The Sargam and the Solfège

Illustrated presentation by Nilima Buch

The presentation will focus on the origin of Western classical and Hindustani music; discussing some similarities and differences between two of the oldest classical forms. The talk will be illustrated using different audio examples of famous recitals for a better understanding

Nilima Buch is a professional singer and stage performer. She also conducts workshops for music enthusiasts and is actively performing as a soloist and choir member with Lyric Ensemble Delhi, Vocal Academy of India and K M chamber choir 
 

Essence of Mission Karmayogi: Citizen Centricity – Mentorship

Welcome and Introductory Remarks: Shri Mahesh Kapoor, Vice President, IC Centre for Governance

Keynote Speaker: Shri Rajiv Sachdeva, Managing Director (Retd.), Siemens Power Engineering Ltd
Chair: Shri Sanjay Kothari, former Central Vigilance Commissioner

(Collaboration: IC Centre for Governance)

Writing and publishing during the Pandemic

A reflective session and readings with Antara Dev Sen, journalist, editor and translator, also working in the voluntary sector; Mandira Ghosh, poet, author and Treasurer, The Poetry Society (India); Radha Chakravarty, poet, critic and translator; Rachna Joshi, poet, reviewer and Senior Assistant Editor, IIC; Humra Quraishi, columnist and author; Saikat Majumdar, author and Professor of English and Creative Writing, Ashoka University; Reba Som, author and singer; Sukrita Paul Kumar, poet, literary theorist, academic, translator and Guest Editor, Sahitya Akademi’s Journal of Indian Literature; Abhilasha Kumari, Judicial Member, Lokpal of India, former Chief Justice, poet and author; and Malashri Lal, academic, author and critic, with a focus on women’s studies, Member, Sahitya Akademi Advisory Board for English

Coordinated and moderated by Jayshree Misra Tripathi, poet, author, former examiner in English and consultant for the International Baccalaureate Organisation

The programme will also include the reading of a poem from Jayshree Misra Tripathi’s commemorative book of poems, Uncertain Times in honour of the late Gayatri Manchanda

Speaker: Prof. (Dr.) Arvind Sharma, Birks Professor of Comparative Religion, School of Religious Studies, McGill University, Montreal, Canada where he has taught for over thirty years. Prof. Sharma has published extensively in the fields of Indian religions and world religions and is the general editor of the Encyclopedia of Indian Religions (Dordrecht: Spinger, 2017)

Chief Guest: Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi, Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture

Chair: Dr. Ashok Vohra, formerly Head, Dept. of philosophy, University of Delhi

Moderator: Prof. Madhu Khanna

Tantra Foundation Annual Distinguished Lecture

(Collaboration: Tantra Foundation)
 

Her Voice: Engendering Nuclear Disarmament - Challenges and Possibilities

Welcome by Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath, Life Trustee, IIC and Director, WISCOMP

Keynote Address: Engendering Disarmament: How Practical, How Possible

To be delivered by Amb. Jayant Prasad, former Ambassador of India to the UN Conference on Disarmament, Geneva & Member of U.N. Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters

Detailed break-up of the sessions

The UNGA Resolution 71/57 of 2016 underscores the importance of disarmament and non-proliferation education. In order to encourage nations to implement the resolution, the UN Secretary General announced a Disarmament Agenda as part of his visionary document “To Secure our World and our Future” in 2018. Interestingly, he not only called upon States to take the lead in educating the larger public on disarmament and bringing new voices to the forefront, but also prioritized gender parity in this context as “a moral duty and an operational necessity”. 

We find ourselves in the midst of a strange dialectic. On one hand, the Treaty on prohibition of nuclear weapons has entered into force and outlaws nuclear weapons, on the other, stressed nuclear dyads, unregulated emergence of new technologies that impact nuclear deterrence, and crumbling arms control architecture, has increased the salience of nuclear weapons. This ‘hurting’ landscape is clearly visible in the ongoing Ukraine Crisis as the risk of use of nuclear weapons looms large.

The symposium is organized in collaboration with Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace (WISCOMP)

An Evening of Poetry

With poets –Gagan Gill (Greater Noida); Nivedita (Patna); Arun Seetansh (Arrah); and Priya Varma who will read from their original work

(Collaboration: The Raza Foundation)

Bigwigs of the Baroque                                                                                                                                              

Bach and Handel: Brilliant music, Contrasting lives  

A presentation by Dr Punita Singh who will take us on a journey with the composers, reviewing major milestones of their lives and works.

The year 1685 witnessed the birth of two illustrious composers—Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Handel—universally celebrated for their brilliant musical contributions. Bach’s polyphonic innovations, keyboard works and religious music continue to be relevant today while Handel’s orchestral compositions, operas and the legendary oratorio ‘Messiah’ resonate across the world in concert halls, at fundraisers, and even in commercial advertisements. Despite being born in the same year in the same land, they went on to lead very different lives. Bach remained in the same general region and turned to the church for sponsorship while Handel enjoyed travel and aristocratic support. Bach was a family man and relatively austere while Handel remained single and was more of a gourmand. Though appreciative of each other’s works, the composers apparently never met, yet their end was intriguingly brought on by a common factor. 

Punita is a musicologist, linguist, acoustician, editor and educator based in New Delhi.
 

Raushnaai

By Ashok Lal (Kautilya Books: 2022)

 Release of the book followed by a discussion

 Discussants: Shri Ashok Vajpeyi, poet and former Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi; Shri Subbh Lal, poet; Prof. Apoorvanand, Dept. of Hindi, Faculty of Arts, University of Delhi; Dr. Rakhshanda Jalil, literary historian and writer; Shri Azhar Iqbal, poet; and Shri Ashok Lal, poet and author of the book

Thoughts to Music: Narayana Guru

Lesson from an experiment in Carnatic Music

Illustrated presentation by Shri S. Goplakrishnan

The presentation will try to echo the layers of insights while imagining an idea of transforming Sree Narayana Guru's philosophical poems into the Carnatic format as interpreted by T.M. Krishna. The process of selections from a repository of poems in Sanskrit, Malayalam and Tamil, the constant exchange of ideas between the musician and the team involved, the culmination at the concert stage, and the evolution of the songs thereafter. The presentation will include the speaker's own experiences in the process; a recorded interaction with T.M. Krishna on his engagement with philosophical texts vis-à-vis music; basic texts of Guru with their English translations and excerpts from the music concert. 

Shri S. Gopalakrishnan is a Delhi-based writer and broadcaster. He writes on music and culture. He won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi award for prose. 
 

An Evening of Poetry

With poets – Naval Shukla (Raipur); Meenakshi Misra (Gurugram); Ashutosh Dube (Indore); and Prabhat Milind (Jamalpur) who will read from their original work

Moderator: Ashok Vajpeyi

(Collaboration: The Raza Foundation)