Two books will be discussed

Vibrant Voices: An Anthology of 21st Century Indian Women Poets 
Edited by Seema Jain

Mosaic of Poetic Musings: Contemporary Women Poets from India
By Seema Jain (Authorspress: 2022)

Discussants: Dr. K. Sreenivasarao; Prof. Malashri Lal, academic and author who is a specialist on literature, women, and gender studies; Ms Seema Jain, Dean Academics, Associate Professor and Head, P.G. Dept. of English, KMV, Jalandhar, bilingual poet, short story writer, critic, editor, and translator 

Chair: Shri K. Jayakumar
 

Four Crises: Test of Diplomacy

By G.S. Iyer

Discussants: Amb. Ranjit Rae, former Indian Ambassador to Hungary, Vietnam and Nepal; Amb. Ashok Kantha, former Indian Ambassador to China, Hony. Fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies and Distinguished Fellow, Vivekananda International Foundation; and Amb. G.S. Iyer, former Indian Ambassador to Mexico & Morocco and author of the book

Chair: Amb. K.P. Fabian, Professor, Symbiosis University and Indian Society of International Law

The First World War Adventures of Nariman Karkaria

Readings and a Conversation with Murali Ranganathan, historian and translator of the book The First World War Adventures of Nariman Karkaria (HarperCollins: 2022), the only known detailed account of the tumultuous conflict written by an Indian, the memoir describes a young Parsi man’s experiences in battles on three fronts.

Dr. Animesh Mohaptra, Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, University of Delhi  will chair and moderate the programme

(Collaboration: Parzor)

Lost Horoscope and other New Poems

By Yuyutsu Sharma (Nirala Publications: 2022)

Discussants: Prof. Payal Nagpal, Professor, Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi, poet and critic; Shri Kumar Vikram, Senior Editor and Project-in-Charge, Research and Innovation, National Book Trust; Ms Mandira Ghosh, poet, researcher and writer; Shri C.P. Surendran, poet, novelist, senior journalist, columnist and screenplay writer; and Shri Yuyutsu Sharma, Himalayan poet, journalist, Editor and author of the book

Chair: Amb. Amarendra Khatua, former Secretary, Min. of External Affairs and former Director General, Indian Council for Cultural Relations

(Collaboration: The Poetry Society, India)

Speaker: H.E. Dr. Bassam Seifeddin Alkhatib, Ambassador of the Syrian Arab Republic

Chair: Amb. K.P. Fabian, Professor, Symbiosis University, and Indian Society of International law

India and Syria, linked by age old civilizational links for millennia, have maintained cordial and multifaceted relations. India responded with alacrity to the earthquake by sending assistance to Syria

Illustrated lecture by Ms Ana Maria Cogorno, renowned archaeologist and conservationist from Peru who has worked for almost four decades for the protection and promotion of the Nazca lines and Palpa, an important archaeological site in Peru

Chair: Mr. Fabio Subio Diaz, Embassy of Peru

Organised in collaboration with the Embassy of Peru as part of the celebrations commemorating the 60th anniversary of Diplomatic Relations Between India and Peru
 

Speaker: Prof. Pema Gyalpo, Director-General, Center for South Asian Studies, Gifu Women’s University, Professor, Toin University, Yokohama and formerly a representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Japan for 15 years

Chair: Amb. Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa, former Indian Ambassador to Japan

Panelists: Prof. Achin Vanaik, writer and social activist, former Professor, University of Delhi and Delhi-based Fellow of the Transnational Institute, Amsterdam, and author of The Painful Transition: Bourgeois Democracy in India and The Rise of Hindu Authoritarianism; and Prof. P.R. Kumaraswamy, Chairperson, Centre for West Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Chair: Omair Ahmad, Managing Editor for South Asia, The Third Pole; a political analyst and journalist, with a particular focus on the Himalayan region, and author of The Kingdom at the Centre of the World: Journeys into Bhutan and Jimmy the Terrorist

Speaker: Prof. Osmund Bopearachchi, Emeritus Director of Research, French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS-ENS Paris), former Adjunct Professor of Central and South Asian Art, Archaeology and Numismatics, University of California, Berkeley and former Visiting Professor and Member, Doctoral School of the Paris-Sorbonne University

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC

When a Man Raises the Flag of Dhamma but Conceals his Sins: Notes on Fake Ascetics in the Jatakas 

Speaker: Dr. Naina Dayal, Associate Professor, Dept. of History, St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi

Chair: Dr. Vijay Tankha

Early Indian literature often draws our attention to hypocrites who use gestures, words and costumes associated with holiness to acquire what the true holy man renounces. Naina Dayal will focus on some stories from the Pali Jataka corpus, which identify the characteristics of those who are not genuine ascetics, and in the process, formulate the ideal of renunciation