By Yamini Muthanna from Bangalore, disciple of Guru Vasundhara Doraswamy            

A panel discussion on the role of the media in shaping opinions and political attitudes and setting the political agenda 

Panelists: Shri Swapan Dasgupta, senior journalist and political commentator; Smt Mrinal Pande, senior journalist and former Chairperson, Prasar Bharati; Prof. Shiv Vishvanathan, Professor, School of Government and Public policy, Jindal University; and Shri Siddharth Varadarajan, Senior Fellow, Centre for Public Affairs and Critical Theory, Shiv Nadar University, and former Editor, The Hindu

Moderator: Ms Barkha Dutt, Group Editor, NDTV

 

Rangzen (11 min; 2013; dvd; English Subtitles)
Director: Gaurav Saxena
 
Rangzen is a film about one 8 year old Tibetan boy, Tashi - growing up as a refugee in a small hill town in Indian - the exiled home of the Dalai Lama. The film maps a crucial day in his life when he stumbles on his exiled refugee identity
  
The Giant Buddhas (95 min; 2005; dvd; English Subtitles))
Director: Christian Frei
 
Recipient of the Silver Dove Award, DOK Leipzig 2005; First Prize Ex Aequo,  Dokufest Prizren 2006; Silver Gentian,  Trento Film Festival 2006; Best of the Fest – Documentary, Tahoe/Reno International Film Festival 2006
 
In the wake of the Taliban's call for the destruction of all non-Islamic-related statues in February of 2001, the world was robbed of two of its most remarkable landmarks. In the aftermath, Swiss filmmaker Christian Frei ventures to Afghanistan's Bamiyan valley in an effort to comprehend the destruction while studying the history of the legendary statues and questioning how anger combined with hypocrisy failed to save two of the planet's most treasured landmarks.
 

Shri Ashok Vajpeyi, poet, essayist and literary-cultural critic; Shri Ramaswamy Iyer, former Secretary, Water Resources; and Smt Vidya Shah, musician will discuss A Southern Music: The Karnatik Story (Noida: HarperCollins, 2014) by T.M. Krishna
 
The author will be present at the discussion
 
Chair: Shri Bhaskar Ghose

Mars Orbiter Spacecraft - First Indian Interplanetary Mission
Speaker: Dr. V. Koteswara Rao, Distinguished Scientist of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Scientific Secretary of ISRO
 
Chair: Dr. V. Siddhartha, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore
 
ISRO planned an orbiter mission to Mars using an early opportunity of 2013, which recurs with a ‘Synodic period’ of approximately 26 months. The scientific objective of the Mars Orbiter Spacecraft is to study Mars’ surface features like morphology, topography and mineralogy and study the dynamics of the upper atmosphere of Mars. Presently the Mars Orbiter Spacecraft is cruising well in its designated trajectory with defined pace  

Attempts on Her Life (80 mins)
A play by Martin Crimp
Directed by Feisal Alkazi
 
Cast: Radhika Alkazi, Sanjiv Desai, Nandini Sra, Jaipreet Singh, Smita Mazumdar Rajaram, Armaan Alkazi and others
 
Eight unrelated scenes that explore terrorism, pornography, ethnic violence and the male gaze
 

By Nishindra Kinjalk from Delhi, disciple of Pt Uma Shankar Mishra and Pt Gopal Krishna
                        

Keynote Address                  
By Dr. Lobsang Sangay, Sikyong of Central Tibetan Administration
Chair:  Prof Siddiq Wahid, academic and author
 
The Simla Convention between Britain, China and Tibet held from 1913 to 1914 defined the status of Tibet and demarcated the boundaries of Inner and Outer Tibet between Tibet and India.
 
This seminar will re-visit some of the issues such as what were the compulsions that drove the three parties to gather in Simla a hundred years ago? What were Britain’s imperial impulses to host the convention in India? What were the aims and purposes of Tibet to attend the convention?

Directed by Nishtha Jain who will introduce the film
 
 Multiple award winner including awards for Best Film (Social Issue) and Best Editing,  National Film Awards, India 2014; Best Director, International Feature Documentary, MIFF, Mumbai 2014; Best Film, Muhr Asia/Africa Documentary, Dubai International Film Festival 2012; and Best Documentary, Kortfilm  Festivalen, Norway 2012 among others
 
Enter the badlands of Bundelkhand in central India and you have entered a place of desolation, dust and despair. And yet it is hope that this film discovers, as it follows the Gulabi Gang, an unusual group of rural women led by the energetic and charismatic Sampat Pal. Travelling long distances to fight for the rights of women and Dalits, they encounter resistance, apathy and corruption, even ridicule. The film pulls us into the centre of these blazing conflicts and uncovers a complex story, disturbing yet heartening
 
Screening will be followed by a discussion

Group performance by ‘Antarang’ from Delhi, disciples of Hemanta Kumar Kalita