BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP 
Seeds of Hate: Bangladesh's extremist surge
Edited by Shahriar Kabir and Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury (Grin Media, 2025)

Discussants: SH M J Akbar, Former MOS External Affairs, Author & Senior Journalist; Amb Pankaj Saran, Member NSAB, Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh & Ambassador to Russia & Deputy NSA; Dr. Anirban Ganguly, Chairman, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Research Foundation; Ms Smruti Patnaik, Research Fellow IDSA & Noted Bangladesh Expert; Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, Editor of the book

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP 
Sita’s Yoga: The Yoga of Awakening
By Dena Merriam (Motilal Banarsidass, 2025)

Stories on Scroll: Patachitra by Sahajan Chitrakar
 

This exhibition presents traditional Patachitra scroll paintings by Sahajan Chitrakar of Naya, Pingla, created using natural pigments and handmade materials. His works narrate epics, folk legends, and contemporary social themes rooted in Bengal’s living scroll tradition.

Sahajan Chitrakar is a traditional Patachitra artist and scroll narrator from Naya, Pingla, West Bengal, practising the art from the age of ten under familial lineage. His works employ natural pigments and depict mythological, folk, historical, and contemporary themes.

The exhibition will be inaugurated on 16th January’26 at 18:00 hrs.

Broadway, Bars, and Fortune
(39 min; Documentary; English)
 

Director/Producer: Shuvendu Sen, an award-winning physician, author, and filmmaker.
Co-Producer/Consultant: Karl Bardosh
Official Selection at the New York Lift-Off Film Festival and the International Hispanic Film Festival
The documentary revolves on four formerly incarcerated individuals and a Broadway personality. Through interviews and poignant personal interactions, the film highlights the immense healing effects of arts and theatres in the redemption of former inmates. 
The screening will be followed by an interactive discussion with the director, Shuvendu Sen, and the Guests of Honour and moderators: Narayanan Hariharan, Senior Advocate and President, Delhi High Court Bar Association; and Sanjay Upadhyay, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, and Founder of the country’s first environmental law firm, Enviro Legal Defence Firm.

One Fire: A Documentary Film about Theosophy
(2025;103 min; Documentary; English)
Director: Terhi Ahava
A new documentary celebrating 150 years of the Theosophical Society. From Blavatsky and Olcott’s bold beginnings in 1875 to its global influence across philosophy, education, science, and the arts, the film traces a movement that has inspired seekers around the world. Journey from New York to Chennai and beyond as ONE FIRE rekindles a timeless truth—that we are all sparks of the same eternal flame.

(Collaboration: Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama)
 

Nehru’s Bandung: Non-Alignment and Regional Order in Indian Cold War Strategy
Andrea Benvenuti (Speaking Tiger, 2024)

Chair: Shyam Saran, President IIC

Discussants: Prof. Amitabh Mattoo, Dean, School of International Studies, Professor and Chair, Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament (CIPOD), School of International Studies, JNU; Prof Ajay K Mehra, Political Scientist, and Former Atal Bihari Vajpayee Senior Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library; Prof Pallavi Raghavan, Assistant Professor, Ashoka University; and Dr. Andrea Benvenuti, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations, University of New South Wales, Kensington & Author of the book

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP                                                         
The Vulgarity of caste: Dalits, Sexuality, and Humanity in Modern India
by Shailaja Paik (Navayana, 2022)

Discussants: Shailaja Paik, professor at University at Cincinnati and MacArthur Genius of 2024 & Author of the book followed by a conversation with Prof Projit Mukharji, Prof. of History, Ashoka University and Prof Prathama Banerjee Historian, CSDS
 

DR. C.D. DESHMUKH MEMORIAL LECTURE 2026
India in a New Asia
Speaker: Mr. George Yong-Boon Yeo, former Cabinet Minister in Singapore Government and currently Visiting Scholar at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS, Singapore

Chair: Shyam Saran, President, IIC

In the coming decades, there is a fair chance that Southeast, East, Central and West Asia will all see major transformation for the better. South Asia with India at its core should do well too. By 2050, India’s economy in PPP terms will likely be the second largest in the world. The lecture will discuss the hopes and challenges of this future.
 

World Peace is Most Desirable but Why is it so Difficult to Achieve?
As part of the International House Association’s Global Forum series on “Pathways to Peace: Lessons in Reconciliation,” this panel session will explore how communities and nations rebuild trust and understanding after conflict. The programme will also highlight emerging opportunities for collaboration within the expanding International House network.

Panellists: Dr. Shashi Tharoor, MP and Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs; Author, Columnist and former UN Under-Secretary-General; Amb. Shyam Saran, President of the India International Centre; former Foreign Secretary; ex-Chairman of RIS and NSAB; and Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Climate Change and Nuclear Affairs; Dr. Anil Sooklal, The High Commissioner of South Africa to India (2024), and a former academic and diplomat with extensive multilateral postings; Amb. Vijay Nambiar, A former Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations and Chief of Cabinet to the UN Secretary-General; Kenneth Felix Haczynski da Nobrega, A Brazilian career diplomat and economist, currently serving as Ambassador of Brazil to India and Bhutan; Amb. Surendra Kumar, Founder and President IAFA; former High Commissioner to Kenya and former Permanent Representative to UNEP and UN-Habitat

Register here:
https://ihouse2025-worldpeace.eventbrite.com

(Collaboration: International House Association (IHA), Indo-American Friendship Association (IAFA), University of Chicago Center in Delhi)
 

SAMHiTA-Bharat ki Soch Public Lecture Series 
On Tracing the Footprints of Indian Scientific Heritage

Speaker: Dr Vijaya Jayant Deshpande, Independent Researcher, scholar of history of science, technology and medicine, with a focus on Sino-Indian scientific contacts through Buddhism. A Life Member of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) Pune.

The lecture will give an overview of scholarship on early scientific development (through archaeology, the study of Adivasi practices, and literary sources), focusing on the chemical-metallurgical insights to be found in the Rasopanishad, a medieval work of alchemy in Sanskrit. The speaker will demonstrate how texts help to trace the transmission of scientific ideas and techniques, by tracing the relationship between Chinese ophthalmic works attributed to Nagarjuna and Ayurvedic texts like Susrutasamhita and Ashtanghridaya.

Inaugural lecture of the series on “Health, Wellness and Nutrition”, organised by IIC- International Research Division and Bharat ki Soch Foundation