India-Australia Relations in a Changing Geopolitical Landscape in the Indo-Pacific

Panelists: Prof. Stephen Smith, former Australian Minister for Defence and Foreign Affairs; Ambassador. Peter Varghese, former Australian High Commissioner to India; and Prof. Gordon Flake, Founding CEO, Perth USAsia Centre

 

Moderator: Ambassador Shyam Saran

 

(Collaboration: Perth USAsia Centre)

ENGINEERS AND THE SOCIETY

 

Role of Engineers in the Society

Inaugural address by Dr. Kirit Shantilal Parikh, Padma Bhushan, former Member, Planning Commission, Chairman, Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe), New Delhi & former Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai

 

Presentations by Sayona Philip, President, Consulting Engineers Association of India (CEAI), Head-Government Relations, Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE); Sudhir Dhawan, Immediate Past President, CEAI, CEO – Aether Engineering Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

 

First lecture in a new series of six lectures on the theme of “Engineers and the Society” organised in collaboration with Consulting Engineers Association of India. The series will try and acquaint audiences with the important role that an engineer plays in making the daily life of an individual safe, efficient and comfortable. Engineering focuses on the development of infrastructure, by contributing to the clean air you breathe, the safe water you drink, the secure home you live in and the multifarious transport systems you use

 

Concert – Guitar Duo

By R2T2 guitar duo – Raphaël Bereau and Tizoc Romero

 

The duo will present a concert of works by Scarlatti, Bach, Rameau, Albéniz, Rodrigo, Piazolla, Ponce and others

 

(Collaboration: Delhi Music Society; and Sardana Creative Consultancy)

Indra ki Talwar (Hindi/45 min)

A dramatic rendition of a short story by K.A. Abbas

Direction & Design: Dr. Danish Iqbal

 

The play will be introduced by Shri D.P. Tripathi, former Member of Parliament and Trustee, Khwaja Ahmed Abbas Memorial Trust 

Remarks by Mr. Martin Macwan, Human Rights activist and Founder, Navsarjan and Dalit Foundation; and Shri Gagan Sethi, Founder, Janvikas and Centre for Social Justice

 

Written in the 1960s, Indra ki Talwar starts on a stormy night when an old woman gives shelter to a young traveller and tells him the story of the events of a similar night 40 years ago…..

 

Dramatised by Dr. Danish Iqbal’s Sada Arts Society, the director teases out the age old caste-class divide in society which is as relevant today as they were 50 years ago

 

Meet the Author

MadhuTandan in conversation with Jyoti Karan Singh

 

Madhu Tandan is the author of three books: Faith and Fire: A Way Within, based on her 7 year stay in a Himalayan monastery. Dreams and Beyond: Finding Your Way In The Dark, explores the multiplicity of the dreaming mind from the perspectives of science, psychology, paranormal and transpersonal paradigms; and Hemis a novel set in Ladakh where Ajay stranded by the floods seeks shelter in a remote monastery in the Hemis Sanctuary and where he meets its charismatic abbot, a man unlike any other. The book explores love and sexuality against an unusual backdrop of spiritual practices

 

A KUTIYATTAM PERFORMANCE – SURPANAKHANKAM FROM SAKTIBHADRA’S ASCHARYACHUDAMANI: 16 TO 21 AUGUST 2018

Performances by Nepathaya, Kerala led by Margi Madhu Chakyar and Dr. Indu G. 

Introduction by Prof. David Shulman 

 

A complete performance of Kutiyattam each evening at 6:30 pm. Details of each evening’s episode with simultaneous explanatory slide projection; and cast details will be distributed before the performance

 

One of the oldest forms of theatre in India, the last living tradition of Sanskrit drama in performance. Kutiyattam has miraculously survived in Kerala, first as a temple art, but today it is performed on the secular stage as well. 

Kutiyattam has a spectacular theatrical language which unfolds multiple layers of meaning of the text, conveyed through gestures, powerful facial expressions, and an elaborate, slowly evolving mode of enactment. In 2001, UNESCO proclaimed Kutiyattam as a ‘Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’. 

 

Kutiyattam is a tradition fighting for its life, especially for the opportunity to perform full-scale, unabridged masterpieces spread out over several nights. Only such complete performances can convey the deep expressive force of these magnificent texts, which slowly build up to an unimaginable climax on the final night. 

 

This performance is based on Aranyakanda of the Ramayana. It depicts Surpanakhankam, the second act of Saktibhadra’s Sanskrit play Ascharyachudamani

 

(Collaboration: Sahapedia; Parekh Institute of Indian Thought, CSDS; and Seher)

 

CREEDS OF OUR TIMES

Curated by Rajiv Mehrotra

 

Sacred Journeys with Bruce Feiler (120 min; 2014; dvd; English)

A film presented by Bruce Feiler

 

Biblical scholar, Bruce Feiler takes viewers on some of the most celebrated, challenging and spectacular religious pilgrimages on earth. In this landmark six-part series, we travel with American pilgrims looking to transform their lives as they visit places deeply meaningful to their faith. And our cameras gain privileged access to places rarely seen by viewers before

 

(Collaboration: The Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness The Dalai Lama) 

 

Flight of the Ibis (60 min; dvd; 2014; English)

Film on the 2014 production of the play written by Alan Roland, playwright/librettist, visual artist and psychoanalyst who has written three books on the psychology of Indians and Japanese.  A musical, mystical and psychological drama, Flight of the Ibis is a powerful and imaginative exploration of the spiritual underpinnings of the Umayyad Caliphate in 10th century Cordoba, Spain, the most culturally advanced country in medieval Europe, with remarkable interfaith harmony

 

Prof. Alan Roland will introduce the film

 

Screening will be followed by a discussion

Long Shadow of Joblessness in the High Noon of Growth

Is jobless growth intrinsic to the market-led growth model? What indeed is the truth about growth and job-creation in India? What are the pathways to secure both growth and jobs?

 

These questions will be debated by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Jayati Ghosh, Renana Jhabvala and Atul Sood

 

This is the inaugural debate in a series of Policy and Inclusion Conversations, a collaboration between the Centre for Equity Studies, the India International Centre and The Wire