Directed by Avinash Kumar and Shamsul and presented by Kathkatha Puppet Arts Trust

 

In Tamasha in Colour puppet figures are replaced by coloured fabrics. The non-verbal narrative is simple where love encounters hate, anger and boundaries. The visuals and narratives were evolved over five months through intense engagement with fabric and improvisations with material. Here choreography and puppetry come together to create a narrative with colour, music and human bodies 

 

Supported by a Production Grant from the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India

Why is Modern Medicine Looking at Yoga?

 Panelists: Dr. S. C. Manchanda, Senior Consultant Cardiologist, Gangaram Hospital; former Head of Dept., Cardiology at AIIMS; Dr.  Ramesh Bijlani, former Professor of Physiology, AIIMS; Dr. Naresh Gupta, Director-Professor, Maulana Azad Medical College & Associated Hospitals and Chairman, Advisory Group, Consumers India;

and Dr. Jayashree Gupta, President, Consumers India

 

An Insight into Plant Life : Perception, Feelings and Self Regulation

Speaker: Professor Sudhir K. Sopory, Vice-Chancellor, JNU

 

Buddhism considers plants to be one-facultied (ekdrivya) life forms and has classified plants into different groups.  Buddha encouraged his disciples to have respect for all life including plants and not unnecessarily damage or destroy plants, the foliage or their seeds. The lecture based on this Tenet, will reflect on the inner life of plants. All plants have ‘learnt’ to survive the vagaries of weather and attacks from pathogens. Many studies have revealed that plants have photoreceptors, respond to animal or human touch and communicate through volatile compounds and/or through sounds. This lecture will briefly dwell on these emerging concepts. 

 

Discussion on Can India Have an International Media Network of its Own?

Panelists: Shri Saeed Naqvi, Senior Journalist; Shri Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, former Indian Ambassador;  Shri Vijay Naik, Consulting Editor Sakal Group; Shri Anand K. Sahay, Senior Journalist; Shri John Cherian, Chief of Bureau, Frontline;  and  Ms. Deepa Chandra

Moderator: Shri Suhas Borker

Inertia in Indian government and society - While vested interests take over public spaces

By Laveesh Bhandari 

 

Discussants:  Shri Jagan Shah, Director, NIUA; and others

 

After the Citizens Alliance success in blocking the mall in South Delhi, the talk will highlight on the experiences of protecting public spaces - specifically footpaths and playgrounds. And how vested interests freely appropriate public spaces with little reaction from those who are mandated to protect them.  And how can the masses circumvent this inertia without resorting to the legal route?

 

With Jaipur - Atrauli gharana maestro Vidushi Vijaya Jadhav Gatlewar (Khayal)

 

As a long time disciple of the legendary Pandit  Nivruttibua  Sarnaik, Vijaya Tai has acquired a sizeable treasure of the gharana. She will commence her recital with raga Jaitashree and present  prakar-s of Nat & Kanhra in keeping with the repertoire specialities of the gharana 

 

Discussion based on a book by Dr. Sudha Pai
Co-author Dr. Avinash Kumar

 

Panelists:  Prof. Ghanshyam Shah; Prof. Sucheta Mahajan and Dr. Asha Sarangi

 

Chair:  Prof. S.K. Thorat

 

Revisiting 1956 resurrects the Ambedkar’s works from oblivion and presents relevant portions from them for the general, interested reader.  As new states are being formed, Ambedkar’s works find renewed relevance. When he called the merger of Telangana and Telugu-speaking areas of Madras Presidency as ‘artificial’, Ambedkar showed remarkable vision that administrators can learn from. In laying criteria for reorganisation of states - viability, size, economic feasibility, equality, federal balance, and the divisive issue of language - he has already addressed concerns that the contemporary common man now asks

 

Naqoyqatsi - Life As War (89 min; dvd; 2002; English)

Director: Godfrey Reggio

 

Naqoyqatsi chronicles the most significant event of the last five thousand years: the transition from the natural milieu, old nature, to the “new” nature, the technological milieu. Naqoyqatsi takes us on an epical journey into a land that is nowhere, yet everywhere; the land where the image itself is our location, where the real gives way to the virtual.  As the gods of old become dethroned, anew pantheon of light appears in the integrated circuit of the computer. Its truth, becomes the truth.

Shri Lalit  Mansingh, former Foreign Secretary;  Dr. H. K. Kaul,  Director, Developing Library Network; and Ms Humra Quraishi, Columnist & Author will discuss, India Through American Eyes (New Delhi: Primus Books, 2014) by Pran Nevile

 

Chair: Dr. Karan Singh, MP