SAMHiTA-Bharat ki Soch Food Colloquium on Food, Wellbeing and Nutrition 
 

Paka and Ahara: Everyday Stories of Food and Nutrition

Speakers: Dr. Kalyan Sekhar Chakraborty, Department of History, Ashoka University and postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History; Dr. Ishita Dey, Department of Sociology, South Asian University; Dr. Neha Vermani, Honorary Fellow, Durham University, UK
 

Chair: Dr Gurmeet Singh, Professor & Dean (Research & Outreach), TDU
 

Food has always occupied a central place in South Asian thought—not merely as sustenance, but as a medium through which ideas of health, wellbeing, ethics, labour, ecology and community are articulated. In manuscripts, memories and everyday kitchens, food emerges as a language of balance and belonging. The SAMHiTA- Bharat ki Soch Food Colloquium brings together noted scholars to trace India’s rich heritage and explore how historical and contemporary food practices shape community life. Through conversations that move between scholarship and lived experience, the colloquium traces how food practices in South Asia have shaped ideas of health, wellbeing and nutrition.
 

Curatorial note: Prof Kiranmayi Bhushi, Department of Sociology, IGNOU
 

Rewriting History: Recent Narratives of our Past

Papers by: R.Mahalakshmi, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU (On Ancient Period); Syed Ali Nadeem Rizavi, former Secretary, Indian History Congress, Chairman and Coordinator, Centre for Advanced Studies in History, Aligarh Muslim University (On Medieval Period); and Mridula and Aditya Mukherjee, former Professors, JNU (On Modern History)

Chair and Moderator: Sucheta Mahajan, former Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU and Convenor of IIC’s Sectoral Policy Group on History.

(Organised by the IIC’s Sectoral Policy Group on History under the Convenorship of Sucheta Mahajan)
 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

In Your Eyes a River: Poems 
by Radha Chakravarty (Hawakal Publishers, 2025)
(In collaboration with Poetry Society of India)

Discussants: Prof. Sukrita Paul Kumar, Eminent Poet, Critic, Academic & Guest Editor Indian Literature; Dr. Amarendra Khatua, Former Secretary, MEA & DG, ICCR & Poet; Mandira Ghosh, Poet, Researcher, Educator & Writer; Dr. Rita Malhotra, Former Principal, Kamla Nehru college, Delhi; Prof. Radha Chakravarty, Writer, Critic; Translator & Author of the book

Chair: K. Jayakumar, President, Poetry Society (India) & Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Kerala

THE IIC DOUBLE BILL: MUSIC RECITALS

Santoor Recital
By Anoushka Majumdar from Delhi, disciple of Guru Pt. Abhay Rustum Sopori
 
At 18:30
Mystic Meera- Bhajan recital

By Priya Kanungo, Disciple of Guru Pt Vidyadhar Vyas
 

Concert 
Piano recital by Kendzsi Tanaka, a Hungarian-Japanese pianist, trained at the Vántus István Music High School in Szeged, the Royal Academy of Music, London under Joanna MacGregor, and the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen.

(Collaboration: Liszt Institute – Hungarian Cultural Centre Delhi, Embassy of Hungary)

 

Kindly register at https://forms.gle/5cTphT1gAftN2aMi8

Ram-Rasa: Experiencing through Sankirtan

A musical led by neuro-divergent creative professionals committed to bridging the gap between traditional spirituality and modern accessibility and promoting inclusion in true sense.

(Collaboration: Inclusive Spaces)
 

The World Is What We See  
A Solo Exhibition of Watercolours by Dr Sunil Parulkar
Curated by Ajay Jugraan and Shuchi Mathur

The exhibition unfolds across three interrelated modes of seeing—Attention, Encounter, and Pause—bringing together architectural studies, portraiture, and nature paintings. Drawing from ideas articulated in the Chitrasutra, it celebrates the rasas s??gara, hasya, and santa. Resonating with Wallace Stevens’s idea that the world is shaped by perception, the exhibition invites reflection, presence, renewal, and quiet joy through attentive seeing.

The exhibition will be inaugurated on Saturday, 21 March 2026 at 18:30 hrs by Dr Sachchidanand Joshi, Member Secretary, the Executive and Academic Head of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA)

The exhibition will remain open daily from 11:00 to 19:00 hrs
 

Samanvaya: Line · Colour · Form – Dialogues in Contemporary Indian Art
Curated by Jyoti A. Kathpalia.

Samanvaya, a Sanskrit term meaning harmony, synthesis, reflects the coming together of diverse artistic expressions into a cohesive whole. Samanvaya: Line · Colour · Form brings together eminent contemporary artists working across painting, printmaking, and sculpture. The exhibition is presented by Delhi Art Society. Delhi Art Society (DAS) was founded with the vision of creating a meaningful dialogue between art and the public sphere, with a strong emphasis on public art.

The exhibition will be inaugurated on the 20th March at 18:00 hrs and will remain open daily from 11:00 to 19:00 hrs from 21st March t0 30th March, 2026

Exhibition Catalogue release by Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Hon'ble Minister of Culture and Tourism, Govt. of India and Shri Rameshwar Broota, renowned artist on 23 March at 6 pm

(Collaboration: The Delhi Art Society (DAS)
 

Book Discussion Group

Pandemics and Literature: Regional and Global Perspectives

by Kamlesh Mohan and Saurav Kumar Rai

Discussants: Dr. Akshaya Kumar, Professor, English Department, Panjab University;Dr. Madhuri Sharma, Assistant Professor, History Department, Bharati College, Delhi University; Dr. Vivek Sachdeva, Professor, English Department, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University; Dr. Kamlesh Mohan, Professor- Emeritus in History, Panjab University & Editor of the Book; Mr. Saurav K. Rai, Research Officer, Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti & Editor of the Book

Moderator: Dr. Amar Farooqui, Former Professor, History Department, Delhi University

About the Book: 

This volume provides a literary-cum-historiographical analysis of epidemics and pandemics. It looks at folklore, tribal folktales, eyewitness accounts, memoirs and missionary writings from India and the west to explore the history of some of the major outbreaks in history. The chapters focus on the impact of outbreaks such as plague, cholera, malaria, tuberculosis and COVID-19, upon the material life of people, their social dislocation and their complex responses to such crises. The book studies the role of pandemics in pushing scientists, social actors and littérateurs to develop new paradigms in knowledge generation, theories of environmental dislocation and the economic slide. It examines themes such as changes in the perception of epidemic diseases across different periods of history, popular responses to state intervention during epidemics, gendering epidemics, as well as the impact of rumours during epidemics.

The Chameli Devi Jain Award 2026

For Outstanding Woman Media Person of the Year, the Vishwa Nath-Delhi Press Award for Fearless Journalism and the Kamla Mankekar Award for Journalism on Gender will also be presented

Followed by BG Verghese Memorial Lecture on 'Freedom of the Purse and the AI of the Affluent'
To be delivered by P Sainath, Journalist and Founder-Editor of People's Archive of Rural India, will deliver the 12th BG

(Collaboration: The Media Foundation)