PHYSICAL PROGRAMME

Conversations between a historian and his mother

Historians Lakshmi Subramaniam and G. Arunima explore the possibility of writing a history, at once professional and intimate, of the individual, family and society. Their reflections are occasioned by the release of Memories of a Malabar Lady: Sreekumari Vasudevan’s Reminiscences of Life with Justice K.S. Menon, 1926-1956, (Delhi, Manohar, 2022). This book emerged from conversations of over a decade or more, between the historian Hari Vasudevan, and his mother, Sreekumari Vasudevan.  Hari fashioned these into a biography of Sreekumari, her extended family, the places she studied and lived in, and the people she met. Hari brought the rigour of a professional historian and the empathy of a son to capture the perspectives of a young woman growing up in the company of her father, a legal professional, and their life in different cultural habitats, from the joint family estate in Malabar, the towns and cities of colonial South India, to the princely state of Jodhpur. 

This event also celebrates the memory of Hari Vasudevan (1952-2020). Hari was a highly respected scholar and much-loved teacher of Russian and European history. Educated in Nairobi and Cambridge, he taught for over forty years at the Department of History, Calcutta University, and served with distinction at the Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia,and as Director, MaulanaAbul Kalam Azad Institute for Asian Studies. Hari died in May 2020, of corona virus, just a few months after Sreekumari passed away. The last of his books before his untimely death was In the Foosteps of Afanasii Nikhitin: Travels through Eurasia and India in the Twenty First Century (2014).  He is survived by his wife, Tapati Guha-Thakurta, their daughter, Mrinalini, and brother, Ravi. 

Presentations by 
Lakshmi Subramaniam
Visiting Professor, Birla Institute for Technology and Science Pilani, Goa Campus
&
G. Arunima
Director, Kerala Council for Historical Research
Professor, Centre for Women’s Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Introduced and chaired by Ravi Vasudevan, Honorary Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies

With the participation of Mrinalini  Vasudevan, Editor, Critical Collective

The 7th Symposium in the Literary Activism series presented by India International Centre; Centre for Creative and the Critical, Ashoka University; literaryactivism.com; and The Oxford Research Centre for the Humanities

As the mission statement says, one must wonder 'why modernity, the modern, and modernism – terms that are by no means interchangeable, but which are related to each other – have largely vanished, in India, from critical discourse and the quest for self-knowledge. There’s not only a deep hostility to, and nervousness about, the modern; it has, in a sense, slipped out of language.' This is true not only of India, but of other countries and contexts. They symposium hopes to generate a conversation about modernity and its elision.
 
The symposium is open to all. Please join us at this

link on 25th February 2022:

https://zoom.us/j/95739069170?pwd=T2YwR0pJZzdnc1J1TWVkZllrRHNxUT09

and on this link on 26th February 2022:

https://zoom.us/j/97888909349?pwd=b1pJK0dzVW1yV0FMWHNIbCt4S3ExQT09

On Not Mentioning the Modern: Schedule | Literary Activism

PHYSICAL PROGRAMME
 

Carnatic Flute Recital
By Tejasvi Raghunath from Bangalore, disciple of Guru H.S. Venugopal, Guru Salem P. Sundereshan and Guru S. Shashank

Accompanists: Abhishek Avadhani (mridangam); and G. Raghavendra Prasath (violin)
 
 

At 19:00
Hindustani Vocal Recital
By Kumar Gaurav Kohli from Gurdaspur, disciple of Sangeetacharya Jagdish Raj Kohli, Pt. Ganesh Prasad Sharma and Pt. Rajan Sajan Mishra

Accompanists: S. Amarjit Singh (harmonium); and Ashish Mishra (tabla) 

PHYSICAL PROGRAMME

(90 min/English)
Presented by Ruchika Theatre Group
Written and directed by Feisal Alkazi
Choreography: Vishwakant Singha

A curtain raiser to Ruchika Theatre Group’s 50th anniversary season, Devyani is based on a tale from the Mahabharata. An original script written and directed by Feisal Alkazi, 16 actors come together to tell a story of gender and power set in a world of darkness, sensuality and poetry. 
 

PHYSICAL PROGRAMME
    

A River Sings: The Ganga from Gangotri to Haridwar
By Anjali Capila (IGNCA, New Delhi: 2022)

Launch of the book followed by a discussion
The book will be launched by Shri Shri Shyam Saran, Life Trustee, IIC

Discussants: Dr. Sachchidanand Joshi, Member Secretary, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Art; Shri Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, former Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga; Prof. Sukrita Paul Kumar, poet, critic and academic; and Ms Anjali Capila, author of the book

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran

PHYSICAL PROGRAMME
 

Six Women and the Profession of Music in the 1930s Bombay

A presentation on Hindustani Music by Urmila Bhirdikar, Associate Professor of Sociology, Shiv Nadar University who is a trained, non-professional Khayal singer

In this presentation Urmila Bhirdikar will revisit the archive of north Indian music in colonial India with an argument that highlights issues in caste, gender and sexuality.  The presentation will be accompanied by music recordings of the well-known Kesarbai Kerkar to the not-so-well-known Goharbai Karnataki, among others.