Nehru and the Spirit of India

By Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee (Penguin Random House: 2022)

Discussants: Prof. Hilal Ahmed, Political sociologist and Associate Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies; and Shri Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee, poet and author of the book

Chair: Prof. Ashis Nandy, social theorist and political psychologist

Ravi Shankar: The Indian Sun who Rose in the East

Illustrated lecture by Oliver Craske, author of Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar which was published to acclaim in 2020. During a career in book publishing, Craske had collaborated with Shankar on his memoir Raga Mala and has edited other books on subjects including Einstein, The Beatles, cricket and art collecting

Chair: Anita Singh, Vice-Chairperson and Director, Indian Music Society

Accounts of the sitarist and composer Ravi Shankar (1920-2012) usually focus on his groundbreaking achievements in popularizing Indian music overseas. His biographer Oliver Craske argues that his achievements within India, which are less lauded today, were equally significant and are essential to an understanding of the man who was perhaps India’s most important cultural figure of the 20th century
 

At 18:00
Sattriya  Duet Recital

By Mridusmita Das from Delhi, disciple of Guru Bhuban Bora and Guru RamkrishnaTalukdar; and Tusti Tanaya Saharia from Delhi, disciple of Shri Ramakrishna Talukdar and Guru Indira P.P. Bora

At 19:00
Bharatanatyam Recital

By Suhail Bhan from Delhi, disciple of Guru Justin McCarthy
 

A sculpture park to celebrate the centenary year of Amar Nath Sehgal, South Asian Modern artist and sculptor
Presented by the Amar Nath Sehgal Private Collection

Inauguration on Monday, 23 January 2023 at 18:30

On 3 February 2023 from 17:30 to 18:30
Guided Walkthrough 
To be conducted by Rahul Kumar

(Collaboration: Amar Nath Sehgal Trust)

Discussion based on the book by Dr. Yash Gupta (Roots and Shoots: 2022)

Lead presentation by Dr. Yash Gupta, FRCS, Trauma and Plastic Surgeon, UK

Followed by a panel discussion with

Panelists: Prof. N.K. Gupta, well-known physicist, Consultant and Advisor, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi; and Prof. Sanjiv Kumar, Chairperson, Three Domain Health Leadership Foundation, New Delhi

Chair: Shri K.N. Srivastava, Director IIC

Speakers: Amb. Navdeep Suri, Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation and former Indian Ambassador to Egypt; Prof. P.R. Kumaraswamy, Centre for West Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Shri Atul Aneja, Editor, India Narrative who has reported conflicts from Baghdad, Beirut and Cairo

Chair: Ms Indrani Bagchi, CEO, Ananta Centre

The visit of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to Delhi as an honoured guest at the 2023 Republic Day celebrations marks an important moment in the evolution of relations between Delhi and Cairo. India and Egypt today reconnect at a moment very different from the Nehru-Nasser era in the second half of the 20th century. The discussion will explore the contours of a renewed partnership between India and Egypt

(Collaboration: Asia Society Policy Institute, New Delhi)

Songs of Love, Longing and Separation

The Langa and Manganiar are both hereditary musician communities from Western Rajasthan, and have a rich and varied musical repertoire handed down from generations. Songs of longing and separation are one of the most evocative of their repertoire, as is the case in many musical traditions of India. These range from romantic songs sung at weddings for the patrons, devotional songs pining for the divine lover, or those that are part of romantic ballads among others

An evening with Multan Khan Manganiar; Askar Khan Langa and Sardar Khan Langa (vocals & Sindhi sarangi); Firoz Khan Manganiar (vocal & dholak); and Ghewar Khan Manganiar (vocals & kamaicha)

Conceptualised and curated by Shubha Chaudhuri

Vignettes of the personal and magical world of Premola Ghose

Inauguration by Shri N.N. Vohra, Life Trustee, IIC on Saturday, 21 January 2023 at 18:30

About the exhibition

An exhibition to celebrate and remember Premola Ghose, ex-Chief, Programme Division IIC, who passed away in 2019. The works  exhibited today, most of them done from 1996 to 2018 reflect her personality as well as her passions: her quirky, often irreverent,  sense of humour, her playful  sense of mischief and eye for the absurd;  her deep interest in history and architecture; her zest for travel both in India and abroad; her love of nature and animals. And last but by no means least, her world at the India International Centre where she worked for forty-odd years, putting her heart and soul into all that she did here. A wonderful storyteller as well, Premola authored a series of travel tales all featuring her quirky ‘Gang’ of animals and their adventures not only in India but also in Europe, Sri Lanka and Japan. 

Speaker: Prof. Jay L. Garfield FAHA, Doris Silbert Professor in Humanities and Professor of Philosophy and Buddhist Studies; Chair, Department of Philosophy, Director, Five College Tibetan Studies in India Program, Smith College and Visiting Professor of Buddhist Philosophy, Harvard Divinity School

Chair: Kabir Saxena

The talk presents a Buddhist analysis of non-violence in a way relevant to our contemporary life. Prof. Garfield will start with an explanation of how violence manifests in the contemporary world; then develop a Buddhist analysis of that violence and its causes; and ask how a Buddhist ethical framework determines our responsibilities as agents in the context of that violence and a path to its eradication
 

Challenges Before the Indian Judiciary and Overcoming Them

Speaker: Justice Madan Lokur, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India

Moderator of the series: Suhas Borker
Introduction: Vinay Kumar, Secretary General, Press Club of India

The series of Conversations with Media is jointly presented by IIC and PCI and is hosted by them alternatively every month