INDIAN ARCHAEOLOGY 

Climate Change and Conservation Challenges for Earthen Heritage Structures in the Northwestern Himalayan Region: A Case Study of Ladakh

Speaker: Mr. Sunder Paul, Director (Conservation), ASI, New Delhi. He has led conservation efforts at significant sites including Leh Palace, Hemis Monastery, and Ta Prohm Temple in Cambodia, and currently oversees monument conservation projects across the country.

Chair: K. N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC

Moderator: Pratap Bhanu Singh Sengar, former Director (Monuments) Archaeological Survey of India

Climate change is emerging as a major threat to the earthen architectural heritage of Ladakh and the north-western Himalayas. Focusing on iconic sites such as Leh Palace and historic monasteries, this presentation examines the impact of increasing rainfall, flash floods, and changing weather patterns on centuries-old structures, while exploring conservation approaches that combine traditional building knowledge with modern scientific interventions to safeguard this fragile cultural legacy for future generations.
 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

Busy Women: Building Commerce and Culture in Middle India
By Shinjini Kumar (Penguin, 2026)

Moderator: Nishtha Gautam, Journalist, author-translator, Academic

Discussants: Amb. Pavan K Varma, Politician, Author, Former Diplomat; Milee Ashwarya, Publisher and Group Senior VP, Penguin Random House India; Shinjini Kumar, Author of the book

Flux of Being

A Solo Exhibition by Ravi Kant Jha, National award-winning artist, his practice investigates themes of consciousness, memory, and transformation.

The exhibition presents a series of paintings that explore consciousness as a state of constant transformation. Through fluid forms, layered compositions, and evocative color fields, the works blur the boundaries between memory, imagination, and reality.

The exhibition will be inaugurated on Saturday, 25 July’26 at 18:00 hrs

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

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

Speaking Sculptures: Karanas in Kathak 
By Shovana Narayan (Shubhi Publications, 2026)

Discussants: TBC 
 

MUSIC APPRECIATION PROMOTION

Asha Bhosle: Voice, Performance and Musical Legacy                                                                                        

Illustrated presentation by Shikha Jhingan, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU; author of Female Playback in Bombay Cinema: Voice, Body, Technology (Wayne State University Press, 2025) and documentary film-maker.

Chair: Prof Ashwini Deshpande, Professor of Economics and Director of Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA), Ashoka University

The Illustrated talk will focus on Asha Bhosle's unique vocal style that redefined the boundaries of the female voice in Hindi film songs. By charting Bhosle's extended career, the lecture will draw attention to the cinematic drive and genre defining qualities in her voice

IIC Double Bill :Dance  Recitals

Andhra Natyam

By Madhuri Surendra from Bangalore, disciple of Acharya Kala Krishna  

Accompanists: Rama Jagannath (Vocal);Acharya Kala Krishna( Nattuvangam); Janardhan (Mridangam); TVS Annadorai(Violin).

At 19:00

Mohiniattyam Recital

By Bhadra Rajeev from Thrissur, Kerala, disciple of Sri Kalamandalam C. Gopalakrishnan.

Remembering the Self - A Meditative Journey
(74 minutes; 2025; English)
Producer: Lilla Balint & Daniel Schmidt

A contemplative cinematic journey into awareness, presence, and the deeper nature of the Self. Through meditative reflections and stunning visuals, Remembering the Self invites viewers to pause, reflect, and reconnect with their inner essence.

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

UNSUNG: Celebrating the Extraordinary Grandeur of Smallness

A photography exhibition curated by Amit Mehra, photographer, curator, and founder of the UNSUNG project, an ongoing initiative that celebrates the lives and contributions of extraordinary yet often overlooked individuals.

The photographs explore the beauty and significance of lives, places, and ideas that often go unnoticed. Through visual narratives by contemporary artists, the exhibition reflects on ordinary people and unseen worlds whose stories reveal resilience, conviction, and human connection.

The exhibition will be inaugurated on Tuesday, 21 July’26 at 18:00 hrs by Amb Shyam Saran, President, IIC
 

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

(Collaboration: Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology (a constituent of MAHE, Manipal) and Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal (Institution of Eminence Deemed to be University)
 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

Games Hospitals Play: Decoding Your Private Healthcare Experience
By Abantika Ghosh (Tulika Books, 2025)

Discussants: Jairam Ramesh, Rajya Sabha MP (TBC); Dr V K Paul, former member, Niti Aayog, Dr Randeep Guleria, former director, AIIMS (TBC); Dr Raj Shankar Ghosh, senior Advisor, Public Health Foundation of India; Dr Sumit Ray, Medical Director, Holy Family Hospital; C K Mishra, former health secretary; Abantika Ghosh, Journalist and Author of the book
 

The Extraordinary Science of The Ordinary World: The Legacy of Pierre-Gilles De Gennes

Speaker: Gautam Menon, Ashoka University

Moderator: Rohini Rangachari Karnik, Professor, Alliance Française de Delhi

The French Nobel prize winner in physics of 1991, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (1932–2007), presided over the creation of a new interdisciplinary science, that of “soft matter”, studying materials as diverse as shaving foam, ink, sand, plastics and soap. But he also thought about education more broadly, emphasising that science is deeply human, intuitive, and driven by curiosity. He is not widely known to the public, a gap that will be addressed in the session.