Curated by Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray

Stones and Texts: Playing Dice with the Matrmandala

Speaker: Dr. Tara Sheemar Malhan, Associate Professor, Dept. of History, Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi

Chair: Prof. Neeru Misra, Academic Advisor, B.L. Institute of Indology, Delhi

The commonality among the Indic expressive traditions like painting, sculpture, literature and dance is known to be rooted in the theory of Sanskrit aesthetics. The narratives of the 11th century ‘meta-text’, the Kathasaritsagara of Somadeva, invest the physical decoration of the temples with life and these are further closely entwined with the characters. The speaker will trace some of the stories of the Kathasaritsagara which refers to sculptures in particular wats and connect this with certain examples derived from various early medieval spatial contexts as possible material correlates of the narrative descriptions

Magical Mystery Tour – The Beatles and India
An illustrated presentation by Ajoy Bose

This is the fascinating saga of the world’s most famous 60s rock group embracing Hindustani classical music. It is also the story of a pioneering cultural connection forged between the East and the West well over half a century ago by four working class rock stars from Liverpool and the versatile sitar maestro, Pandit Ravi Shankar along with the Himalayan mystic Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The reverberations of this enduring love affair between India and The Beatles continue to resonate after all these years. The talk will explore how they have influenced each other in popular music and culture across the universe.

Ajoy Bose is a veteran journalist, television commentator and author whose most recent book, Across the Universe: The Beatles in India inspired him to direct an award-winning film, The Beatles and India
 

India International Centre and Lodhi Gardens: A Perspective
(with fresh inputs from Joseph Allen Stein’s Estate)

Lead presentation by Ravi Kaimal, architect, Founding Partner KCA, Co-Founder, Citizens Alliance

Discussants: Ram Rahman, well-known photographer, author and curator; Prof. Manoj Mathur, School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi; and others

Coordinator and Moderator: Anuj Srivastava, architect, writer and photographer

An iconic institution and building next to Lodhi Gardens, IIC. It is the first of several buildings to be designed in this precinct by the architect, Joseph Allen Stein leading to the area euphemistically known to some as “Steinabad”. Architect Ravi Kaimal will discuss the background, context and process of creating this institution and its design, which further influenced the landscape of Lodhi Gardens and other areas

Hidden harmonies – A Homage to Giacomo Puccini on his 100th death anniversary

With artists of the Puccini Festival of Torre del Lago – Claudia Pavone (soprano); Carlo Raffaelli (tenor); Elisa Montipo (piano)

The artists will present a concert of opera arias and the most famous duets taken from Maestro Puccini’s operatic repertoire such as the love duet from the from the first act of La Bohème, the soprano’s aria “Un bel di vedi” from Madam Butterfly among others

(Collaboration: Italian Embassy Cultural Centre)
 

The WhatsApp India Story: Inside the Digital Maya Sphere
By Sunetra Sen Narayan and Shalini Narayanan (Taylor & Francis: 2024)

Discussants: Shri Santosh Desai, Founder, Think9 Consumer Technologies and author; Dr. Vibodh Parthasarathi, Associate Professor, Centre for Culture, Media and Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia; Dr. Vishal Chhabra, Head of Department & Senior Consultant Psychiatrist, Fortis Hospital; Ms Surbhi Pandit Nangia, Vice President (Partnerships and Outreach), DataLEADS, HealthLEADS; Prof. (Dr.) Sunetra Sen Narayan, Professor, Indian Institute of Mass Communication and co-author of the book and Dr. Shalini Narayanan, co-author of the book

Moderator: Ms Ankita Mukherji, journalist, former deputy executive  editor( News Desk), NDTV

State-Society Relations in Xi Jinping Era

Panelists: Anthony Spires, Associate Professor, Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Melbourne; Pradeep Taneja, Senior Lecturer in Asian politics, political economy and international relations, University of Melbourne; B.R. Deepak, Professor and Chair, Centre for Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Rajiv Ranjan, Associate Professor, Dept. of East Asian Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Delhi

Discussant: Alka Acharya, Chairperson, Centre for East Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University 

Chair: Pradeep Taneja

Taal Vadya Kacheri

An ensemble of Indian percussion instruments
Presented by Peravali Jaya Bhaskar (mridangam); Ustad Akthar Hasan (tabla); Varun Rajasekharan (ghatam); Bejjanki Ravikiran (morsing); and G. Raghavendra Prasath (violin)

At 19:00
Bharatanatyam Recital

By Sreya P.R. from Delhi, disciple of Guru Dr. Jayaprabha Menon
 

Our Arts: Our Society

Speaker: Shri Ashok Vajpeyi, poet, essayist, literary-cultural critic, and eminent cultural and arts administrator

Opening Remarks: Suhas Borker, Convener, Kapil Vatsyayan Memorial Committee and Trustee, IIC

Closing Remarks: Dr. Aditya Malik, Member, Kapila Vatsyayan Memorial Committee and Founding Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences, Plaksha University

Chair: Shri N.N. Vohra, Life Trustee, IIC

(Collaboration: Kapila Vatsyayan Memorial Committee)

Release of the book edited by Sumangala Damodaran (New Delhi: Tulika Books, 2024)

The book will be released by Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC

Followed by a discussion between Prof. Partho Datta, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Prof. Tanuka Kothiyal, School of Liberal Studies, Ambedkar University, Delhi; and Dr. Irfan Zuberi, National Cultural Audiovisual Archives, IGNCA

This book traces circuits of interaction between Africa and Asia as revealed through music. It is the outcome of a colloquium that the IIC convened in collaboration with ‘Recentring AfroAsia: Musical and Human Migrations, 700-1500 AD’, an international research project involving universities in South Africa, Tanzania and India. Participants in the project were in conversation with scholars and practitioners in related fields on the different ways that music can trace routes through our overlapping histories, and how such scholarship and performative interactions prise open a number of orthodoxies in our understanding of musical systems

(Organised by IIC-International Research Division)

Life, Death and the Ashtavakra Gita
By Bibek Debroy and Hindol Sengupta (Grin Media Pvt. Ltd.: 2024)

Chief Guest and Keynote Speaker: Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Hon’ble Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India

Discussants: Dr. Bibek Debroy, economist, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India and co-author of the book; and Dr. Hindol Sengupta, historian, academic, journalist, Professor of International Relations, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat and co-author of the book

Moderator: Shri Rishi Suri, Co-Founder, Grin Publication