Other Kohinoors, The Rocks of Hyderabad (India)

(49 min; 2022; English)

Director: Uma Magal who will introduce the film

Screening will be followed by a discussion

A resonant documentary love letter to the unique rocky terrain and culture of Hyderabad. Celebrating how the landscape inspires the culture in its art, craft, folklore, poetry, songs, architecture, cuisine. Marking the affection and respect with which the landscape is held. With an energetic rap song as 'Sutradhar narrator' carrying the storytelling there is also a sharing of the sorrow over what has been lost in the past decades. Beautiful animations styled in local art and craft traditions enrichen it. This could be called a 'Rasa' documentary showcasing as it does the different moods/rasas in the city's relationship with its distinct terrain, in the manner of an Indian masala or 'Navarasa' film.

Edited by Gopalkrishna Gandhi (Aleph: 2023)

Release of the book followed by a discussion

The book will be released by Shri N.N. Vohra

Reading of selected excerpts from the book

By Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Followed by a discussion with

Prof. Tridip Suhrud, writer, political scientist, cultural historian and translator; Prof. Rudrangshu Mukherjee, historian and author of several books on history, Founding Vice-Chancellor, Ashoka University where he is presently the Chancellor and Professor of History; and Smt Aruna Roy, social activist, professor, union organiser and former civil servant; President, National Federation of Indian Women and founder, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan

Guilt Trip and Other Stories

By Lakshmi Kannan (Olive Turtle: 2023)

Discussants: Prof. Malashri Lal, author and Convenor, English Board, Sahitya Akademi; Prof. Anisur Rahman, academic critic and translator; Prof. Payal Nagpal, academic; and Dr. Lakshmi Kannan, poet, novelist and author of the book

Chair: Ms Mridula Garg, writer and poet

Should Japan Rearm itself? The Historical Origins of the Peace Clause and Constitutional Revision Debate in Japan

Speaker: Prof. Tam Takamichi Mito, Visiting Scholar, Asia Institute, University of Melbourne, and currently 2023 Japan Foundation Visiting Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Webinar

Panelists: Dr. Jabin T. Jacob, Associate Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shiv Nadar University; Dr. Sriparna Pathak, Assistant Professor and Assistant Academic Dean, Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat; and Shri Keshav Kelkar, Independent Analyst

Chair and Moderator: Prof. C. Raja Mohan, Senior Fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute, Delhi

October 2023 marked a decade of China’s foreign policy conference on peripheral diplomacy. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) convened a strategic affairs conference focusing on China’s peripheral diplomacy in October 2013. It was an often-overlooked yet significant event attended by high-ranking CCP members, central committee organs, and senior diplomats, underscoring cardinal features and factors of China’s relations with its neighbouring countries. A newly appointed President Xi Jinping emphasised the importance of a stable periphery to ensure China’s broader development goals, including the “Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” In the last ten years, China has become assertive and expansionist, and its ongoing conflict with neighbours on land and maritime speaks volumes about it. Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) stands at the heart of what was propounded at the conference in Beijing. In this webinar, the panellists will assess the trajectory of China’s peripheral diplomacy in the last decade.  

(Collaboration: Asia Society Policy Institute, Delhi)

Registration link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_saHOPAJuTwOwizN2Qi_xqA

Speaker: Prof. Shonaleeka Kaul, cultural historian of early India and Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Prof. Kaul has published eight books so far including a new translation with critical introduction to the Hitopadesha by Narayana: A New English Translation (Aleph, 2022)

This talk uncovers complex layers of human-non human entanglements in an iconic and witty literary genre from early India. It explores the representation of animals in a dedicated textual tradition best identified with the influential 2nd century Panchatantra and its retelling, the 9th century Hitopadesha. Delving into this lively corpus to illuminate the mutually constituted fields of animal history and Sanskrit literature, the talk argues for the instrumentality of animals in human culture and discourse.

Chair: Amb. A.N.D. Haksar, former Indian diplomat, prolific translator of Sanskrit classics into English

Musica Universalis: The Music of the Spheres in European Philosophy and Musical History

Illustrated presentation by Come Carpentier de Gourdon, Convener, Editorial Board of the World Affairs Journal, author of From India to Infinity

Chair: Dr. Punita Singh, musicologist, linguist, acoustician, editor and educator based in Delhi