Art Matters
Arundhathi Subramaniam in conversation with Anamika

(Collaboration: Raza Foundation)

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP 
Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages (4 vols.)
By Prof. Anvita Abbi, Shri Rahul Pachori, Shri Vysakh R. 
 

Discussants:  Dr Ajay Saini, Assistant Professor, Centre for Rural Development & Technology, IIT Delhi; Shimray Rose, Additional District Magistrate, NW District, Delhi; Prof. Anvita Abbi, Adjunct Professor, Department of Linguistics, Simon Fraser University; Former Professor, JNU & Author of the Book; Rahul Pachori, Research Fellow (Linguistics), Kala Nidhi Division, IGNCA & Co-Author of the Book
Chair: Prof Uday Narayan Singh, Professor of Linguistics, Dean Faculty of Arts Amity University, Haryana 
 

Enemy of the Reich: The Noor Inayat Khan Story
(55 minutes;2014; English)
Director: Robert H. Gardner

The film follows the life of Noor Inayat Khan, who became a fearless spy during World War II. Recruited into Britain’s Special Operations Executive, she served as a covert radio operator in Nazi-occupied Paris and became the only link to the French Resistance. Betrayed and captured by the Gestapo, she was later executed at Dachau, leaving behind a legacy of courage and sacrifice.

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

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP 
 

Assembling India’s Constitution: A New Democratic History
By Rohit De and Ornit Shani (Cambridge University Press, 2025)

Discussants: Prof Anupama Roy, Professor, Centre for Political Studies, JNU; Dr Usha Ramanathan, Independent law researcher and human rights activist; Shahrukh Alam, Advocate, Supreme Court of India; Suhas Borker, Editor Citizens First TV (CFTV)

The First Lady of Siachen :Fanny Bullock Workman

Talk by Brig. Ashok Abbey (Retd), a veteran climber with over four decades of experience across the Karakoram, Himalaya and adjoining ranges. He brings deep field knowledge to the history of the Workman explorations.

Special Invitees

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC

Guest of Honour: Lt Gen Ata Hasnain (Retd.)

Special Invitee: Ms Kokila Sudha, renowned mountaineer

This talk revisits the extraordinary 1911–1912 expedition of Fanny Bullock Workman. Her pioneering exploration of the 76 km long Siachen Glacier—now the world’s highest battlefield—mapped its chief tributaries and placed the glacier accurately within the geography of the Eastern Karakoram.

(Collaboration: Himalayan Club and The Himalayan Environment Trust)

Choti Si Aasha
Children for a Better World 
 

An exhibition of paintings by the students of Vidya Niketan Senior Secondary School, Saket, New Delhi. Through themes such as peace, equality, women’s empowerment, environmental conservation, artificial intelligence, discrimination, and global conflicts, the exhibition reflects children’s empathy, awareness, and creative responses to the world around them.

Inauguration on 17 December at 16:00 by Jatin Das, Eminent Artist

Cancelled

Inspiraciones de España – Inspirations from Spain
 

A piano recital by Andreas König, internationally acclaimed concert pianist and currently piano lecturer for senior students and teacher training at Delhi Music Society.
He will be performing Georg Friedrich Händel, Sarabande; Issac Albéniz, Córdoba; Maurice Ravel, Alborada del gracioso; Enrique Granados, Danza Española no. 2 "Oriental"; Pepe Rodríguez, La Mar Picá (premiere performance); Joaquín Turina, Ensueño; Manuel de Falla, Fantasia bética.

(Collaboration: Embassy of Spain in New Delhi)
 

MUSIC APPRECIATION PROMOTION
 

Rocking and Rolling with the Stones
Illustrated talk on the music of The Rolling Stones 
Dr Punita G Singh

In this musical journey with The Rolling Stones, we explore how a shifting cast of brilliantly idiosyncratic musicians created one of the most enduring bands in rock history. Fusing early rock with the blues, their innovative sound experiments included influences from gospel, R&B, soul, country, folk and even reggae and disco. Emerging alongside—The Beatles—in the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones carved out their own image and constantly reinvent themselves. Through iconic audio tracks, video clips and stories, we get a glimpse into the colourful personalities, lives and oeuvre of these musicians who continue to attract listeners across generations.

Punita G Singh is a musicologist, linguist, acoustician, editor and educator based in New Delhi.
 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP 
 

Astanayika: The Romantic Heroines from Natyasastra to Modernity
by Manorama Choudhury and Jayakrushna (Motilal Banarsidass Publishing House, 2025)

Speakers: H G Gauranga Das, Author and Spiritual Leader; Guru Sharon Lowen, Renowned Odissi Dancer, Writer & Founder Manasa-Art Without Frontiers; Dr Seema Bhalla, Art Historian, Curator, Critic; Ms Manorama Choudhury, Author of the book ; Dr. Jayakrushna Choudhury, Author of the book

 

Speaker: Prof. Klaus Vieweg, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena Germany and a foremost interpreter of Hegel in the world, covering his philosophy. He approaches Hegel’s idea of freedom in relation to our contemporary crisis of modernity

Discussant: Viren Murthy, Professor of transnational Asian History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and researches Chinese, Japanese and Indian intellectual history.

(Collaboration: BML Munjal University)