The Future of the Past: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute

An exhibition on the history and cultural records maintained and preserved by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune. On display are reproductions of archival photographs, facsimiles of rare books, digitised copies of illuminated manuscripts, texts, publications and other digital reproductions from the collection of the Institute
 
Inauguration by Shri N.N. Vohra, Life Trustee, IIC on 18 October at 4 pm

(Collaboration: Bhandrakar Oriental Research Institute, Pune)
 

Illustrated lecture by Madan Meena, artist and researcher working with the rural, nomadic and tribal communities in Rajasthan and Gujarat to document their lives in a bid to preserve their cultural roots and identities. His doctoral work was on “Art of the Meena Tribe”, which focused on the traditions of his own ancestral community. He is at present Honorary Director, Adivasi Academy, Gujarat 

The Tejaji Gatha or the ballad of Tejaji, describes the heroic life of Tejaj, the snake deity. Though the snake deity was born in western Rajasthan he is celebrated and sung across Rajasthan to Madhya Pradesh. Madan Meena will focus on mapping the variations of the ballad with samples of recordings in about 12 languages from Kharnal (Nagaur) in western Rajasthan where Tejaji was born, to villages in Jhalawar and Baran districts bordering Madhya Pradesh and to Jaipur and Dausa in the north


(Collaboration: Archives and Research Center for Ethnomusicology, American Institute of Indian Studies)

Illustrated lecture by Dr. Anu Jindal on the continuing engagement with the culture of “kawaii” in multiple areas of fashion, design and lifestyle in Japan. The Japanese word kawaii translated as cute or adorable, characterizes a segment of Japanese popular culture. Designers and artists draw inspiration from its aesthetic, while some young people practise it prolifically often gathering in groups, at favoured spots like Harajuku, to exchange fun ideas of their personal style statements. 

Chair: Amb. Amarendra Khatua, author and poet, former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, former Director General, ICCR

 Dr. Jindal is an artist, scholar, curator who holds a Ph.D. in Japanese Art History from the National Museum Institute, New Delhi

 

Nehru’s First Recruits: The Diplomats who built Independent India’s Foreign Policy
By Kallol Bhattacherjee (HarperCollins: 2024)

Discussants: Ms Nandita Haksar, Human Rights Lawyer, Advocate, Supreme Court of India and author; Amb. Manjeev Singh Puri, former Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations; and Shri Kallol Bhattacherjee, Senior Assistant Editor, Foreign Affairs, The Hindu and author of the book

Chair: Amb. K.P. Fabian, Distinguished Fellow, School of Law, Symbiosis University, Pune

Speaker: Shri Kallol Bhattacherjee, Senior Assistant Editor, Foreign Affairs, The Hindu

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

Shri Bhattacherjee will speak about his recent visit to Bangladesh

Speaker: Ms Apoorva Thakur, Director, LAWGYSTIX Foundation
Chair: Ms Priya Hingorani, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India

Has the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act of 2013 helped create a safer and more equitable workplace environment for women.  Recent dastardly happenings with women in the workplace point to a horrendous scenario. Does the act have flaws that undermine its efficacy? How is the confidentiality of the complainant ensured? Is creating awareness about the act among all employees and implementing the law in smaller organizations an issue? As per PoSH Act’s definition of workplace, can “home” constitute workplace? The answer is “yes”, “home” comes under the ambit of “Extended Workplace”.

Curated by Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray

Stones and Texts: Playing Dice with the Matrmandala

Speaker: Dr. Tara Sheemar Malhan, Associate Professor, Dept. of History, Janki Devi Memorial College, University of Delhi

Chair: Prof. Neeru Misra, Academic Advisor, B.L. Institute of Indology, Delhi

The commonality among the Indic expressive traditions like painting, sculpture, literature and dance is known to be rooted in the theory of Sanskrit aesthetics. The narratives of the 11th century ‘meta-text’, the Kathasaritsagara of Somadeva, invest the physical decoration of the temples with life and these are further closely entwined with the characters. The speaker will trace some of the stories of the Kathasaritsagara which refers to sculptures in particular wats and connect this with certain examples derived from various early medieval spatial contexts as possible material correlates of the narrative descriptions

State-Society Relations in Xi Jinping Era

Panelists: Anthony Spires, Associate Professor, Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Melbourne; Pradeep Taneja, Senior Lecturer in Asian politics, political economy and international relations, University of Melbourne; B.R. Deepak, Professor and Chair, Centre for Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Rajiv Ranjan, Associate Professor, Dept. of East Asian Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Delhi

Discussant: Alka Acharya, Chairperson, Centre for East Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University 

Chair: Pradeep Taneja

Release of the book edited by Sumangala Damodaran (New Delhi: Tulika Books, 2024)

The book will be released by Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC

Followed by a discussion between Prof. Partho Datta, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Prof. Tanuka Kothiyal, School of Liberal Studies, Ambedkar University, Delhi; and Dr. Irfan Zuberi, National Cultural Audiovisual Archives, IGNCA

This book traces circuits of interaction between Africa and Asia as revealed through music. It is the outcome of a colloquium that the IIC convened in collaboration with ‘Recentring AfroAsia: Musical and Human Migrations, 700-1500 AD’, an international research project involving universities in South Africa, Tanzania and India. Participants in the project were in conversation with scholars and practitioners in related fields on the different ways that music can trace routes through our overlapping histories, and how such scholarship and performative interactions prise open a number of orthodoxies in our understanding of musical systems

(Organised by IIC-International Research Division)

Speakers: Shri Urmilesh, former Executive Editor, Rajya Sabha TV; Ms Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Senior Editor, The Wire; Shri Nikhil Pahwa, Editor, MediaNama

Moderator: Suhas Borker, Editor, Citizens First TV (CFTV) and Trustee, IIC

This conversation marks the 34th anniversary of the presidential assent to Prasar Bharati Act 1990 and the 31st discussion in the annual series

(Collaboration: Jan Prasar)