Poet and Storyteller
 

Keki N. Daruwalla, poet and author in conversation with Amrita Bhalla, Associate Professor in English, Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi and Steering Committee Member, DSC Prize for South Asian Writing

(Collaboration: Parzor and Jiyo Parsi)

https://youtu.be/lpFNa2BR7Cs

A photographic journey to Antarctica with Dr. Ajit K. Huilgol, ARPS

The online exhibition is on view from 1st to 14th March 2021 on www.iicdelhi.in

About the exhibition
There is possibly no place on earth more remote, more forbidding, more harsh than the continent of Antarctica - characterized by high winds, rain, snow, ice and cold temperatures that make anyone planning to visit it, have second thoughts. 
    
It is no wonder, therefore, that very few people have actually set foot on this remarkable place. I have been one of the fortunate few. I spent a month photographing the iconic landscape and the animals and birds that inhabit this wilderness, and came back with over 30,000 photos, some of which I would like to share with you. So, join me as I take you on a photographic journey to one of the last, relatively unexplored frontiers on earth. 

On this journey, you will see penguins, seals, icebergs and other wonders, and also learn about the whaling industry and some of the early explorers and adventurers.  

 
Dr Ajit K. Huilgol is a man who wears, or has worn, many hats – pioneer kidney transplant surgeon, hypnotist, cricket commentator, and wildlife photographer.
He was in the team that did Karnataka’s first successful kidney transplant in May, 1983. Since then, in these 37 years, he has done almost 2500 transplants, both in India and abroad, and specializes in doing multiple artery transplants and double ureter transplants. He started transplant programs in several hospitals – MS Ramaiah Hospital, Wockhardt, Yellamma Dasappa, Ashok Nursing Home, Columbia Asia Hospitals in Bangalore and Mysore, to name a few. He has also established transplant centres in Jalandhar, India, and in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He has been a consultant for Nigeria, Uganda, Ethiopia, and other African countries.

Dr Huilgol was a cricket commentator in English for All India Radio from 1972 to 2005, and has been a commentator for Doordarshan for a few cricket matches, including some One Day Internationals.

An image that he took in the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka of a leopard descending vertically down a tree won him the coveted Runner-up Award in the highly prestigious BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award in 2009. He is also an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society since 2008, and now proudly wears the suffix, ARPS, after his other medical degrees.

Dr Huilgol was given the title of Hon Special Police Officer in the Karnataka Forest CID wing for his courageous role in nabbing over 40 tiger, and other rare-animal, poachers who were operating in the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve.

Dr Huilgol is married to Dr Medha, Anesthesiologist, and has two sons (both reputable lawyers in the Karnataka High Court), and two grandchildren.

Contact: ajithuilgol@gmail.com
 

  India’s National Security Challenges and the Way Ahead

Presentation by Amb. Sujan R. Chinoy, Director General, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
 
 Discussants: Admiral Arun Prakash (retd.),   PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM, ADC, former Chief of the Naval Staff and Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee;  Lt. Gen. Deependra S. Hooda (retd.), PVSM, AVSM, VSM, BAR, ADC, former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, who is presently Senior Fellow, Delhi Policy Group; Dr. Ajai Sahni, Executive Director, Institute of Conflict Management, New Delhi; Air Vice Marshal (Dr.) Arjun Subramaniam (retd.), AVSM, accomplished military historian, author of India’s Wars and Full Spectrum and is the President’s Chair of Excellence in National Security Affairs, National Defence College, New Delhi  ; and Lt. Gen. Philip Campose (retd.), PVSM, AVSM & Bar, former Vice Chief of Army Staff and Administrative Member, Armed Forces Tribunal (Principal Bench), New Delhi

Chair: Shri N.N. Vohra, President, IIC

 Discussion on Three Farm Laws and Ground Reality – Land to Market

Speakers: Prof. Vikas Rawal, Professor, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Shri Siraj Hussain, Visiting Senior Fellow, ICRIER and former Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of India; and Dr. Mekhala Krishnamurthy, Associate Professor of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Ashoka University ; Shri Devinder Sharma, Agriculture, Food and Trade Policy Expert
 
Moderator: Shri Suhas Borker, Convener, Working Group on Alternative Strategies and Editor, Citizens First TV (CFTV)

For more than three months, thousands of farmers have been protesting at Delhi's borders seeking a repeal of the new farm laws. The agitation has now fanned protests across Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. The farmers say that the three farm laws will erode their bargaining power, weaken a system of assured prices and make them vulnerable to exploitation by big agri businesses.

On the other hand, the government has maintained the laws aim to ease restrictions on farm trade by setting up free markets, allow traders to stockpile large stocks of food for future sales and lay down a framework for contract farming.

 
The negotiations between the farmers and the government have repeatedly failed and are in a deadlock. The Supreme Court has ''suspended'' the ''implementation'' of three farm laws "until further orders" in a bid to persuade farmers agitating against them to come to the ''negotiating table". The Supreme Court also set up a four-member expert committee to talk to farmers and report back. One member of this four-member expert committee has recused himself. Farmers’ groups, pushing for repeal, have said they won't appear before the committee. The stalemate continues.

What are the ground realities? Is there a way out of this imbroglio?

The webinar marks the 29th anniversary of the Working Group on Alternative Strategies
 
(Collaboration: Working Group on Alternative Strategies)

An online exhibition commemorating the 500th death anniversary of Raphael, master painter and architect of Italian High Renaissance, one of the most influential and naturally gifted artists in the history of art.

Raphael, born Raffaello Sanzio, was crowned the "Prince of Painters" by Giorgio Vasari, a sixteenth-century biographer of artists. For centuries Raphael has been recognized as the supreme High Renaissance painter, more versatile than Michelangelo and more prolific than their older contemporary Leonardo da Vinci. Though he died at 37, Raphael’s examples as a paragon of classicism dominated the academic tradition of European painting until the mid-19th century.

An artist of extraordinary refinement and deep feeling, Raphael was trained in the Umbrian style by the master painter Pietro Perugino and became renowned for his jewel-toned artworks distinguished by the almost evanescent delicacy of his figures’ features. Raphael imitated his master closely, and their painting styles are so similar that art historians have found it difficult to determine which were painted by Raphael, and which were by his master. This was the beginning of his career as an absorber of influences. It is said of Raphael that whatever he saw, he took possession of, always growing by what was taught to him.

When he left Perugia for Florence, embraced the recent innovative styles of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. However, although he assimilated the styles of different masters of the time, he continued to pursue his own unique style. From 1500 when he became an independent master to 1508, he worked throughout central Italy, where he became a noted portraitist and painter of Madonnas. In Florence, his many paintings of the Madonna and Child display his characteristic human warmth, serenity, and sublimely perfect figures. Raphael's art epitomized the High Renaissance qualities of harmony and ideal beauty.

In four years Raphael's fame led to summons to Rome from Pope Julius II to help with the redecoration of the papal apartments. As painter to the papal court, his work met with high praise, and he established himself as the most favoured artist in Rome. He was commissioned to paint portraits, devotional subjects, and the Pope's private rooms; he also designed tapestries. Raphael was soon placed in charge of all papal projects involving architecture, paintings, decoration, and the preservation of antiquities.

Raphael’s career falls naturally into three phases and three styles, first described by Vasari: his early years in Umbria, then a period of about four years (1504-1508) absorbing the artistic traditions of Florence, followed by his hectic and triumphant twelve years in Rome, working for two Popes and their close associates.

This exhibition celebrates the artist’s enduring legacy and commemorates his 500th death anniversary.