Global Peace – Still Possible?

Some reflections on the theme

Speaker: Dr. Hans-Georg Wieck, former Ambassador to India

 

Chair: Ambassador Ronen Sen, President, Federation of Indo-German Societies in India

 

To attain global peace is deep rooted in the aspirations of mankind at all times. In our times the protection of mother earth and adequate climate conditions are as indispensable for global peace as are the traditional tools of international conflict and crisis management and resolution

 

(Collaboration: Federation of Indo-German Societies in India)

 

Films from NHK World

 

Living Ninja Legend – Masaaki Hatsumi (45 min; dvd; English)

Ninjas are an enduring, iconic figures of Japan. Active about 500 years ago during the country’s Warring States period, and thought to be long gone, however centuries later one ninja is still with us. 84-year-old Masaaki Hatsumi is a successor of the Togakure school and teaches a supreme form of self – defense to more than 100,000 students around the world. What is the essence of this astonishing art? The film investigates the hidden power of this ninja master

 

At 19:00

Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki (75 min; dvd; English)

The Academy Award-winning animated film director shocked the world when he announced his retirement at age 72. But his creative impulse never faded and following a meeting with a group of young animators which specialize in computer graphics, Miyazaki decides to make a short film using CGI to explore new expressive possibilities. The film documents the tremendous struggle that unfolds behind the scenes as Miyazaki, inspired by the new medium, wrestles with CGI for the first time

 

(Collaboration: Embassy of Japan; and NHK World)

 

Pallavi with Stillness

Final production in the Pallavi Series (2016-2018), a trilogy of works that explores the grammar of the Odissi pure dance form. The production premiered in July 2018 at the Esplanade Raga’s Festival in Singapore

 

Performed by Sandhya Suresh and Karishma Nair

Choreographed by Raka Maitra, Artistic Director, Chowk

Musicians: Bani Haykal and Uma Katju

 

China at a Turning Point: Perspectives after the 19th Party Congress

Edited by Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty (Pentagon Press, 2019)

 

Release of the book followed by a discussion

 

(Collaboration: Institute of Chinese Studies)

 

Terrain

An exhibition of paintings by Sujata Singh, Suddhasattwa Basu, Mala Marwah

 

Preview on Tuesday, 26 February 2019 at 18:30

 

Having shared two exhibitions in the past, the artists continue their interest in common themes. Their subjects relate to nature in its broadest sense, from the botanically inspired to metaphorical interpretations and a nuanced pastoral space. The mediums used extend from watercolours, inks, pastel and pencil to mixed media and acrylic paints

 

Songs of Longing

Three films written and directed by Pooja Kaul who will introduce the programme

 

Sundar Sari (13 min; 2018; dvd; Hindi)

With Aditi Mehta, Gaurav Paswala, Meghnaa Mehtta

 

A woman finds a bundle of saris which evokes memories of young love, blurred and elusive but ever present

 

Rasikan Re (O Lover of Life)

(33 min; 2003; Hindi)

With Adil Hussain, Anannya Mehtta, Sushma Seth, Aditi Rao Hydari, Vaishnavi Sharma

 

A film about like in the urban Indian landscape, inspired by the Ragamala tradition in Indian art

 

Winter Trail (11 min; 2002; English)

With Ayesha Dharker, Erno Gottesman

 

Two women on a train through Hungary explore the legend of Amrita Shergill

 

Post-Box 203 Nala Sopara

Dramatized reading of Chitra Mudgal’s Sahitya Akademi award play (2018)

 

Presented by Sakshi, Centre for Information, Education and Communication

 

 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

 

100 Ideas to Improve Governance in India

By J.K. Dadoo (Mumbai: The Write Place, 2018)

 

Discussants: Shri Pankaj Vohra, Editor, The Sunday Guardian; Shri Parag Tripathi, former Additional Solicitor General of India; and Shri Srikant Velamakami, CEO, Fractal Analytics

 

Chair: Shri Shumsher K. Sheriff, Secretary General, Rajya Sabha

 

Archaeology at the margins of empire in premodern south India: Case studies from Karnataka

Speaker:  Dr. Uthara Suvrathan, Visiting Asst. Prof., Jyoti Dalal School of Liberal Arts, NMIMS, Mumbai

 

Chair: Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray

 

This talk will focus on archaeological survey and cartographic analysis to discuss how the understanding of past landscapes provides interesting insights into pre-modern political and religious organization. The speaker will use two case studies, the results of an archaeological survey she has been conducting in Karnataka over the last several years (the Banavasi-Gudnapura Regional Survey Project) and second, an ongoing project examining historical and cartographic information contained in documents from the colonial period

 

 

Migration: A Moral Protest

Speaker: Prof. Gopal Guru, Editor, Economic and Political Weekly

 

Chair: Prof. Muchkund Dubey, President, Council for Social Development

 

(Collaboration: Anthropological Survey of India; Sage Publications; and Council for Social Development on the occasion of the Social Change Golden Jubilee)