Diverse Asia
Diverse Asia
Living the New Normal: In these Extraordinary Times
27 July 2020, 12:00 am
Living the New Normal: In these Extraordinary Times
Programme Type
Films and Exhibitions
Curated by Dr. Arshiya Mansoor Lokhandwala
Prakajta Potnis, ‘The eye that never sleeps’, 2018
The online exhibition explores the work of five Indian women artists that allude to the extraordinary but incongruous moment that we are experiencing, highlighted through their various bodies of work which refers to the current zeitgeist
On view are works by Anita Dube – Eye Photos; Shilpa Gupta; Prakajta Potnis; Pushpamala N. Return of the Phantom Lady (Sinful City); and Mithu Sen
Curatorial Note
By Dr. Arshiya Mansoor Lokhandwala
“The state of emergency in which
we live is not the exception but the rule.”
- Walter Benjamin
The new normal is anything but ordinary. The world as we know it has changed forever since December 31st, 2019. Most of us have never experienced an epidemic let alone a pandemic of an epic nature that affected every corner of the earth. The future has never looked more uncertain with no definitive cure or end in sight, leaving with us anxious, disoriented, overwhelmed, and paranoid. Sigmund Freud a noted psychiatrist has defined this as the “uncanny” or “unheimlich” in German when what is familiar somehow appears estranged or foreign, wherein social distancing, facemasks, lockdowns, quarantine or curfews have become the new norm. The exhibition explores the work of five Indian women artists that allude to the extraordinary but incongruous moment that we are experiencing, highlighted through their various bodies of work which refers to the current zeitgeist
Please click to view the exhibition
Words Sounds Images
01 March 2021, 04:00 pm
Words Sounds Images
Programme Type
Discussions,
Webcasts
A history of media and entertainment in India
by Amit Khanna
Panelists: Dr. Annurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-in-chief, BW Businessworld & Founder – Exchange4Media Group, Ms. Kaveree Bamzai, Author & Journalist, Sh. Rajiv Mehrotra, Author & Film-maker (Moderator), Sh. Amit Khanna, Filmmaker, Writer, Poet, Media Veteran & Author of the book
About the book :
Ambitious and encyclopaedic in scope, this is a first-of-its-kind book that presents the history of media and entertainment in India -- from the times of the Indus Valley Civilization right up to the twenty-first century.
The book starts with an examination of the origins, looking at a wide array of aspects such as: the state of entertainment during Harappan and Vedic times, including details from the Natyashastra; the early drama, music and dance of Kalidasa; the development of ragas; musical instruments and early folk traditions; the genesis of classical dance forms; developments through the ages, including in the Mughal period, in the southern kingdoms, in the north-east, and under the Marathas and the British. Independence onwards, the book takes a decade-wise look at the evolution of newspapers, cinema, music, television, dance, theatre and radio
Tic-Tac-Toe
18 May 2020, 12:00 am
Tic-Tac-Toe
Programme Type
Films and Exhibitions
An exhibition of illustrations by Ankur Ahuja from Delhi
A collection of portraits of people on the streets of Delhi that engages with the idea of the new ‘normal’
Delhi, like everywhere else, is socialising at an arm’s distance.
New routines, new protocols, new words, old words their meanings stretched to menacing portents. Isolation, lockdown, essentials, quarantine, community, charity, empathy, even Normal is the New Normal. People watching has never been more sinister. It sounds like a close cousin of surveillance- watching them watching me. Observing people has been the fundamental bedrock of my daily practice.
These days I watch them from behind glass doors, windows, and through the CCTV camera outside my house. People walking in bubbles of suspicion and fear, sheltering behind masks, or sheer dupattas wrapped around their faces, hurrying on and hurrying back. Caught between the compulsion to stay indoors and the need to get out, playing the Tic -Tac -Toe of social distancing inside chalk circles at the grocery store - scared, suspicious faces plotting and strategising every move. Take the centre or the corner. Occupy, block and fork effectively. Stand at approximate safe distance from others.
I see an old couple wearing starched white masks once in two days going for their groceries. I see two old men, one swaddled in a large handkerchief and the other in a tight black mask that’s often embracing the chin like a long-lost lover. Their body language betrays fear and anxiety. I see young people sauntering back sweating from a run, mask in hand, exuding confidence and a certain ‘अबे कुछ नहीं होगा!’; people pulling the mask down to spit in the corner, carefully; delivery boys, scared but trudging on, one of the few jobs still available. Every once in a while, the gust of wind catches strains of Mahabharata or an aggressive News Anchor.
Everyday, we hope that things will soon go back to the way they used to be and we can step out of the house, and walk wherever the breeze takes us. Until then, to borrow a metaphor from the philosopher Simon Critchley, we will all be adrift in our ghost ships.
This exhibition is a compilation of lockdown portraits of people on the streets of Delhi with some Pre- Pandemic illustrations for reference of the old Normal.
Prints of the presented works are for sale and the artist can be contacted for price and size at ahuja.ankur@gmail.com
Delhi based cinematographer, Ankur Ahuja is a self-taught artist.
Her work lies in the overlap between photography, cinematography, filmmaking and Illustration, deriving its best inspiration from the heart of visual documentation. It reflects upon the ironies of human existence and the mundane nature of life. It’s a chronicle of sociopolitical and cultural aspects of daily life. For the last few years she has been documenting Delhi through portraits of people on the streets. Part of that work was exhibited and sold at Goa Affordable Art Fest 2020.
She has been published as a writer and artist in the Graphic Anthology This Side That Side: Restorying Partition. Her story was well received and appreciated in publications such as Tehelka, Himal, and Dawn.
She also helped gestate Delhi Comic Arts Festival as Production Manager of the festival that brings together artists working with graphic novelists around the world together under one roof for exhibitions, talks, and interactions.
Tic-Tac-Toe
Tic-Tac-Toe
A Nomads Journey : Travels with Premola
29 June 2020, 12:00 am
A Nomads Journey : Travels with Premola
Programme Type
Films and Exhibitions
PREMOLA GHOSE (1953-2019)
Premola Ghose worked for over four decades at the India International Centre where she held the post of Chief, Programme Division. A gold medallist in MA, History from University of Delhi, she lived history.
A self-taught artist, illustrator and author, the central core of her paintings are a ‘gang’ of animals. In 1998, the first two books written and illustrated by her were published: Gang Tales from Ranthambhor and The Bodhisattva and the Gang.
Since then she has written and illustrated a number of books including Tales of Historic Delhi (2011), The Magical Ride of Juley the Camel (2011) and Zero goes to Goa (2014). The Kangra Valley Train (Niyogi, 2016) written and illustrated by her with photographs by Ram Rahman; and Bula Comes to Montréal (Kala Bharati, Montreal 2017), among others.
Apart from her own books, Premola also illustrated books by other authors; and her illustrations have been published in leading magazines. She has painted a portfolio of paintings on Rajasthan which was commissioned by the Government of Rajasthan.
Premola has exhibited her paintings widely, as a solo artist and as part of group exhibitions in Delhi.
In 2001, Premola was decorated Dame in the civil merit honours list of the King of Spain.
An avid reader, inveterate traveller and raconteur with a vivid and colourful imagination, Premola was passionate and knowledgeable about food. She valued and loved the ordinary and commonplace. Plastic flowers, balloons and wind-up toys were a source of unending delight to her. A prolific writer, who also wrote book reviews, Premola’s travels took her to mofussil towns and heritage sites in India and across the world. Her many travel pieces published in leading newspapers and magazines were informed by her own journeys and her prodigious reading.
PREMOLA’S WONDERLAND
From the first time that Premola’s whimsical `gangsters’ were spotted as lively illustrations in a book, they brought along a wonderland that no other artist has quite been able to duplicate. Their bright presence lends a sense of innocent fun even to such solemn locales as the hallowed Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Wailing Wall of Jerusalem or the India International Centre, Premola Ghose’s favourite hunting ground.
Like the well-beloved characters of a latter-day Panchatantra, Premola’s menagerie is composed of Puck-like creatures that say, `what fools these mortals be!’ as they peer into the human world. Placed in a variety of exotic locales from the Bosphorus to Iberia, they gently mock the ludicrous in human landscapes. As their bright gaze travels over terrible tyrants and murderous conquerors, languorous gin-drinkers in roadside cafes as well as lovable crackpots like Don Quixote, they are seldom overwhelmed by the grand historical pasts of classical European landscapes.
Although the eye of the viewer is first arrested by the playful compositions of these bright paintings, one is equally struck by the exquisite details of the floral borders, the complex geometric designs of the classic architecture woven in deftly: soaring domes, arches, spires and minarets of the Middle East and the blinding white of Greek houses against the deep blue of the surrounding sea. Premola’s brush strokes effortlessly spin these contrasts into her parables of modern times, which emerges from her deep interest in Mughal and Islamic art. She has an unerring sense of the vivid contrasts, a hallmark of both these traditions, just as her palette magically captures the sparkle of precious jewels.
Above all, is Premola’s delightful sense of mischief: she is a natural caricaturist and several viewers will be amused to find familiar faces deftly disguised in what can only be described as a loving record of the many countries she travelled to and left behind for all of us to share and savour.
Ira Pande
A Nomads Journey : Travels with Premola
A Nomads Journey : Travels with Premola
Library Open House Meeting
Library Open House Meeting
Start Date
22 February 2021, 12:00 am
22nd Feb 2021
LIBRARY OPEN HOUSE
The Library Open House Meeting will be held under the Chairmanship of Shri Soli J Sorabjee on Saturday, 06th March 2021 at 4 pm in the Main Dining Hall. Arrangements will be made for Members who wish to join the Meeting through online mode (video-conferencing).
Members of IIC are requested to attend the same.
Suggestions are welcome from Members which may reach the Chief Librarian by 02nd March 2021 at clo.iic@nic.in.
Preceding the meeting, tea will be served between 3.30 pm and 4 pm.
(Kanwal Wali)
Secretary
To: All Members
Members’ Notice Board
Buffet - Jashn-e-Kebab
Buffet - Jashn-e-Kebab
Start Date
19 February 2021, 12:00 am
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Dear Member, To enjoy the “Jashn-e-Kebab”, specially curated by IIC chef, India International Centre is organizing special members lunch on Saturday and Sunday, 20th and 21st February 2021 in the lawns of Fountain Lawn from 1300hrs onwards. Members who are interested are requested to make advance bookings with the Centralized Booking Office on 011-24609359, 24609377, 24609378, 24609379, 24609472 or send an email to cbo.iic@nic.in and ama@iicdelhi.in Please note, reservation will be made on first-come-first served basis. Restrictions on the number of guests accompanying a member have been eased. For large groups special arrangements have been made to accommodate them. All necessary arrangements for social distancing and sanitization will be strictly adhered to. The catering bills need to be settled by members with their smart/ Debit/ Credit card after the meal.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
Kanwal Wali Secretary |
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MENU Green Salad
Appetizer Donali kebab (non-veg) Kurkure paneer kebab (Veg) Aloo ki nazakat (Veg)
Main Course Murgh changezi (non-veg) Anda paneer (veg) Dal dhaba with tadka (veg) Lauki musallam (veg) Chukka rice pulao (Veg) Lachha naan Khamiri roti Dahi bhalla
Dessert Mawa jamun Shahi muzafar
(Non-Vegetarian - Rs. 750/-- All Inclusive)
(Vegetarian - Rs 650/- All Inclusive) |
NEIGHBOURHOOD FIRST
26 February 2021, 04:00 pm
NEIGHBOURHOOD FIRST
Programme Type
Discussions,
Webcasts
The Coup in Myanmar: Implications for India
Coordinator: Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Ashok K. Mehta
Panelists: Amb. Rajiv Bhatia, Distinguished Fellow, Gateway House and former Indian Ambassador to Myanmar; Amb. Gautam Mukhopadhyaya, former Indian Ambassador to Myanmar; and Dr. Udai Bhanu Singh, Senior Research Associate, MP-Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
Chair: Maj. Gen. (retd.) Ashok K. Mehta
The coup in Myanmar took many by surprise though some of its closer neighbourhood were expecting it. The unique Civil-military power-sharing arrangement has come unstuck and infantile democracy has derailed. Where does it leave India’s Act East, Indo-Pacific, and Neighbourhood First policies. Is China to become the main beneficiary of the military rule?
