An exhibition of photographs by Ashwini Attri

Inauguration by Padma Shri Shovana Narayan, eminent Kathak Dancer and Author

Preview on Thursday, 27 July 2023 at 18:30

What’s American about American Music?

Illustrated presentation by Sharon Lowen

What comes to mind as the music of North America? Rock and Roll, Gershwin, Broadway, Gospel, John Cage, Indigenous, Pueblo, and Inuit tribal music, jazz, swing? How about the folk and popular music in the ethnic style of the Ukrainian, Irish, Scottish, Polish, Hispanic, and Jewish communities, among others. The talk presents a kaleidoscopic aural journey and a multi-cultural country’s musical heritage

Chair: Sunit Tandon, well known theatre and film personality, and Director, India Habitat Centre

Sharon Lowen has bridged cultures performing, writing, teaching Odissi, Manipuri, Chhau, Western Ballet and Modern Dance; and cross-cultural education internationally and in India over 50 years and via her NGO, Manasa-Art Without Frontiers

Archaeologies of the water-land of Bangladesh as critique of established historical narratives
Speaker: Prof. Swadhin Sen, archaeologist and Professor, Department of Archaeology, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka

Chair: Prof. Nayanjot Lahiri, Professor of History, Ashoka University

Historical narratives of South Asia, even when they assert variabilities and contexts, tend to take some concepts, and standards for granted. Despite the debates and discussions on spatio-temporal heterogeneity, a ‘pan-Indian’ bias is explicit in the history of this region, especially in the period identified as the domain of historical archaeology (post c. sixth century BCE). Present Bangladesh, in these narratives, is predominantly a periphery or frontier on the east. The assumption is that the history of this frontier zone must inevitably be addressed in reference to a core or a centre. This lecture attempts to unsettle this established perception with some recent archaeological studies on a territory in which the separation between the land and water could be misleading and fatal. 

(Collaboration: Ashoka University)

Sri Lanka after Rajapaksas: Recovery or Standstill

Coordinated by Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Ashok K. Mehta

Panelists: Amb. Yash Sinha, Chief Information Commissioners and former High Commissioner to Sri Lanka; Shri S. Venkat Narayan, veteran journalist on Sri Lanka; Dr. Gulbin Sultana, Research Fellow, M.P. Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis; Dr. Rajat Kathuria, Dean, School of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor, Dept. of Economics, Shiv Nadar University; and Rear Vice Admiral (retd.) Anup Singh, former C-in-C Eastern Naval Command

Chair: Maj. Gen. Ashok K. Mehta

Nether Sri Lanka’s first sovereign default nor the people’s revolt (aragalya) which forced the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksha last year could transform Sri Lanka’s politics. How New Delhi helped Colombo secure an IMF bailout and other issues will be discussed by the panel.

Santoor Recital

By Ninad Daithankar from Pune, son and disciple of Dr. Dhananjay Daithankar

AT 19:00
Hindustani Vocal Recital

By Rupak Midya from Delhi, disciple of Smt Gopa Biswas and Pt. Aniruddha Bhattacharya

Speaker: Sonam Wangchuk, engineer, teacher and environmentalist. Recipient of the Magsaysay Award in 2018, The Terra Award 2016 for the World’s Best Earth Buildings, Lyon, France; and UNESCO Chair for Earth Architecture for India, 2014 among others

22nd BCF Annual lecture

(Collaboration: Business and Community Foundation)
 

Rajkamal Chowdhry ki Kavita

Panel discussion with Gopeshwar Singh; Deo Shankar Naveen; and Amitabh Ray

(Collaboration: The Raza Foundation)

Discussion based on the book The 2019 Parliamentary Elections in India: Democracy at the Crossroads (Taylor & Francis Ltd. : 2022)

co-edited by Rekha Saxena, Subrata Mitra and Pampa Mukherjee

Speakers: Prof. Ashutosh Kumar, Panjab University, Chandigarh and T.N. Seshan Chair, International Institute of Democracy and Election Management, New Delhi; Prof. Manisha Priyam, Professor of Education Policy, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi; and Dr. Rahul Verma, Fellow, Centre for Policy Research and Visiting Professor, Dept. of Political Science, Ashoka University

Introductory Remarks by the Editors: Prof. Rekha Saxena, Dept. of Political Science, University of Delhi; and Prof. Pampa Mukherjee, Head, Department of Political Science, Panjab University

Chair: Prof. E. Sridharan, Academic Director and Chief Executive, University of Pennsylvania Institute for the Advanced Study of India, New Delhi 
 

Presented by Wings Cultural Society

A collection of unique dastans (stories) narrated by artists as solo performances. Bey is a short story written by Shaukat Thanvi about a protagonist who is informed by an astrologer to beware of the letter ‘B’. Marhoom ki Yaad Mein is the best known essay from Patras Bokhari’s only masterpiece “Patras ke Mazameen”. It is the story of a cycle that Patras purchases from his friend Mirza

Dramatised narration in Urdu and Hindustani by Rajguru Mohan (Bey); and Tarique Hameed (Marhoom ki Yaad Mein)
 

Speaker: Dr. Jaisom Chopra, Senior Consultant Vascular Surgeon, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi

Varicose veins is the most common disease worldwide involving roughly 50 percent of the world’s population. One in every two persons suffer from venous problems at some point in their lives. The talk will present the latest advances practised worldwide