VAK – THE RAZA BIENNALE OF ASIAN POETRY

 

SESSION V- Chaired by: Shamin Hanfi

11:00 – 11:20: Sitanshu Yashaschandra India

11:20 - 11:40: Chheangly Yeng Cambodia

11:40 - 12:00: Thongbay Photisane Laos

12:00 – 12:20:  Hasmik Simonian Armenia

12:20 -12:40: Udayan Vajpeyi India

12:40 - 13:00: Closing address by Chair

 

 

SESSION VI: Chaired by Romi Khosla

14:00 - 14:20: Chador Wangmo Bhutan

14:20 - 14:40: Zebo Mirzaeva Uzbekistan

14:40 - 15:00: Gvanca Kereselidze Georgia

15:00- 15:20: Nomaan Shauque India

15: 20 - 15:40: Asad Zaidi India

15:40 - 16:00: Closing remarks by Chair

 

SESSION VII: Chaired by Romila Thapar

16:30-17:30 - Conversation: Violence and Poetry

Speakers: Chheangly Yeng Cambodia; Shahnaz Munni Bangladesh; Asad Zaidi India; Gvanca Kereselidze Georgia; Afzar Rahbeen Afghanistan

 

A lot of poetry these days is taking place in circumstances of mindless and often murderous violence. Since poetry demolishes all dichotomies between ‘us’ and ‘them’, re-energizing our basic humanness, it is often pitched against such violence. Violence could be of arms and war, of ideas and perceptions, of politics, religions, media, special norms, etc it is a complex matter and cannot be resisted without inviting personal harm or emotional damage.

 

Violence has been a major human predicament through history and seems to have assumed monumental proportions in contemporary times. Most poetry cannot and does not endorse violence nor is it an accomplice. Because of this resistance, its courage and insistence on conscience can be, in a bizarre way, seen as lack of courage. Yet poetry is in our times, e genre, incredibly pluralistic, of nonviolence

 

For details of the festival, kindly please log on to www.therazafoundation.org  

 

VAK – THE RAZA BIENNALE OF ASIAN POETRY

 

SESSION II- Chaired by: Ashis Nandy

11:00 – 11:20: Marine Petrossian Armenia

11:20 - 11:40: Yang Lian China 

11:40 - 12:00: Alvin Pang Singapore

12:00 – 12:20:  Saw Wei Myanmar

12:20 -12:40: Shahnaz Munni Bangladesh

12:40 - 13:00: Closing remarks by Chair

 

 

SESSION III: Chaired by Apoorvanand

14:00 - 14:20: Emiko Mayashita Japan

14:20 -14:40:  Rosa Jamali Iran

14:40 - 15:00: Kaushiki Dasgupta India

15:00 - 15:20: Najwan Darwish Palestine

15:20 - 15:40: Youhong Liu China

15:40 - 16:00: Closing remarks by the Chair

 

SESSION IV: Chaired by Harish Trivedi

16:30 pm- 17:30 pm- Conversation: Truth of Poetry in Post Truth Times

Speakers: Ko Un South Korea; Saw Wei Myanmar; Nomaan Shauque India; Amir Or Israel; Sitanshu Yashaschandra India

 

There are many claimants to truth, many pretenders as well. Politics, religion, science, technology, ideologies, media, etc. all claim t possess truth, many a time, aggressively and stubbornly. Any of these ‘truths’ tend to create regimes of exclusivity, unquestionability and mindless following. Poetry, on the other hand, while daring to speak truth in spite of adversities, makes it participative and refuses to create any regime. Its truth is participative: it reaches completeness, if at all, when the readers, the others add some truth of their own to the poetic truth.

 

Our times are marked by a global sweep of untruth and lies. Engulfed by them one may lose faith in truth as also in the need for it. Poetry of our time is insisting that truth must be spoken, articulated and asserted. Poets invariably have begun a non-violent brigade of truth-speakers taking immense personal risks

 

India China Relations – Doklam to Wuhan and Beyond

Speaker: Amb. Gautam Bambawale, former Indian Ambassador to China, Bhutan and High Commissioner to Pakistan

Moderator: Vijay Naik, Convener, Indian Association of Foreign Affairs Correspondents

 

(Collaboration: Indian Association of Foreign Affairs Correspondents)

 

 

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