On the occasion of Rabindranath Tagore's 150th birth anniversary thislecture will look into the reasons of the Indian Poet's uninterruptedsurvival in Spain ever since his Nobel Prize Award in 1913 which is insharp contrast to his reception in other parts of Europe after the1920s. It will highlight the special literary relationship between himand the well known Jimenez couple but will also refer to the criticalreception in order to understand the dialectical process responsiblefor the said survival

Accompanists: A. Lakshman (nattuvangam), Sudha Raghuraman (vocal), M.V. Chandershekhar (mridangam) and G. Raghuraman (flute)

The Gandhi Katha conveys the story of Mahatma Gandhi, providing aninsight into his inner recesses as well as an analysis of his role inhistory through storytelling with appropriate songs composed by him. The Gandhi Katha started six years ago as reparative acts of creativenon-violence after the violence in Gujarat in 2002.
Songs rendered by Sardar Patel School

Panelists: Ms Pregs Govender from South Africa works locally andglobally with Parliaments, Governments and Civil Society to build analternative politics and leadership through writing, policy andeducation. A recipient of the first Ruth First Fellowship 2004 forcourageous writing and activism; Dr. Elkin Velasquez, Coordinator,Safer Cities Programme and Advisor to the Secretary, Government ofBogota, and Consultant for the European Union in Civil Safety, the UNDPand UN-Habitat for Local Citizen Safety and Decentralization; and Dr.Margaret Shaw, sociologist and criminologist and Director of Analysisand Exchange, International Centre for the Prevention of Crime,Montreal, Canada

Moderator: Ms Pamela Philipose, veteran journalist and Director, Women's Feature Service

Carnatic Music: Anuga Venkataramani (vocal); Veena Venkataramani (veena)

Hindustani Music: Rahul Deshpande (vocal)

By Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma with on the spot painting by Tirthankar Basu

Set in the fictional future of the year 2048 this film focuses on anews bulletin which shows an appalling litany of disaster stories,epidemics of super typhus spread by rats, plagues of grasshoppers.

A film by Science and Environment

An illustrated presentation by Irfan Zuberi, a cultural consultantwith the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and a researcher with the newlylaunched digital repository Naad Saagar and Archives and DocumentationSociety for South Asian Music, based in Delhi

Throughrecordings of Hazrat Amir Khusrau's compositions, this talk willintroduce the genre of khanqahi qawwali in the Indian subcontinent s aprominent expression of Chishti Sufism.  A recitative musical genrewhich has evolved significantly over time, khanqahi qawwali continuesto be vibrant in terms of form, wide in terms of reach and rich interms of repertoire.  This illustrated lecture-listening session willutilize recordings of Hazrat Amir Khusrau's compositions in an attemptto familiarize the audience with the structure, purpose and meaning ofthis genre of Hindustani music.