Book Discussion Group

Illustrated Abhidhamma: Buddhist Inputs for Artificial Intelligence

By Chandra B Verma

Guest of Honour: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Hon'ble Minister of Culture and Tourism, Govt. of India

Chair: K. N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC

Discussants: Prof. Sangit Kumar Ragi, Professor & Former Head, University of Delhi; Dr. Ravindra Singh Bisht, Former Joint Director General & Archaeologist, ASI; Dr V. N. Ojha; Former Chief Scientist (G) & Division Head, CSIR-NPL; Prof. C. B. Varma, Author of the book

Why are Indian elections so unpredictable?

Speaker: Pradeep K Chhibber, Professor of Political Science and Indo-American Community Chair in India Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. US

Moderator: Rahul Verma, Associate professor of political science at the Law School, Shiv Nadar University and Fellow at Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Discussants: Barkha Dutt, Senior Journalist and Founder MoJo Story; Roshan Kishore, Political Economy and Data Editor, Hindustan Times

Indian elections continue to surprise us. While caste, religion, and community remain central to Indian politics, frequent electoral swings and shifting party loyalties reveal that identity alone cannot explain voting behaviour. Drawing on village-level election data, national surveys, and extensive fieldwork, the discussion shall reflect on the nature of weak party organization and over dependence on local influencers which results in the under-mobilization of poorer voters. This creates a "reciprocity trap" that binds parties and local elites together, leaving many citizens beyond the reach of party politics during elections.

(Collaboration: Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

AAJ KAVITA 

Poetry reading by Braj Ratan Joshi (Bikaner), Shivangi Goel (Prayagraj), Soumitra Mohan and Alok Kumar Mishra (Delhi)

(Collaboration: Raza Foundation)

MUSIC APPRECIATION PROMOTION

Asha Bhosle: Voice, Performance and Musical Legacy                                                                                        

Illustrated presentation by Shikha Jhingan, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU; author of Female Playback in Bombay Cinema: Voice, Body, Technology (Wayne State University Press, 2025) and documentary film-maker.

Chair: Prof Ashwini Deshpande, Professor of Economics and Director of Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA), Ashoka University

The Illustrated talk will focus on Asha Bhosle's unique vocal style that redefined the boundaries of the female voice in Hindi film songs. By charting Bhosle's extended career, the lecture will draw attention to the cinematic drive and genre defining qualities in her voice

Clean Air Dialogues

Blue-Green Infrastructure – Comprehensive Landscape Planning for Clean Air and Urban Resilience

Moderator: Nidhi Madan, Director, Cities and Urban Landscape, Raahgiri Foundation

Discussants: Vijay Kumar Bidhuri, Secretary, Environment/Urban Development, Chairman, DPCC, Govt of NCT of Delhi; Dr. SD Attri, Member (Technical), Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM); Neelima Soni, Director, Department of Landscape and Environmental Planning, Delhi Development Authority (DDA); Prashant Rajagopal, Deputy Inspector General Forests (MOEFCC); Subhash Yadav, Chief Conservator of Forests, Gurugram, Shyam Sundar Kandpal, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Delhi Forest Department.

The role of street plantation, urban greens, parks and open spaces is critical to not only mitigate pollution dust and emission impacts, but also for performance benefits- enhanced mental and physical well-being, biodiversity and shade, localized cooling and water management. This session will explore how to deploy a comprehensive landscape approach to street and public space design- prioritizing nature-based solutions and plantations that actively intercept particulate matter and suppress dust.

This is the third discussion in a series of dialogues exploring the multifaceted challenges of pollution, bringing together perspectives from science, policy, health, and civil society.

(Collaboration: Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), Raahgiri Foundation)
 

Artistic Explorations of the Himalaya

Speaker: Dr Vladimir Zaitsev, art historian, curator and museologist
The talk traces the centuries-long history of visual artists’ engagements with the mountainous regions of northern India, Nepal and Tibet, including early European efforts to visually document borderland terrains, flora, fauna and cultures.

Himalayan Landscapes as Portals to Transcendence: A Personal Account of Sublime Visuality in Geographic Exploration
Speaker: Dr Vaibhav Kaul, mountain geographer and multidisciplinary artist
Drawing from two decades of visual and audiovisual documentation in the Himalaya, the talk explores the aesthetic, emotional and contemplative dimensions of geographic field research in remote mountain landscapes.

Followed by a Film Screening 
Mountain, Priest, Son
(27 minutes; 2018; Hindi with English subtitles)
Directed by John Seddon and Vaibhav Kaul

Set in one of India’s most sacred and geologically fragile mountain regions, the documentary explores vulnerability, resilience and changing belief systems through the lives of a priest and his family who survived a devastating flood.

The talks and film screening are being held in conjunction with the exhibition ‘Glacial Mothers: The Numinous Realms of Annapurna and Nanda Devi’, featuring artworks by Vaibhav Kaul, on view at the Annexe Art Gallery.

MUSIC APPRECIATION PROMOTION

Carmen: More than an Opera
An illustrated presentation by Dr Punita G. Singh

This presentation will encounter the many facets of Carmen, the lead character of Georges Bizet’s opera, based on a story by Prosper Mérimée. First performed in 1875 to a mixed response, the opera has since become legendary and a favourite with performers and audiences around the world. The opera has also drawn criticism for its stereotypic, exoticized and negative representation of the Roma (gitano/gypsies). Some artists, writers and academics have presented counternarratives to claim Carmen as a symbol of autonomy and agency, rallying against machismo, patriarchy, racism and fascism. With its catchy music and scope for interpretation and reinvention, the opera will evidently endure and Carmen shall keep reincarnating to assert her rebellious spirit.
Dr Punita G Singh is a musicologist, linguist, acoustician, editor and educator based in New Delhi
 

Smart & Sustainable Mobility Through Cycling

Speakers: Rekha Gupta, Chief Minister of Delhi (TBC); Kuljit Singh Chahal, Vice Chairperson, New Delhi Municipal Council;  K.N. Shrivastava, Director, IIC; Rohina Gupta, Director, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; Sir Graham Watson, President, World Cycling Alliance; Laurianne Krid, CEO, European Cyclists’ Federation; Mayank Srivastava, Deputy Director General, Sports Authority of India; D.V. Manohar, Chairman, SmartBike and First Vice President, World Cycling Alliance

A national seminar exploring cycling as a sustainable and people-centric mobility solution for Indian cities, with discussions on reducing dependence on fossil fuel-driven transport, addressing air pollution and public health concerns, and learning from global best practices in urban mobility. The seminar will also deliberate upon policy innovations and infrastructure required to build safer and more cycling-friendly urban environments.

Kindly register for the same: https://meraevents.ai/events/smart-and-sustainable-mobility-through-cyc…

(Collaboration: World Cycling Alliance, SmartBike and FIT INDIA)

 

AAJ KAVITA
Bodhisattva, Shailja Pathak (Mumbai); Rakesh Renu (Delhi) and Nand Bharadwaj (Jaipur) will read their poems.

(Collaboration: Raza Foundation)
 

MUSIC APPRECIATION PROMOTION
Music in the Cinema of Ritwik Ghatak 
An illustrated lecture by Partha Chatterjee

Ritwik Ghatak used music in his eight feature films, and several documentaries both as a counterpoint, and even as a counter-melody in conjunction with the image that unravelled the story or the narrative thus adding clarity and richness to the whole film. He used Folk melodies of both East and West Bengal, Hindustani music – both vocal and instrumental, Rabindra Sangeet, and on occasions small selections from Western Classical instrumental music.

Partha Chatterjee is a filmmaker, journalist and rasika of the Arts.