Speaker: Dr. Amit Kumar, President of US based AAA International Security Consultants LLC.; international security expert in counterterrorism and counter-terrorist financing; Senior Fellow with the Anti-Money Laundering Association (AMLA), Fellow for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism at the Centre for National Policy; Adjunct Associate Professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University; and International Associate, Society for Policy Studies. He previously worked with the Al-Qaida Taliban Sanctions regime at the United Nations where he offered substantive advice to the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Regimes on matters related to the implementation of Assets Freeze Sanctions measures against the Al-Qaida and Taliban, as well as issues relating countering the financing of terrorism

 

Chair: Cmde. C. Uday Bhaskar 

 

One-man solo show presented by Christopher Daruwalla

 

As the title suggests Lying… and how lies play a pivotal role in our everyday life! In an evening of humour, the Lying Motivator, Christopher Daruwalla, treats his audiences to the different ways in which people lie, the truth between the lies that men and women tell…questions about lies and reality. He guides his audience through practical exercises to help them cope with their daily lies, and introduces them to techniques to be perfect in the practise of lying – to make them perfect liars…

 

 

Director, Script Writer and Cameraman: Benoy K. Behl who will introduce the film

Produced by XPD Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India

 

Screening will be followed by a discussion

 

Most people are not aware that at least a score of Hindu deities are very actively worshipped in Japan. In fact, there are hundreds of shrines to Saraswati alone. There are innumerable representations of Lakshmi, Indra, Brahma, Ganesha, Garuda and other deities. Moreover, deities that have been practically forgotten in India, such as Vayu and Varuna are still worshipped in Japan. The film presents the shared culture of India and Japan

 

By Siddhartha Bhose from Kolkata, disciple of Pt. Partha Sarathy and Pt. Soumitra Lahiri 

 

Accompanied by Pt. Shiv Shankar Ray on tabla 

 

Dagarvani Dhrupad Evening

Vocal recital

By Abhijeet Sukhdane

 

Followed by 

Vocal Recital

By Ustad Faiyaz Wasifuddin Dagar 

Accompanied by Pt. Mohanshyam Sharma on pakhawaj

 

 

 

Speaker: Ms Sathya Saran who will trace the changing perception of Indian beauty in cinema through the early days till the present. It will talk about some of the iconic beauties and the unique aspect of each that wooed the audience imagination. The presentation will also talk about the influences that changed perceptions and brought in a resultant change in the body shapes and looks of screen divas

 

 

Speaker: Dr. Sumanta Banerjee is a cultural historian who specializes in research into popular culture, particularly of the colonial period. His best known works include The Simmering Revolution: The Naxalite Uprising,The Thema Book of Naxalite Poetry, The Popular and the Streets: Elite and Popular Culture in Nineteenth Century Calcutta  and Dangerous Outcast: The Prostitute in Nineteenth Century Bengal

 

Chair: Shri Hiranmay Karlekar

 

The decade of the 1950s was a crucial period in the history of Calcutta, charged with dramatic transitions and traumatic experiences in the quotidian existence of its citizens. Their economic, political and socio-cultural existential world changed under the impact of a number of historical developments

 

Prof. Dipankar Gupta, Shiv Nadar University & Director, Centre for Public Affairs and Critical Theory; Ms Amrita Bhalla, Dept. of English, Jesus and Mary College; and Ms. Mandira Ghosh , author will discuss In Search of Freedom: Journeys Through India and South – East Asia by Sagari Chhabra (NOIDA: HarperCollins, 2015)

 

Chair: Prof. Shyam B. Menon, Vice Chancellor, Ambedkar University

 

A discussion on the book, Gates of the Lord : A Tradition of Krishna Painting (Mapin India)

 

Panelists: Madhuvanti Ghose, Alsdorf Associate Curator of Indian, Southeast Asian, Himalayan and Islamic Art at the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the curator of the exhibition, Gates of the Lord: The Tradition of Krishna Paintings; Kapil Sharma contemporary artist and designer who is inspired by the legacy of his forefathers in Nathdwara; and Nilima Sheikh, one of India's most respected artists  

 

Speaker: Shri Anand Sethi, electronics engineer, International Development Finance professional, itinerant traveller, writer/author on history of technology and military history

 

Chair: Ambassador K.V. Rajan, Convenor, India Discussion Group

 

Chief Guest: Prof Lokesh Chandra, President, ICCR

 

A fascinating and unusual travelogue covering the most important sites in Sri Lanka mentioned in most of the over 320 versions of the Ramayana. The presentation does not take a view or opinion, either for or against, of the historical and geographical authenticity of what is stated in the Ramayana