Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs

A discussion on Prof. T.K. Oommen’s book Trial, Tribulations and Triumphs: Life and Times of a Sociologist (New Delhi: Konarak Pub. 2017)

 

Chief Guest: Shri M. Hamid Ansari, former Vice-President of India

 

Speakers: Dr. T.N. Madan, Emeritus Professor, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi; Dr. George Mathew, Chairperson, Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi

 

Chair: Justice Rajinder Sachar, Retired Chief Justice of Delhi High Court

 

(Collaboration: Konark Publishers)

 

 

BBC and India: War, Independence and Partition

Speaker: Dr. Chandrika Kaul, Senior Lecturer in Modern History, University of St Andrews, Scotland

 

Chair: Professor Gita Bamezai, Head, Department of Communications Research, Indian Institute of Mass Communications

 

The BBC has had a long association with India. As we celebrate the 70th anniversary of Indian Independence, this talk will focus on the climactic 1940s and discuss the BBC’s coverage during the Second World War, Indian Independence and Partition

 

 

CREEDS OF OUR TIMES

Curated by Rajiv Mehrotra

 

The Long Search - VI

A film presented by Ronald Eyre

 

Taoism: A Question of Balance-China (52 min; English)

In our search for Chinese religious experience, we go to Taiwan. A whole pantheon of gods, both local and imported from the mainland, are worshipped in thousands of Buddhist and Taoist temples. Several strands make up the religious life of the village: A Confucian respect for past and the ancestors, the cosmic pattern of the Tao that permeates all levels of existence and manifests itself through oracles, the local gods who dispense justice and favours, and the hungry ghosts of the dead who have be placated

 

Alternative Lifestyles in California: West meets East   (52 min; English))

The spiritual impulse of the time steps beyond the boundaries of religious tradition – so wrote Theodore Roszak, spokesman for the counter-culture, who is Ronald Eyre’s guide to the new religious concerns of people living in the San Francisco Bay area. Here religious ideas and life styles of East and West mingle and people brought up in largely Christian culture climate look East to Taoism and Hinduism for inspiration

 

(Collaboration: Foundation for Universal Responsibility of H.H. The Dalai Lama)

 

Conflicts, Post Conflicts and Peoples’ Memory

 

 

In the Third and final part of the series on Conflicts, Post- Conflicts and Peoples’ Memory: A panel discussion in three parts, the focus shifts to contemporary pieces of artistic expression that strive towards reflection on the memory of the past. Focusing on three other powerful visual mediums of subversion, remembrance and commemoration – documentaries, graffiti and murals – with a focus on Latin American history. During the 1970s and 80s, Latin Americans have had to face, suffer and resist some of the most brutal dictatorships; dictatorships that unleashed widespread repression, torture and killings. In an attempt to communicate, and remember people began to use city walls and buildings to vent out their feelings of angst, as a way of protest against political oppression. From this grew a history of graffiti and murals – forms of street art and cultural expression – that enjoy currency till date. The panel will share some examples of graffiti from Argentina and murals from Chile in an attempt to show how the pieces not only celebrate the revolutionary period of the 1970s and 80s but also convert them into tools of subversion used by contemporary artists to negotiate with present day politics.

Literary and Cultural Dimensions of Translations

Chief Guest: Shri Ashok Vajpeyi

 

Panelists: Shri Keki N. Daruwalla, eminent poet and short story writer; and Prof. G.J.V. Prasad, Centre for English Studies, School of Language Literature and Culture Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University

 

As part of this programme, Shri Vajpeyi will release three titles of Ratna Books: The Sixth Finger (A Novel) by Malayatoor Ramakrishnan, translated from Malayalam by Prema Jayakumar; After Yesterday and Other Stories by Appadurai Muttulingam, translated from Tamil by Padma Narayanan; and A Faceless Evening and Other Stories by Gangadhar Gadgil, translated from Marathi by Keerti Ramachandra

 

(Collaboration: Ratna Sagar P. Ltd)

 

 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

Two books will be discussed

 

My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir (12th Edition)

By Jagmohan (New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 2017)

 

Pakistan: Courting the Abyss

By Tilak Devasher (Noida: HarperCollins, 2016)

 

Panelists: Ambassador Satish Chandra, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan and former Deputy National Security Advisor; and Shri Sushant Sareen, Senior Fellow, Vivekananda International Foundation

 

Chair: Vice-Admiral (retd.) K.K. Nayyar, former Vice Chief of the Indian Navy

 

 

 

Shatranj ke Khilari (The Chess Players/India)

(129 min; 1977; dvd; English subtitles)

A film by Satyajit Ray

 

Recipient of the Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Actor, Best Director & Best Film – Critics, Filmfare Awards 1978

 

On this occasion Suresh Jindal’s book: My Adventures with Satyajit Ray: The Making of Shatranj ke Khilari will be released

 

(Collaboration: HarperCollins India)

 

 

 

By Deepak Kshirsagar from Baroda, disciple of his grandfather Pt. B.N. Kshirsagar, father Dr. K.B. Kshirsagar and Pt. Satish Khanwalkar

 

The State of the Nation

 

 

Chair: Dr. V.A. Pai Panandikar

 

(Collaboration: Pai Panandiker Trust)

 

 

INDIAN ARCHAEOLOGY

 

Maritime Archaeological Investigations along the Gujarat coast

Illustrated lecture by Dr. A.S. Gaur, Marine Archaeology Centre, National Institute of Oceanography, Goa

Chair: Shri B.M. Pande

 

The foundations of maritime archaeological studies in India was laid with the investigation at Dwarka in 1981 and thereafter the investigations extended to the entire Saurashtra coast besides, Maharashtra, Goa, Lakshadweep and Tamil Nadu coast. However, the main focus remained on the Saurashtra coast for almost three decades. The entire coast from Bet Dwarka on the extreme west to Ghogha on the east was extensively investigated. The talk will focus on the remains documented in the course of studies and their interpretation to understand the concept of ports in the past and also on how these archaeological sites have been used effectively to understand the coastline movement