Speaker: Prof. R. Mahalakshmi, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Food is nourishment, necessary for life, and yet there is no single understanding of what nourishing or appropriate – across and within cultures. By bringing in some key concepts known in early Indian sources, the talk will focus on environments and cultures, histories and social dynamics, and the symbolic universe that food traditions reveal, which have left a mark on the food cultures as they have evolved in the Indian sub-continent

Curator: Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray

Tiny Terracotta Tales from North India
Illustrated lecture by Dr. Deeksha Bhardwaj, Associate Professor, Gargi College, University of Delhi

Chair: Prof. Kishor Basa, Chairperson, National Monuments Authority

Terracotta or baked clay forms the most enduring medium for the representation of the human image. Though not ubiquitous, as may sometimes appear, anthropomorphic terracotta figurines, wherever found, constitute a significant part of an archaeological corpus. In terms of technique of manufacture, decoration details, context and usage, these tiny humanoid forms offer a multiplicity of meanings, and information about the past that can be teased out of them. How can we reimagine the past using the terracotta figurines as tools? With this objective, this presentation will examine the archaeological evidence from historical sites in North India
 

Speaker: Amb. Kamal Malhotra, Non-resident Senior Fellow with the Global Economic Governance Initiative at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center. He led the UN in Vietnam Turkey Malaysia Singapore and Brunei (2008-2021) and was UNDP Senior Adviser on Inclusive Globalization (2002-2008). 

The talk will focus on the present conjuncture and its equivalent of Viksit Bharat for 2047, its centennial, especially in the context of the recent political upheavals including the sad passing of Nguyen Phu Trong, its 3 time Party General Secretary very recently. The talk will also focus on Vietnam’s economic transformation and trajectory in the China plus context
  

Mapping the Future of Mehrauli Archaeological Park
By Swapna Liddle, author, historian and conservationist

Followed by a panel discussion with
Panelists: Debashree Mukherjee, Secretary, Department of Water Resources, Govt. of India; and Manisha Saxena, Director-General, Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India

Coordinator and Moderator: Anuj Srivastava, architect, writer and photographer

Mehrauli Archaeological Park is an archaeological site spread over 200 acres containing over 100 historical monuments and structure. The area has been under continuous occupation for over 1000 years and contains Lal Kot built by the Tomar Rajputs in 1060 CE, the oldest extant fort of Delhi and several structures built by the Khilji, Tughlaq and Lodhi dynasties as well as the British. The area faces several challenges, both man-made and natural. Swapna Liddle has an abiding interest in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park and apart from writing extensively about it, she has mapped it in several walks. While talking about the historical context and enumerating the issues of concern, she will also lay out a roadmap for the future

Firefly memories

By Jonaki Ray (Copper coin; 2023)

Discussants:  Shri Saif Mahmood; Ms Smitha Vakkadavath Sehgal; and Ms Jonaki Ray, author of the book

Chair: Prof. Radha Chakravarty
 

India-Africa building synergies in peace, security and development 
By Ruchita Beri (Pentagon Press; 2024)

Discussants: Mr. Cedrick C. Crowley, Acting High Commissioner, South African High Commission; Dr. Uttam Sinha;

Prof. J.M. Moosa, and Ms Ruchita Beri, author of the book

Chair: Amb. Gurjit Singh

Speakers: Kavita Bundelkhandi, co-founder and Editor-in-Chief, Khabar Lahariya and the first Dalit member of the Editor’s Guild of India who is a non-conformist of many parts who stumbled into motherhood; Pooja Pande, writer, author and editor, TED speaker and co-CEO, Chambal Media who has deconstructed the institution of motherhood in India in her book Momspeak; and Vandana Sharma, practicing advocate who qualifies as a mother and advocate at about the same time 

Chair: Richa Jha, children’s author and the publisher of Pickle Yolk Books

In literature, films, performative spaces, popular media and in our everyday lives, we now have portrayals and real-life role models of mothers who do not shy away from putting themselves first, even at the cost of being labelled as ‘bad’ mothers. By living on their own terms, or by not making motherhood the focus of their existence, they challenge the conventional views that have long since reduced women to the all-loving, all-sacrificing and rule-bound gendered identity and role.

The conversation will explore how mothers today are breaking the classic mothering moulds
 

A House of Bamboo- Mud and Thatch
Illustrated lecture by Nengcha Lhouvum and Gautam Mukhopadhaya

Discussants: Savyasaachi, Anthropologist, Professor and former Head, Dept. of Sociology, Jamia Millia Islamia; and Snehanshu Mukherjee, architect, educator and writer, Adjunct Professor, Indian Institute of Art & Design, New Delhi

Moderator: Anisha Shekhar Mukherji, Conservation Architect, author and Visiting Faculty, School of Planning & Architecture, Delhi

Nengcha Lhouvum served as India’s Ambassador to Lebanon, Serbia and Indonesia from 2005-2013. She drew from her childhood to build a traditional mud hut with a contemporary touch in the hills of Manipur. Gautam Mukhopadhaya served as Indian Ambassador to Syria, Afghanistan and Myanmar from 2006-16.  

With a shared interest in building with natural and local materials: mud, stone, bamboo and thatch, the talk is the outcome of that interest.

Healing a Landscape: Rewilding Aravali Biodiversity Park

Illustrated lecture by Vijay Dhasmana, Ecological Restoration Professional

The talk will be followed by a discussion with:
Sohail Hashmi, writer, filmmaker and heritage activist; and Bharati Chaturvedi, Founder and Director, Chintan

Chair: Shri K.N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC

Coordinator and Moderator: Anuj Srivastava, architect, writer and photographer

The 380-acre mined site of the Aravali Biodiversity Park, Gurugram, degraded over 40 years, was restored to a lush native forest integrating ecology, urban environment and human aspirations in an unprecedented public-private partnership, spearheaded by the civil society, citizens of Gurugram, private corporations and the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram. It is the first site in India to be accorded the OECM (Other Effective Area based Conservation Measures) under the IUCN


First talk in a new series that aims to re-examine our relationship with nature and the built environment
 

Indian Economy: Can it be at a Turning Point 

Speaker: Prof. Amit Bhaduri, one of the foremost Economists of our times, former Professor Emeritus, Jawaharlal Nehru University, ‘Professor of Clear Fame’ at Pavia University, Italy and recipient of the Leontief Prize, Tufts University, USA for ‘advancing frontiers of thought’

Moderator of the Series: Suhas Borker, Trustee, IIC

Introduction: Vinay Kumar, former Associate Editor, The Hindu

(Collaboration: Press Club of India)