By Roja Kannan from Chennai, disciple of Late Shri Adyar K. Lakshman and  Smt Kalanidhi Narayanan

 

Speaker: Professor Sangeeta Thapliyal, Centre for Inner Asian Studies,  School of International Studies, JNU

 

Chair: Shri Deb Mukharji

 

The Himalayan region, in the cusp of South Asia, Central Asia and China, has provided transit for cultures, trade and movement of people from India northwards to trans-Himalayas, Tibet, China, Central Asia and from their southwards to India. The diverse geographical terrain ranging from plateaus, high mountains, valleys and lower Himalayan ranges, represent diverse ecology, resources and societies. It is a cultural melange assimilating Hinduism and Buddhism along with indigenous cultures, languages, dialects, and ethnicity.From the 18th century emphasis was on strategic importance of the Himalayas with definitional shifts on frontiers and buffer to safeguard Indian subcontinent from onslaughts through north. 

 

The lecture would try to understand growing relations and competition between India and China and its influences in the Himalayan region. The conflictual border issue is being negotiated through the border talks. The bilateral economic relations are progressing but competition for the Himalayas exist. What kind of relations will emerge? How would competition and cooperation co-exist? How are the Himalayan countries, Nepal and Bhutan, re-evaluating their policies?

 

10.00/1:15 and 18:30

Wood cutter and Heavenly Maiden

 A woodcutter's longing for a fairy

 

Mister Moon and Miss Sun

A mother confronts a tiger for saving her children

 

The Faithful Daughter Sim Cheung 

Story of a daughter's sacrifice for her blind father 

 

Narrated by Sohail Shaikh, Subhash Rawat, Neeraj Kumari & Sandeep Rawat in Korean style; in Sattriya dance by Ishu; enacted in Bohuroopi style by Sanjay Joshi; Imran Khan in Nautanki style; contemporary narration by Dhwani Vij and  Deepali Gupta 

 

In each time slot, three storytellers will narrate all the stories; while the stories remain the same, they will be narrated in different styles 

 

 

 

Subodh Gupta in conversation with Smt Gayatri Sinha and  Shri Sarnath Banerjee

 

 

To commemorate Martyrs Day

 

A collection of Poetry Recitations  by Dr. Syeda Hameed, Dr. Rakshanda Jalil, Sukanya Bharatram, Lalita Daikoku and Indira Varma

Vocal by Rene Singh, well-known artist

Drama by Springdale students

 

An illustrated talk by Professor Purushottama Bilimoria, senior research fellow with the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, senior lecturer at Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He is a Chancellor's Scholar and Visiting Professor at the University of California, Berkeley; an honorary professor at the Deakin University and senior fellow at the University of Melbourne in Australia

Chair: Prof. Rahul Govind

 

The presentation explores recent thinking on the 'hard emotions', in particular, grief, sorrow and mourning, and links the challenging inner and social condition to the calling of Dharma (righteous law, normatively worthy action).  Drawing from some comparative work (academic and personal) in the study of grief, mourning and empathy, the talk will discuss the treatment of this tragic pathos in classical Indic literature and modern-day psychotherapy.  Drawing on the moving series of paintings (especially of women in various shadows of grief by Rabindranath Tagore),  the talk will demonstrate that even though secularised, these emotions continue to serve as the sites of imagination at much deeper personal and inter-personal levels. As such these bhava-s (that don't always play out in corresponding rasas-s) are not antithetical to a dharmic quest despite their haunting presence even when 'the four walls collapse around one in the intensity of dukha'

 

Speaker: Professor T.V. Paul, Professor of International Relations, McGill University, Canada

 

Chair:Prof. Alka Acharya

Pran Nevile pays tribute to forgotten celebrities Kanan Devi and Juthika Roy 

 

Followed by a concert by Shevanti Sanyal

 

'A - Neeti' (Injustice)

 

A classical dance presentation in Mohiniattam and Bharatanatyam 

 

The production is conceptualised, scripted and choreographed by Dr. Kanak Rele  

 

Lyrics for Mohiniattam are by Shri Kavalam  Narayana Panikkar, for Ekalavya from Mahabharata, for Nandanar by Gopalakrishna Bharati, Thirumoolar and Shankaracharya 

 

 Presented by Nalanda Dance Research Centre on the occasion of Golden Jubilee Celebrations 'Suvarana Mahotsava' (1966-2016) 

 

IIC Heritage Walk led by Beeba Sobti, historian, pedagogue and Delhi aficionado 

 

 

The walk weaves in the warp and weft of IIC’s collective memory – the Triveni of the intellectual, cultural and social streams set in the milieu of Joseph Allen Stein’s architectural creation in stone, water and the greens. How Stein’s question to C. D. Deshmukh (“Have you ever admired the sunset over Lodi Park?”) led to the selection of the site for the Centre? What is the connection of IIC with the Abbey of Montmajour in southern France? Where can you locate ‘The Captive’ in the Centre and what is its link to Robben Island? When were the four large blocks of south Indian granite placed in the IIC campus and what do they commemorate? The walk shall attempt to provide some answers.  

 

IIC Life Trustee Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan shall flag off the walk 

 

Concept: Suhas Borker