IIC DIAMOND JUBILEE POETRY READINGS – CULTURE AND CREATIVITY – LEGACY AND CHANGE
Conceptualised by Gitanjali Surendran

A Lamp in the Sun: An evening of raga-poetry through two millennia in six languages

S. Anand, a student of words and music will explore how a Tamil Sangam-era poem, a vachana in Kannada, an abhang in Marathi, a nirguni shabad, a sutta in Pali, and a ghazal in Urdu find comfort in ragas. In this land, ye des, indha nadu, where hierarchy, inequality and cruelty thrive, two areas of unparalleled excellence have been open to all: poetry and music. Poetry, sometimes secular, sometimes clothed in the colours of belief, is mostly remembered and passed on as song. It is habitually and helplessly beautiful. The words, sung to the accompaniment of a tanpura, flicker with meanings and throb with awareness
 
Anand is the publisher of Navayana, and a student of raga music with the dhrupad exponent Ustad F. Wasifuddin Dagar. 

Gandhi’s Ascetic Activism: Renunciation and Social Action

By Veena R. Howard (State University of New York: 2014)

Speakers: Prof. Anjoo Sharan Upadhyaya, Distinguished Professor, MIT, World Peace University, School of Public Policy, Pune; Prof. Makarand Paranjape, Centre for English Studies, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Prof. Ramdas Lamb, Dept. of Religion, University of Hawaii; and Prof. Madhu Jain, Founding Member, Tantra Foundation

Chair: Dr. Bibek Debroy, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India

(Collaboration: The Tantra Foundation Library)

Six String Story
Illustrated presentation by Theophilus Benjamin

The lecture-demonstration endeavours to take a look at the styles and kinds of music written for and performed by the guitar at different stages of the development of the instrument and through the different eras.

Theophilus Benjamin is one of the relatively few classical guitarists in the country who has had the distinction of having performed at various notable venues across the country. His primary focus is in the field of music education and he has been associated with some of the well-known academic institutions in the country as well as with some of the premier music schools in different parts of India

Speaker: Dr. Alka Mittal, CEO & Director (HR), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) 

Chair: Ms Ravneet Pawha, Chairperson BCF and CEO South Asia, Deakin University

Dr. Mittal will share insights on the socio-economic issues impacting greater participation of women in the labour market, the roadblocks working women face in reaching the C-Suite and opportunities for India Inc to have more inclusive workforce for business sustainability. The talk will be interspersed with Dr. Mittal’s rich industry experience and personal stories

Business and Community Foundation’s 21st Annual Lecture

The Fascinating Universe of the Bandish: Saas-Bahu and Beyond
Illustrated presentation by Malini Nair

Chair: Ms Vidya Shah

The bandish is at once critical as well as irrelevant to the khayal. It provides the framework around which the raga unfurls with limitless possibilities. But the poetry is often simplistic, spinning around the themes of domesticity and romance, the concerns stuck in time and place. A look at how gharanas and musicians have dealt with this poetry, some conventional, a few off-beat and how popular culture treats bandishes.

Malini is a senior editor and a feature writer with special interest in how India's classical traditions and how these have evolved over time, and is constantly taking cues from society and politics. She works as a consulting editor with gender platform behanbox.com and is a columnist at Scroll
 

PRESENTING YOUNG ARTISTS FESTIVAL OF CARNATIC MUSIC

Artists: Aditya Madhavan (Vocal), disciple of Smt Radha Namboodiri and Sri Sanjay Subrahmanyan
Accompanists: Delhi R. Sridhar (Violin) and Abhishek Avadhani (Mridangam)

Collaboration: (Ramakrishnapuram South Indian Society)

PRESENTING YOUNG ARTISTS FESTIVAL OF CARNATIC MUSIC

Artists: Ananya Venkatesan (Vocal), disciple of Dr. Prashanth Gopinatha Pai

Accompanists: G.Raghavendra Prasath (Violin) and B. Manohar (Mridangam)

At 7:15 pm

 Adarsh Nair (Vocal), disciple of Guruvaoor Dr.T.V.Manikandan

Accompanists: G.Raghavendra Prasath (Violin) and B. Manohar (Mridangam)

Collaboration: (Ramakrishnapuram South Indian Society)

Climate Change and Low Carbon India

Illustrated lecture by Dr. A.K. Jain, former Commissioner (Planning), Delhi Development Authority, former Member, Committee of the Ministry of Urban Development on DDA (2015), former member of UN Habitat (2007-12), a member of the Editorial Board of International Journal of Environmental Studies (UK), and is the author several books 

Chair: Shri K.N. Shrivastava, Director IIC
 

PHYSICAL PROGRAMME

Bole Koyaliya: Lata Mangeshkar's music and the idea of India

Illustrated lecture by Ashwini Deshpande, Professor of Economics and Director of Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA), Ashok University. Prof. Deshpande occasionally writes articles on Hindi film music and has written specifically about Lata Mangeshkar's music and persona

Chair: Prof. Partho Datta, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University

This lecture will explore the trajectory and key dimensions of Lata Mangeshkar's extraordinary career, focusing on her prolific contribution to Hindi film music. In recent years, Lata Mangeshkar's persona, her role in the music industry and the texture of her voice have been subjected to scholarly criticism and public debate. The lecture will briefly delve into the key issues in this debate and examine the validity of the claims using audio-visual examples from her body of musical work 

PHYSICAL PROGRAMME

An Evening of Poetry

With poets – Mritunjay Tripathi (Delhi); Vinod Padarg (Rajasthan); Poonam Vasam (Chhattisgarh); and Leena Malhotra (Delhi) who will read from their original work

Moderator: Anu Shakti Singh

(Collaboration: The Raza Foundation)