Mud Architecture Today

A talk by Rohan Nahar, Architect and Faculty at Padmabhushan Vasantdada Patil College of Architecture, Pune. The presentation will explain the relevance, durability and economics of mud architecture - and its challenges and potential in the context of contemporary architectural practice.

The talk will be followed by a dialogue with Dr Prabir K Das, Architect, Author and Consultant on Sustainable Architecture, and Anisha Shekhar Mukherji, Conservation Architect, Author and Visiting Faculty at School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi. 
 
The fifth in the bi-monthly series structured around dialogues that endeavour to present the role of architecture in contributing positively to society and to culture. Conceptualised by Anisha Shekhar Mukherji, the series, through interactions with practitioners and scholars, intends to engage with a wide variety of people - professionals and lay-persons alike.  

Registration link
 

7th Edition of Keys to Governance: Constitutional Morality

Speakers: Prof. Niraja Jayal, Avantha Chair, King's India Institute, King's College, London and Centennial Professor,   Department of Gender Studies, London School of Economics, formerly Professor at the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, JNU; Prof. Suhas Palshikar, Chief Editor, Studies in Indian Politics and Co-Director of Lokniti (CSDS),  formerly Professor, Department of Politics & Public Administration, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune ; Prof. Christophe Jaffrelot , Senior Research Fellow CERI-CNRS and Professor,  Sciences Po, Paris, Professor, King's India Institute, King's College, London and Chairman, Trivedi Center for Political Data, Ashoka University; Shri Sanjay Hegde, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India
 
Moderator: Suhas Borker, Managing Trustee D.S. Borker Memorial Foundation and Editor, Citizens First TV (CFTV) 

This is the seventh annual seminar in the series 'Keys to Governance'; the earlier six seminars in the series were on 'Compliance and Delivery' (2016), 'Political Will' (2017) , 'Constitution as Ideology' (2018), 'Education as Empowerment' (2019), 'Steel Frame' (2020) and Independence of Judiciary (2021).

The annual seminar is held in remembrance of Shekhar Borker, 'Banana Boy' on the Indian postage stamp, private sector administrator, citizen environmentalist  and advocate of empowerment of persons of disabilities who passed away in 2015 on 7 January
 

(Collaboration: D. S. Borker Memorial Foundation)

A three part BBC series

In this series, mathematician Dr Hannah Fry explores the mystery of maths. It underpins so much of our modern world that it is hard to imagine life without its technological advances, but where exactly does maths come from? Is it invented like a language or is it something discovered and part of the fabric of the universe? It's a question that some of the most eminent mathematical minds have been wrestling with. Dr Eleanor Knox from King's College London believes it is discovered, Prof Hiranya Peiris from University College London believes it is invented, while Prof Jim Gates from Brown University believes it is both, and Prof Brian Greene from Columbia University has no idea. The jury is very much divided.

Episode II: Expanded Horizons (59 min) | Click here to watch

In this episode, Hannah travels down the fastest zip wire in the world to learn more about Newton's ideas on gravity. His discoveries revealed the movement of the planets was regular and predictable. James Clerk Maxwell unified the ideas of electricity and magnetism, and explained what light was. As if that wasn't enough, he also predicted the existence of radio waves. His tools of the trade were nothing more than pure mathematics. All strong evidence for maths being discovered.

But in the 19th century, maths is turned on its head when new types of geometry are invented. No longer is the kind of geometry we learned in school the final say on the subject. If maths is more like a game, albeit a complicated one, where we can change the rules, surely this points to maths being something we invent - a product of the human mind. To try and answer this question, Hannah travels to Halle in Germany on the trail of perhaps one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century, Georg Cantor. 

The Forgotten Temple of Banteay Chhmar | Click here to watch
(42 min; 2020; English)
A film by Wolfgang Luck
A DW DocFilm

Deep in the jungle of Cambodia lies a jewel from the Khmer Empire: the temple of Banteay Chhmar. Half devoured by plants and long forgotten by most people, the 800-year-old complex is being rediscovered, slowly. The village community of Banteay Chhmar is taking charge. Far from the well-trodden tourist trails, the rice farmers of this small village are trying an experiment unknown in Cambodia: with almost no outside help, they are fighting to preserve and restore their temple using nothing but their own strength. 
 

(57 min; 2013; English)
Director: Clare Lewis

David Suchet, TV's Poirot, has spent more of his life acting out the plots and dramas created by Agatha Christie than anyone else in the world. Suchet is embarking on a journey to learn more about the woman who created Poirot and whose books remain outsold only by Shakespeare and the Bible. Suchet's journey takes him to the places Christie lived, the landscapes that inspired her and to meetings with people who knew the woman behind the fame and those inspired by her extraordinary legacy. He explores the close links between Christie's extraordinary life and her work and discovers what it was about the woman from a small seaside town that allowed her to become the best-selling murder mystery writer in history.

Stephen Fry: The Machine that Made Us (UK) | Click here to watch
(59 min; 2008; English)
Director: Patrick McGrady

Stephen Fry examines the story behind the first media entrepreneur, printing press inventor Johann Gutenberg, to find out why he did it and how, a story which involves both historical enquiry and hands-on craft and technology. Fry travels across Europe to find out how Gutenberg kept his development work secret, about the role of avaricious investors and unscrupulous competitors and why Gutenberg's approach started a cultural revolution. He then sets about building a copy of Gutenberg's press.