Commemoration of Nelson Mandela’s 97th Birthday

Commemoration Service 10.30 am – 11.00 am (Gandhi-King Memorial Plaza)
Songs by Choirs of Schools from Delhi NCR

Procession from Gandhi-King Memorial Plaza to Deshmukh Auditorium

Mandela Katha Mala 11.15 am – 12.30 pm (Deshmukh Auditorium)
Message from the UN Secretary General to be read by Mrs Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman, Director, United Nations Information Centre for India and Bhutan
Speakers: H.E. Mr France Morule, High Commissioner of South Africa; Shri Satyabrata Pal, former Indian High Commissioner to South Africa; Prof. Ajay Kumar Dubey, Chairperson, Centre for African Studies, JNU & General Secretary, African Studies Association of India; and Shri Suhas Borker, Convener, Working Group on Alternative Strategies

Followed by an interactive session with students
During the Mandela Katha a short film on Nelson Mandela’s Life shall be screened
Central Court: Exhibitions by National Gandhi Museum on ‘Nelson Mandela’ and ‘The Great March: Gandhi’s Last Satyagraha in South Africa 1913-1914’
Foyer outside Deshmukh Auditorium: An exhibition of paintings by children of Bluebells School International on ‘Madiba and His Struggle’
Organised as part of Taking Children to Gandhi series that brings children closer to the enduring legacy of Gandhi’s non-violent struggle for equity, justice, pluralism and sustainable development

 Art historian Prof. B. N. Goswamy  on conversation with Dr. Shobita Punja, Smt. Nandini Mehta and Dr. Kavita Singh
 
 Chair: Shri Ashok Vajpeyi

An exhibition of Chigiri-e paper art
By Jyotirmoy Ray from Delhi
 
Inauguration by Shri Rajeev Lochan, Director, National Gallery of Modern Art on Thursday, 16 July 2015 at 18:30
 
Chigiri-e is created in collage style from torn pieces of washi paper. It is an artist’s impression of hope that takes its flight to freedom not by rejecting the shattered ugliness but by creating harmony from torn paper

 
Bharatanatyam Recitals
By S. Vijay Kumar from Chennai, disciple of Smt Sujatha Parameswaram
 
At 19:00 pm
By Lokesh Bharadwaj from Delhi, disciple of Shri Justin McCarthy

Bharatanatyam Recitals
By Praveen Kumar from Bangalore, disciple of Guru Smt Narmada and Prof. C.V. Chandrashekar
 
At 19:00 pm
By Renjith Babu from Chennai, disciple of Prof. C.V. Chandrashekhar and the Dhananjayans

Beyond Body, Beyond  Mind: The Mystic Musings of  Lalleshwari  (Lal Ded) – The   Great Saint-Poetess of Kashmir
 
Panel:  Dr. R. K. Bhat, Dr. S. S. Toshkhani and Mr. C. L. Sapru
 
Chair: Prof. B. B. Dhar, President, Kashmir Education, Culture and Science Society (KECSS), New Delhi

Amitav Acharya, Professor of International Relations, American University and author of the new book The End of American World Order (Oxford University Press, New Delhi:2015) who will speak about his new book
 
Discussants: Professor Satish Kumar; Dr. K.P. Vijayalakshmi and Ambassador K.P. Fabian
 
Chair: Professor Muchkund Dubey

Inauguration on 14^th July at 10:30 am

An exhibition by Luz Blanco and Ludovic Bernhardt
 
Preview on Friday, 10^th July 2015 at 18:30
 
The exhibition presents the graphic work of two French artists who question the nature of image and its reproduction, their interiority and their subject as well. Proposing a conversation between their images which embodies the nature of representation and that of visual memory which produces a disruption of information and a reinterpretation of social signs