BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

Busy Women: Building Commerce and Culture in Middle India
By Shinjini Kumar (Penguin, 2026)

Moderator: Nishtha Gautam, Journalist, author-translator, Academic

Discussants: Amb. Pavan K Varma, Politician, Author, Former Diplomat; Milee Ashwarya, Publisher and Group Senior VP, Penguin Random House India; Shinjini Kumar, Author of the book

Flux of Being

A Solo Exhibition by Ravi Kant Jha, National award-winning artist, his practice investigates themes of consciousness, memory, and transformation.

The exhibition presents a series of paintings that explore consciousness as a state of constant transformation. Through fluid forms, layered compositions, and evocative color fields, the works blur the boundaries between memory, imagination, and reality.

The exhibition will be inaugurated on Saturday, 25 July’26 at 17:00 hrs

The exhibition will remain open daily from 11:00 to 19:00 hrs
 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

Speaking Sculptures: Karanas in Kathak 
By Shovana Narayan (Shubhi Publications, 2026)

Moderator: K.N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC

Discussants: Dr. Sandhya Purecha, Chairperson, Sangeet Natak Akademi ; Dr. Sachchidanand Joshi, Member-Secretary, IGNCA; Dr. Bharat Gupt, Vice Chairman, National School of Drama; Dr. Shovana Narayan, Kathak Dancer & Author of the Book
 

MUSIC APPRECIATION PROMOTION

Asha Bhosle: Voice, Performance and Musical Legacy                                                                                        

Illustrated presentation by Shikha Jhingan, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU; author of Female Playback in Bombay Cinema: Voice, Body, Technology (Wayne State University Press, 2025) and documentary film-maker.

Chair: Prof Ashwini Deshpande, Professor of Economics and Director of Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA), Ashoka University

The Illustrated talk will focus on Asha Bhosle's unique vocal style that redefined the boundaries of the female voice in Hindi film songs. By charting Bhosle's extended career, the lecture will draw attention to the cinematic drive and genre defining qualities in her voice

 Live: https://www.youtube.com/live/rAgUBsQxoIE

IIC Double Bill :Dance  Recitals

Andhra Natyam

By Madhuri Surendra from Bangalore, disciple of Acharya Kala Krishna  

Accompanists: Rama Jagannath (Vocal);Acharya Kala Krishna( Nattuvangam); Janardhan (Mridangam); TVS Annadorai(Violin).

At 19:00

Mohiniattyam Recital

By Bhadra Rajeev from Thrissur, Kerala, disciple of Sri Kalamandalam C. Gopalakrishnan.

Remembering the Self - A Meditative Journey
(74 minutes; 2025; English)
Producer: Lilla Balint & Daniel Schmidt

A contemplative cinematic journey into awareness, presence, and the deeper nature of the Self. Through meditative reflections and stunning visuals, Remembering the Self invites viewers to pause, reflect, and reconnect with their inner essence.

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

UNSUNG: Celebrating the Extraordinary Grandeur of Smallness

A photography exhibition curated by Amit Mehra, photographer, curator, and founder of the UNSUNG project, an ongoing initiative that celebrates the lives and contributions of extraordinary yet often overlooked individuals.

The photographs explore the beauty and significance of lives, places, and ideas that often go unnoticed. Through visual narratives by contemporary artists, the exhibition reflects on ordinary people and unseen worlds whose stories reveal resilience, conviction, and human connection.

The exhibition will be inaugurated on Tuesday, 21 July’26 at 18:00 hrs by Amb Shyam Saran, President, IIC
 

The exhibition will remain open daily from 11:00 to 19:00 hrs

(Collaboration: Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology (a constituent of MAHE, Manipal) and Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal (Institution of Eminence Deemed to be University)
 

Book Discussion Group  

Games Hospitals Play: Care vs Commerce

By Abantika Ghosh ( Bloomsbury, 2025) 

Moderator: Himanshi Dhawan, Senior Editor, The Times of India

Discussants: Dr V K Paul, former member, Niti Aayog, Dr Randeep Guleria, former director, AIIMS; Dr K Srinath Reddy: Professor, Health Policy, ISPP & Chair, Centre for Universal Health Assurance; Dr Raj Shankar Ghosh, senior Advisor, Public Health Foundation of India; Dr Sumit Ray, Medical Director, Holy Family Hospital; C K Mishra, former health secretary; Abantika Ghosh, Journalist and Author of the book

The Extraordinary Science of The Ordinary World: The Legacy of Pierre-Gilles De Gennes

Speaker: Gautam Menon, Ashoka University

Moderator: Rohini Rangachari Karnik, Professor, Alliance Française de Delhi

The French Nobel prize winner in physics of 1991, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (1932–2007), presided over the creation of a new interdisciplinary science, that of “soft matter”, studying materials as diverse as shaving foam, ink, sand, plastics and soap. But he also thought about education more broadly, emphasising that science is deeply human, intuitive, and driven by curiosity. He is not widely known to the public, a gap that will be addressed in the session. 
 

Emergent Quantum Matter: New Paths to Future Technology

Speaker:  Prof. Jainendra Jain, Founding Director, Lodha Theoretical Physics Institute, Mumbai; Evan Pugh University Professor & Eberly Chair in Physics & Director, Centre for Theory of Emergent Quantum Matter, The Pennsylvania State University

Chair: Dr. Shailesh Nayak, Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies

When electrons are confined to two dimensions and exposed to a strong magnetic field, they pull us into an astonishing new world that defies our everyday intuition. Electrons capture quanta of magnetic field to transform into exotic particles known as composite fermions, which serve as the fundamental building blocks of an unexpected and remarkably rich quantum landscape. The talk will begin with the story and the motivations that led the speaker to the concept of composite fermions, describe the new structures they revealed, and touch on ideas for how emergent particles can pave the way to new technology.