Time of Monsters, Time of Possibilities: Reflections on an Interstitial Era

Speaker: Dr. Amitav Ghosh, well-known writer, recipient of the Jnanpith Award in 2018, the Erasmus Prize in 2024 and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC

Ours is an era of multiple intersecting crises and transitions - of geopolitics, financial structures, and, perhaps most importantly, of environmental and ecological regimes that are slowly but surely pushing the planet towards catastrophe. And yet, the paradox of this interstitial era is that it has also made it possible to contemplate, and even embrace, possibilities that were denied or rejected during the age of high modernity. This lecture explores some of these paradoxes and possibilities. 
 

Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence

Speaker: Mr. Amandeep Singh Gill, United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology and Under-Secretary General

Chair: Shri Shyam Saran, President, IIC
 

Sitar Recital

By Shubhrodeep Pathak from Gurgaon, disciple of Vidushi Sahana Banerjee

At 19:00 
Hindustani Vocal Recital

By Swarali Panshikar Kulkarni from Mumbai, disciple of Pt. Shankar Abhyankar
 

Indian Soil in Revolution
(55 min; 2023; English)
Directed by Renuka George who will introduce the film

Screening will be followed by a discussion

In 2015, with the support of the state government of Andhra Pradesh, senior civil servant T. Vijay Kumar introduced natural agriculture on a large scale. The aim: to convert 6 million farmers to chemical-free agriculture. Through meetings with farmers and with T. Vijay Kumar, this film is an insight into the success of these new methods and the vision behind the world’s largest agroecological transition experiment
 

Main Tum Hoon, Tum Main Ho! (Hindi/Hindustani; 50 min)

Human values, such as empathy, compassion, resilience, are vividly reflected in Hindi literature particularly in the context of the Partition of India in 1947. The traumatic division of the country left millions displaced, with families torn apart, and communities fractured by violence and distrust. Writers of the time portrayed the raw human emotions and the social chaos that accompanied this historic event.

A performance based on text - poetry, prose and anecdotes in the works of Punjabi writers such as Mohan Rakesh, Bhishm Sahani, Krishna Sobti, Agyeya, and Yashpal.

Dramatised readings and enactment by Prof. Apoorvanand, Prof. Poorwa, Raza Haider and others  

Concert – Piano for Four Hands

By Gioia Barbera and Federico Bucaioni from Italy

The artists will present compositions by W.A. Mozart; Franz Schubert; and S. Rachmaninov among others

(Collaboration: Delhi Music Society)
 

Concert by Gypsy Indian Trio - Tapan Mullick (cello); Wilson Dutt (acoustic guitar); and Deepak Rana (double bass)

The artists will present a concert of works by Schostakovich, Bizet, Ravel, Piazolla, Scott Joplin; and Ragtime music, Waltz, polka and classical Blues and Jazz
 

Concert presented by The Lyric Ensemble of Delhi

The ensemble has received vocal training from Situ Singh Buehler

Accompanists: Siavtlana Radashkevich Singh (pianoforte); and Apratim Nayak (violin)

The Ensemble will present a concert of classical pieces with arias and art songs by soloists of the Ensemble, as well as well-loved Christmas carols in English, German, Latin and Italian

Kathak Recital
By Manaswini Sharma from Jaipur, disciple of Guru Prerna Shrimali
Accompanists on Mohit Chauhan (tabla); Ramesh Mewal (vocal & harmonium); and Simran Bhagtani (padhant) 

At 19:00
Bharatanatyam Recital
By Pritam Das from Delhi, disciple of Guru Rama Vaidyanathan