to watch
Director: Sarah Howitt

Casely-Hayford travels to Uganda to explore the rise and fall of two great kingdoms. For centuries Bunyoro was the region's dominant power, using history and mythology to make a claim on the land. But its position was challenged by the rapid rise of Buganda, a neighbouring kingdom that had once been a collection of cultivators on the shores of Lake Victoria. Casely-Hayford goes in search of the fascinating reasons for the dramatic reversal of fortunes, and how one kingdom used the arrival of Europeans to its own advantage.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xr4rwt