An illustrated presentation of the book, First Garden of the Republic: Nature on the President’s Estate, by Amita Baviskar , environmental sociologist and editor of  First Garden of the Republic: Nature on the President’s Estate

 

Chair:  Prof Narayani Gupta 

 

Renowned across the world, the Mughal Garden of the Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi attracts millions of visitors. Less well known is the fact that the President’s Estate also contains hundreds of acres of jungle, orchards, cultivated fields and open grounds, all teeming with a wealth of plant and animal life that did not exist 85 years ago. As a result, an oasis of ecological diversity flourishes in the heart of urban Delhi.  How was this miracle achieved? What keeps it going today?

 

This talk will show how, in the last days of empire, British rulers transformed the once-barren hilltop of Raisina into a lush landscape designed to display colonial power and style. After Independence, this imperial legacy was reshaped to serve the public purpose. The talk will also discuss how human agency creates and curates this habitat, looking particularly at the quiet yet constant work done by the malis (gardeners). It will trace the history of the formal gardens and forests, highlighting the role of sentiment, status and taste in designing this landscape 

 

 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

 

India and the Global Game of Gas Pipelines

By Gulshan Dietl (Oxon: Routledge, 2017)

 

Discussants: Ms Sudha Mahalingam, former Member, Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board; Prof. Girijesh Pant, former Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Prof. Rajen Harshe, Dept. of International Relations, South Asian University

 

Chair: Prof. S.D. Muni, Distinguished Fellow IDSA and Professor Emeritus, Jawaharlal Nehru University

 

 

Michelangelo in the City of the Borgias

Speaker: Professor Eugenio Lo Sardo

 

Chair: Ms Yashodhara Dalmia

 

(Collaboration: Italian Embassy Cultural centre)

 

 

Speaker: Professor Eugenio Lo Sardo

 

Chair: Ms Yashodhara Dalmia

 

(Collaboration: Italian Embassy Cultural centre)

 

 

Speaker: Professor Eugenio Lo Sardo

 

Chair: Ms Yashodhara Dalmia

 

(Collaboration: Italian Embassy Cultural centre)

 

 

Speaker: Professor Eugenio Lo Sardo, Director of the Italian National Archives and former Professor of Museology, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’. He recently published the world’s first translation of Confucius, edited by Michele Ruggieri for Philip II of Spain in 1590. His next publication is of new manuscript material and a monograph on: Michelangleo Buonarroti in the Rome of the Borgias. He edited the exhibition catalogue “Caravaggio: Una Vita dal Vero” (Rome, 2013) and in India he has curated 4 exhibitions (Delhi, Bombay, Goa and Calcutta) on Ludovico de Varthema and his travels in the Orient

 

Chair: Ms Yashodhara Dalmia

 

 

Speakers: Dr. Sunanda Sen; Dr. B S Chimni; and Professor Manoranjan Mohanty

 

Chair: Professor Muchkund Dubey 

 

(Collaboration: Council for Social Development)

A collaborative photography project by five emerging photographers – Ankit Agrawal on Making of Tanpura; Mrigank Kulshrestha on The Fading Whirl of the Looms – Muga Silk from Assam; Taha Ahmad on Mukaish work from Lucknow; Vikas Gupta on An Aura of Analogue Age which captures the last generation of analogue photographers residing in the small historic town of Kurukshetra; and Bharat Tiwari on Chanderi Weavers

 

Curated and mentored by Aditya Arya and Parthiv Shah

 

Inauguration on  Friday, 21st April 2017 at 6.30 pm  by Dr. (Mrs.) Kapila Vatsyayan
Guest of Honour: Purnima Rai 
 

(Collaboration: Neel Dongre Awards/Grants for Excellence in Photography; and India Photo Archive Foundation)

 

 

 

 

Panorama of Bengal Arts

Prayaschitto

D.L. Roy’s musical play directed by Anjan Kanjilal

Presented by Green Room Theatre, New Delhi

 

(Collaboration: Impresario India)

 

 

Arts from the Banks of the Brahmaputra

Sattriya choreography with folk and tribal dances

By Guru Ranjumoni Saikia and the Sangeet Sattra Ensemble, Guwahati

 

Followed by

Bollywood Melodies of Bhupen Hazarika and Other Legends

By Sudip Basu, well-known composer and singer from Kolkata