The establishment of the India-Australia trade and the influence of India on the Australian colonies in the early nineteenth century

Speaker: Dr Charmaine O’Brien, author, culinary historian, and educator whose work explores the rich intersections of food, culture, and identity. Authored books like The Penguin Food Guide to India, The Colonial Kitchen: Australia 1788-1901, Eating the Present: Tasting the Future: exploring India through her changing food.

Special Invitee: Gemma Haines, Counsellor Strategic Communications & Public Diplomacy, Australian High Commission New Delhi

Moderator: Gunjan Goela, Chef, author and a food consultant

This talk explores the early foundations of India–Australia trade, beginning with a famine-driven exchange in 1791 and evolving into a dynamic commercial relationship in the nineteenth century. It examines how trade with Calcutta enabled colonial survival, generated wealth, and fostered enterprise, while also tracing India’s cultural influence on settler life, including food, labour, and domestic practices.
 

The Jallianwala Bagh Journals: Political Lives of Memory
By Sarmistha Dutta Gupta (Jadavpur University Press, 2025)

Discussants: Uma Chakravarty, Historian and Film-maker, formerly of Miranda House College for Women, Urvashi Butalia, Writer, Researcher and Publisher; Madan Gopal Singh, Composer, Lyricist, Singer and Critic; Sarmistha Dutta Gupta, Independent Researcher, Writer and Author of the book

Moderator: Sucheta Mahajan, Historian, formerly of the Centre for Historical Studies, JNU
 

Nritya Nāda: An Illustrative Essence in Swara and Tāla
Conceptualized and directed by : Dr. Sucharita Khanna
 

Choreographer: Chitra C. Dasarathy
Composer: Praveen D. Rao
Melodious taranas by Dr. Veena Pani Shukla
Performers:  Dr. Sucharita Khanna; Aparnika Sahu; Tarini Chandrashekhar; Harshit Singh; Karuna Solomon; Anyesha Kheria; Vandita Bhandari; Shivanshi Agarwal.

Nritya Nāda is a Bharatanatyam dance ballet based on the original ragas of the five faces of Panchamukhi Shiva and Devi Parvati. Through its artistic narrative, it beautifully conveys the timeless ethos of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, while celebrating the profound beauty and spiritual depth of Indian classical music. The production features several bandish compositions by Padma Shri Balwantrai Bhatt and Shri Shankar Shripad Bodas.

(Collaboration: Kalanidhi – Centre for Performing Arts, Kanpur)
 

“Together for Health. Stand with Science”- On the occasion of World Health Day
Conceptualised by Dr. Ashwani Kumar

Workshop from 10:00 to 13:00
Yoga sessions Organised & Supervised by Dr. Gautam Sharma, Founder and Head of the Centre of Integrative Medicine and Research (CIMR), A.I.I.M.S., New Delhi.
Conducted by Yoga Physicians and Experts from CIMR

To educate & train the members & staff members of IIC in preventing Cardio-vascular diseases in context to Stress & Modern Life Style.

(Strictly for IIC members and staff members only)

At 16:00
Heart Matters: Heart Care Uncovered: Tips, Truths & Therapies!

Panel Discussion with experts of international repute:
Panellists:  Dr. Gautam Sharma, Dr. Nitish Naik & Dr. Ambuj Roy, Professors, Department of Cardiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi

Followed by interactive Q & A session with the audience.

Chair: Dr Ashwani Kumar           

Riding with the Silver Wolf 
By  Bindiya Bedi Charan Noronha  (Red River, 2025)

Discussants: Sagari Chabbra, Writer and Film Director; Samar Singh Jodha, Photographer and Artist; Shalini Mullick, Writer; Mandira Ghosh, Poet, Author and Researcher; Bindiya Bedi Charan Noronha, Writer, Social Worker, Educationist, Bibliotherapist & Author of the book

Chair:   Dr. Amarendra Khatua, Former Secretary, MEA & DG, ICCR & Poet
 

Law and Ethics of Right to live , Right to Die with Dignity :A Step Toward Dignified End-of-Life Care

Speakers: Prof Rajinder K Dhamija, Director IHBAS and Board member INPCS; Dhvani Mehta, Advocate Supreme Court of India and Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy; Dr R K Mani, eminent Pulmonologist
 

Chair: K N Srivastava, Director IIC

Co Chair: Dr N Subramaniam, Urologist, Apollo Hospital, New Delhi

 
 Recently, the Supreme Court allowed the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment in the case of a 32-year-old man in an irreversible vegetative state for over 13 years. This has focused the nation’s attention on the right to live and the right to die with dignity. The culturally-sensitive issue involves complex medical, legal, and ethical considerations concerning patient autonomy and dignity. As India continues to grapple with the ethical challenges of modern medicine, the conversation on end-of-life rights has begun. This session will address some of these issues.
 

Akbar Padamsee: Works and Words
(English; 50 mins)
Directed by Laurent Bregeat

(Collaboration: Raza Foundation)
 

Doing the Dirt on Tragedy

Uses D.H. Lawrence’s preference for “liveliness” over “grandeur” to rethink the boundaries of Western and non-Western literary traditions

Speakers: Amit Chaudhuri, novelist, poet and Professor of Creative Writing and Director of the Centre for the Creative and the Critical, Ashoka University; William Harris, critic, writes essays for n+1, New Left Review, Jacobin, etc; Jatin Nayak, translator, literary critic, and Professor Emeritus at KISS University, Bhubaneswar; Sumana Roy, author, critic, and Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing, Ashoka University; Saikat Majumdar, novelist, critic, and Professor of English and Creative Writing at Ashoka University; Aditya Bahl, poet and critic, Assistant Professor in the Department of English at UCLA; Udayan Vajpeyi, Hindi poet, essayist and Associate Professor at Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal; Simon Cooke, scholar of Victorian and modern literature and Associate Professor of English Literature at Durham University; Tishani Doshi, award-winning poet, novelist and dancer, and Professor of Practice in Literature and Creative Writing at NYU Abu Dhabi; Kirsty Gunn, acclaimed novelist and short story writer, and Professor of Writing Practice at the University of Dundee.

(Collaboration: Ashoka University)

Remembering Prof. André Béteille: Life, Scholarship and Legacy
 

Speakers: Romila Thapar, Professor Emerita and Historian; Nandini Sundar, Professor of Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics, DU; Virginius Xaxa, eminent sociologist and former Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences; Surinder S. Jodhka, Professor of Sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University; Deepak Nayyar is a distinguished economist, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi; Amita Baviskar Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at Ashoka University; Patricia Uberoi, sociologist and former Professor at the Institute of Economic Growth; Deepak Mehta, Professor of Sociology at Ashoka University; Gopa Sabharwal, Professor of Sociology and Former Vice Chancellor, Nalanda University
 

Chair: Dipankar Gupta, distinguished sociologist and former Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University
A commemorative conversation honouring Prof. André Béteille (1934–2026), eminent sociologist, Padma Bhushan awardee, and long-standing faculty member at the Delhi School of Economics. 

The programme will reflect on his intellectual legacy, international stature, and enduring contributions to the study of inequality, social structure, and democratic thought.
 

Threaded Heritage: Symbolism, Ritual and Memory in North East Textiles
Curated by Sentila T. Yanger
 

The exhibition explores how textiles function as a visual language expressing cultural iconography, identity, and belonging. Patterns, motifs, and colours convey narratives of cosmology, kinship, and land. Through ceremonial and sacred cloths, textiles also mark life’s transitions, becoming living archives of memory and cultural continuity.

The exhibition will be accompanied by live-demonstrations by weavers from the Northeast at the gallery.

The exhibition will be inaugurated on Tuesday, 2 April 2026 at 18:00 hrs by Shri Chanchal Kumar, Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER)      

(Collaboration: Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER)