Professional Documents
Culture Documents
NEWSLETTER August
2011
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Alumni Snippets
Career Happenings Books Art
Photo Gallery
Visit to the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford Dinner at Trinity College, Oxford Summer Gala and Reception, London Galoupet 2011
FOUNDATION NEWS
Another year has flown by and despite our intentions to produce this newsletter more often, it turns out to be an annual event. Like the previous year, in the last week of May, the scholarship 2011 interviews were held in Mumbai. This year, a greater number of candidates were called in to the interviews, both at the preliminary and final interview stages. A total of 10 scholars have been chosen this year. Alumni continue to do us proud with Dinesh Singh becoming Vice Chancellor of Delhi University and Rajiv Kumar taking over as Secretary General of FICCI. The Ravi Sankaran Fellowship Programme collaboration is going well with interns doing varied internships, from community based conservation in Rwanda to a veterinary internship in the Wildlife Centre, Virginia. In the Small Grants area the projects vary from studies on the forest owlet to identifying ecological and socio economic drivers of conflict between aquatic wild life and fisheries in river systems. This year we have one scholar for the Masters programme, two for the internships and three for the Small Grants Programme. For the Inlaks Research and Travel Grants Programme, three candidates were chosen. The subjects for research were Modernity and the Autonomy of Art : French Painters at the Crossroads 1802-1848, Problems of Identity and Selfhood in Some Women Poets of the English Renaissance and Living with Floods in Sunderbans: Disaster Management. The Inlaks India Foundation grows from strength to strength with the Fine Arts Awards and the Theatre Awards being the mainstays. We hope to introduce a formal Sports Award later this year.
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ALUMNI EVENTS
Weve had our hands full with alumni events in the past 12 months. November 22, 2010 Oxford, UK We had a visit to the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, where we had the Director, Dr Michael OHanlon, give us a wonderful talk and tour of the museum. November 22, 2010 Oxford, UK The UK alumni , scholars as well as the Trustees and several wellwishers of the Foundation came together for a splendid dinner at Trinity College, Oxford. The evening was made more memorable by some impromptu singing which resounded in those hallowed precincts. May 29, 2011 Mumbai, India To introduce the Inlaks Scholars 2011 and the awardees of the Ravi Sankaran Fellowship Programme (RSFP), a dinner was held on the 29th of May at the Royal Bombay Yacht Club. This was attended by the scholars-elect, as well as the alumni, Trustees and members of the selection panels. June 20, 2011 London, UK The Athenaeum Club in London saw a gathering of music lovers, Inlaks scholars, alumni, Trustees and academicians at the Inlaks Summer Gala and reception. Anando Mukherjee (1999) tenor, and Patricia Rozario (take-off-grantee 2009-2011), Indias finest soprano, regaled the audience with an eclectic programme of music which had something to everyones taste. July 8 to 11, 2011 Provence, France As in past years, scholars descended on the Chateau du Galoupet for a weekend of great hospitality by the Shivdasani family. This years entertainment included a visit to a medieval town, shopping in local markets, a boat cruise and the customary dinner at a Michelin star restaurant.
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SCHOLARS 2011
INLAKS Scholars
Ananya Kotia from Hansraj College, Delhi will read Economics for Development at Oxford. Apart from being the President of the English Debating Society and Secretary of the Economics Society of Hansraj College, Ananya also plays the piano.
Ankit Bhargava from RV College of Architecture will study Urbanism at TU Delft, Netherlands. He has worked with NGOs such as Triratna on community-based projects. He has also worked with the Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI), Mumbai, and with Charles Correa Associates.
Charu Sudan Kasturi will do an MS in Journalism at Columbia University. Charu has worked with the Hindustan Times as well as the Telegraph and is a passionate football player. He is also the recipient of the Mohan Katyal Memorial Prize at St. Stephens College, Delhi.
Mridula Mary Paul from ILS Law College University, Pune, will do an MPhil in Development Studies at the University of Oxford. Having initially started off with a career in Law, practicing Environmental Law, she now wishes to be a more active participant in the debate between development and environment and people. Her last assignment was working with the Keystone Foundation in Kotagiri. Her research here formed the basis for the formulation of ecologically sustainable development initiatives among adivasis of the Nilgiris.
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INLAKS Scholars
Malik Sajad Rasool did his BFA from the Institute of Music and Fine Arts, Srinagar. He will now do an MA in Images and Communication at Goldsmiths College, London University. Malik works both as a cartoonist and an animator. His skills include photography, painting, animation, graphic design and web design. He is also the author of two non-fiction graphic novels.
Priya Rose Kochhumpali will do an MSc in Psychological Research at Oxford University. A student of Psychology from St. Xaviers College, Mumbai, Priya is an accomplished pianist and a member of the Living Voices choir and has accompanied the Symphony Orchestra of India in the Indian premier of ADIENUS. Priya also is an avid debater and elocutor.
Soumyodipto Mukherjee will read Theoretical Chemistry at Oxford University. From St. Stephens College, Soumyodipto represented his college both in cricket and table tennis. He was also the chief coordinator of the National Science Festival and the secretary of the Bengali Literary Society, both at St. Stephens College.
Shikhar Singh will do a BA in History and Politics at the University of Oxford. Also from St. Stephens College, Shikhar has been an active debater and has edited school and college journals. He has also been a writer and student editor of the India debate for the Wall Street Journal, (India).
Tanima Sharma will do an MA in Critical Media and Cultural Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. From St. Stephens College, Tanima is a theatre actor and was a student coordinator of the Womens Development Cell in college.
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Radhika Timbadia will do an internship with the National Museums of Kenya on community based conservation projects.
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Nachiket Kelkar has been awarded an Inlaks RSF grant to study Identifying ecological and socio-economic drivers of conflict between aquatic wildlife and fisheries in river systems. Nachiket has an MSc in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from Manipal University, Centre for Wildlife Studies and the National Centre for Biological Sciences. He is currently a research affiliate at the Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore.
Sutirtha Dutta has been awarded an Inlaks RSF grant to study Prioritizing conservation areas for the critically endangered great Indian bustard (Ardeotis Nigriceps) from distribution, habitat use and extinction probabilities across India. He is currently a senior research fellow at the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. With an MSc in Forestry (Economics & Management) from the Forest Research Institute University, Dehradun, he is currently pursuing his PhD in Wildlife Sciences from the same institution.
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Ms. Debapriya Basu is currently doing a PhD in English (Early Modern Womens Writing) from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and is doing her research in Problems of Identity and Selfhood in Some Women Poets of the English Renaissance . As an IRTG Scholar 2010, Debapriya visited and worked at the British Library, the Cambridge University Library, the Warburg Institute and the Bodleian Library.
Mr. Mohan Bera is doing his PhD in Social Science from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and is conducting research in Living with Floods in Sundarbans, West Bengal. As an IRTG 2010 Scholar, Mohan will be visiting the Disaster Research Centre at the University of Delaware, USA.
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ALUMNI SNIPPETS
Career Happenings
the University of Delhi in August 2010. Rajiv Kumar (1977), who till recently was Director of ICRIER, has now been appointed as the Secretary General of FICCI. Sanjay Kathuria (1980) is now Lead Economist for the World Bank in Bangladesh, based in Dhaka. Animesh Jha (1981) was on BBC Radio 4 Costing the Earth programme which was related to this topic. The BBC Radio 4 programme is available on the BBC i-player. Parag Tripathi (1982) Parag has been Additional Solicitor General of India since the past few years. Ajay Pratap (1982) is extremely busy with his project funded by the Indian Council of Historical Research to survey and document prehistoric rock paintings of the Vindhyas. He has made a project website which you may wish to visit and comment on suitably http://rockartofindia.webs.com/ Geetha Venkataraman (1987) joined Ambedkar University, Delhi (AUD), as Professor of Mathematics in August last year. AUD is a new university established by the Government of Delhi. She is at the School of Liberal Studies and the School of Undergraduate Studies at the AUD. Sudeep Sen (1988) featured on Contemporary Writers (first Indian poet to be featured) : http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/ ?p=auth5694A6A40alc11E78AviO1CF2D4D Ashwath Bhatt (2001) has been selected among 15 people in South Asia for the Arthink South Asia Fellowship awarded by the Goethe Institute. He was awarded this fellowship for his Theatre Garage Project. Indrapramit Roy (1990) was invited to speak on Tagores paintings at the Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, Kolkata, in February 2010. The other panelists included Prof. K.G.Subramanayan, Prof. R.Sivakumar and Prof. Sukanto Chowdhury. (Sukanto is an Inlaks scholar as well!) He also attended a workshop (as a resource person) called Creating Content for Children at the IDC (Industrial Design Centre), IIT, Powai from 3-10th November, 2010. Apart from that, regular teaching and other activities continue at full strength. He participated in four group shows in 2010, in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. Dr. Amrita Narlikar (1996) has been promoted in Cambridge to the position of Reader in International Political Economy. She is also the Director of the Centre for Rising Powers in Cambridge. Porus Kaka (1990) has been conferred with the designation of Senior Advocate / Counsel in the Bombay High Court. In addition, in the International Law Office (ILO) Client Choice Awards 2011, Mr. Porus Kaka was the exclusive winner of the Corporate Tax category for India. Dinesh Singh (1977) became the Vice-Chancellor of Indraneil Das (1989) is a Professor in the Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation University, Sarawak, Malaysia.
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Seyed Faiz Hayat (2004) is currently working at WWF India as a Senior Coordinator Policy and Programme Development. Kaustav DeBiswas (2004), co-founder of the Indian design firm Dplay, is one of the 19 people from around the world selected in December 2010 for the prestigious TED Fellowship. Founded in January 2009, the TED Fellows programme handpicks world-changing innovators from around the globe, and brings them to the TED stage literally and figuratively to raise international awareness of their remarkable work. Aswin Sai Narain Seshasayee (2005) has moved back to India and is a Young Investigator (junior faculty) at NCBS, Bangalore. Website: http://www. ncbs.res.in/aswin Sukriti Chauhan (2007) worked in public health and law in PATH, New Delhi. She has moved on to a smaller consulting NGO called the Global Health Strategies. For the past two years, she has been studying policy initiatives in the field of Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Apart from that she now is a member on the board of an NGO run exclusively for women who are HIV positive and children / orphans who are a result of the epidemic. It is part of a big network called the Delhi Network for Positive People. Neha Gupta (2008) is doing a PhD in Mathematics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Amit Ranjan (IRTG - 2009) has been given the status of International Fellow for 3 years by UNSW (University of New South Wales).
Competitive Selection at Punto de Vista Film Festival, Spain, 2011, Madurai Film Festival, 2010, VIBGYOR International Film Festival, Thrissur, 2011, and the 9th International Filmmor Womens Film festival in Turkey, 2011. Arjun Razdan (2009) has been awarded a French Government Scholarship by the Embassy of France in India to study at Universite Jean Moulin, Lyon 3. He will be continuing his anthropological research on French women and pudeur with a view towards comparative literature. He will be based in Lyon from late August 2011 onwards. Sharanya Chandran (2009) is working as a Young Professional at the planning commission Government of India, assisting the Minister of State for Planning as his Research Officer. She is also resumed Dance and has performed at the Sankatmochan Festival in Benaras and with the Natya Vriksha Dance Company in France for ICCR. Ameya Muley (2009) has been awarded the Ely Devons prize at the LSE for top performance in MSc Econometrics and Mathematical Economics. He will start his PhD in Economics at MIT this year. Madhav Khosla (2009) is currently writing a short book on the Indian Constitution (titled, The Indian Constitution: A Short Introduction) which will be published by Oxford University Press in 2012. Over the last year Madhav has been working at the Centre for Policy Research in Delhi. From August onwards he will move to Harvard to do his PhD in Political Theory. Anand Shrivastava (2010) has been selected for
Fathima Nizaruddin (2009) A film made during the course of her study at Goldsmiths has been selected for screening at several film festivals. The films name is Talking Heads [Muslim women]. The festivals this film has been featured at are: Official
the Gates Cambridge Scholarship to do an MPhil in Economics at Cambridge in 2011-12. He has also been awarded the Stevenson Prize by the Faculty of Economics for the best overall performance in the Diploma Economics course.
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ALUMNI SNIPPETS
Books
Aman Sethi (1978) A Free Man Mohammed Ashraf is short and stubby, with a narrow but muscular chest and small, broad hands balanced on strong, flexible wrists. But Ashraf does not grudge the throw of the dice that has made him a safediwallah with a mazdoors body. A small mans body can do things that a slenderchamak-challo cannot even contemplate. A small man carries the ground close to him wherever he goes, even as he hangs along the side of a building three storeys high. The memory of the ground that allows him to crawl into crevices, perch on narrow ledges and balance on wobbly parapets. A short man knows the limits of his body, the extent of his reach, the exact position of his centre of balance. Unlike the tall man, he holds no illusions regarding his abilities or his dimensions; he will never overreach, overextend or overbalance. On the grand scale of an historical epic, River of Smoke follows its storm-tossed characters to the crowded harbours of China. There, despite efforts of the emperor to stop them, ships from Europe and India exchange their cargoes of opium for tea, silk, porcelain and silver. Among them are Bahram Modi, a wealthy Parsi opium merchant out of Bombay, his estranged half-Chinese son Ah Fatt, the orphaned Paulette and a motley collection of others whose pursuit of romance, riches and a legendary rare flower have thrown together. All struggle to cope with their losses and for some, unimaginable freedoms in the alleys and waterways of 19th- century Canton. As transporting and mesmerizing as an opiateinduced dream, River of Smoke will soon be heralded as a masterpiece of twenty-first century literature. Amitav Ghosh ( 1978) River of Smoke Ejaz Ghani (1982) In September 1838 a storm blows up on the Indian Ocean and the Ibis, a ship carrying a consignment of convicts and indentured laborers from Calcutta to Mauritius, is caught up in the whirlwind. When the seas settle, five men have disappeared Ejaz has edited a volume on The Poor Half Billion. He has taught Economics at Oxford University and the University of Delhi. He is currently Economic Adviser, South Asia Poverty Reduction and Economic Management , the World Bank. - two lascars, two convicts and one of the passengers. Did the same storm upend the fortunes of those aboard the Anahita, an opium carrier heading towards Canton? And what fate befell those aboard the Redruth, a sturdy two-masted brig heading East out of Cornwall? Was it the storm that altered their course or were the destinies of these passengers at the mercy of even more powerful forces?
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The Poor Half Billion in South Asia What is Holding Back Lagging Regions? edited by Ejaz Ghani South Asia is a land of sharp and growing contrasts. It has attracted global attention as an emerging economic powerhouse, but is also home to the largest concentration of people living in conflict, poverty, and malnutrition. Focusing on the poor half billion of South Asia, this volume puts into perspective the colossal task ahead to eradicate poverty and enable inclusive growth in the region. Examining the challenges, successes, and failures of South Asia, it provides fresh perspectives on the links between economic geography, institutions, and globalization. Through a comparative study of spatial disparities in income, poverty, conflict, human development, and gender divides, the essays provide answers to why certain regions are lagging. Combining quantitative data with analytical rigour, they provide innovative short- and long-term policy solutions to overcome the limits to growth and escape poverty traps.
Enumeration of Finite Groups How many groups of order are there? This is a natural question for anyone studying group theory, and this Tract provides an exhaustive and up-to-date account of research into this question spanning almost fifty years. The authors presuppose an undergraduate knowledge of group theory, up to and including Sylows Theorems, a little knowledge of how a group may be presented by generators and relations, a very little representation theory from the perspective of module theory, and a very little cohomology theory - but most of the basics are expounded here and the book is more or less self-contained. Although it is principally devoted to a connected exposition of an agreeable theory, the book does also contain some material that has not hitherto been published. It is designed to be used as a graduate text but also as a handbook for established research workers in group theory.
Geetha Venkataraman (1987) Geeta has co-authored a research monograph titled Enumeration of Finite Groups. This was published by the Cambridge University Press, UK, in their Cambridge Tracts series in 2007 -2008. Geetha joined Ambedkar University, Delhi, as Professor in their School of Undergraduate Studies and the School of Liberal Studies.
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ALUMNI SNIPPETS
Art
BACK TO SCHOOL
Priyanka Govil (Inlaks Fine Arts Awardee, 2010) This show at Palette Gallery in Delhi was titled Back to School. It covers a period from 1979 to 89 of Baroda and there are five Inlaks scholars in that show Rekha Rodwittiya, A.K.Vasudevan, Suresh B.V, Manisha Parekh and Indrapramit Roy. Kumar Jasakiya (Inlaks Fine Arts Awardee, 2009) Akshaya Tankha (2007) *TENTACLES* a group show By 10 artists from Baroda Exhibition From 7th till 13th Feb 2011 Jehangir Art Gallery 161 M G Road Kalaghoda, Mumbai The Marshall Albums: Photography and Archaeology, on 14th January at the Exhibition Gallery, School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU An introductory talk on the exhibition was given by Akshaya Tankha. Priyanka Govil(2010) has had several shows in 2010-2011 including a solo show in Delhi in October 2010. With love from Baroda was a group show in Mumbai in May 2011
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Hemali Bhuta (Inlaks Fine Arts Awardee 2009) Sheela Gowda (1984) Sakshi Gupta (2007) Jaganath Panda (2000)
Dayanita Singh Seema Shettys kitchen view, Chembur, 2008
The historic occasion of Indias first ever National Pavilion at the 54th International Art Exhibition la Biennale di Venezia was organized by the Lalit Kala Akademi, Indias National Academy of Art, and curated by cultural theorist and poet Ranjit Hoskote. One of the four artists / artist groups chosen to represent India in this pavilion is Gigi Scaria, painter, sculptor, video artist. Manisha Parekh (1991)
Ayisha Abraham, Ravi Agarwal, Sarnath Banerjee, Hemali Bhuta, Nikhil Chopra, Desire Machine Collective, Sheela Gowda, Sakshi Gupta, Shilpa Gupta, Subodh Gupta, N S Harsha, Abhishek Hazra, Shanay Jhaveri, Jitish Kallat, Amar Kanwar, Bharti Kher, Bose Krishnamachari, Nalini Malani, Jagannath Panda, Prajakta Potnis, Raqs Media Collective, Tejal Shah, Valay Shende, Sudarshan Shetty, Dayanita Singh, Sumakshi Singh, Studio Mumbai Architects & Michael Anastassiades, Kiran Subbaiah, Ashok Sukumaran & Shaina Anand, Thukral & Tagra, Hema Upadhyay
Ayishaa Abraham, Ravi Agarwal, Sarnath Banerjee, Hemali Bhuta, Nikhil Chopra, Desire Machine Collective, Sheela Gowda, Sakshi Gupta, Shilpa Gupta, Subodh Gupta,N S Harsha, Abhishek Hazra, Shanay Jhaveri, Jitish Kallat, Amar Kanwar, Bharti Kher, Bose Krishnamachari, Nalini Malani, Jagannath Panda, Prajakta Potnis, Raqs Media Collective, Tejal Shah, Valay Shende, Sudarshan Shetty, Dayanita Singh, Sumakshi Singh, Studio Mumbai Architects & Michael Anastassiades, Kiran Subbaiah, Ashok Sukumaran & Shaina Anand, Thukral & Tagra, Hema Upadhyay Dayanita Singh Seema Shettys Kitchen View, Chembur, 2008 C-print, 100 x 100 cm Courtesy Dayanita Singh / Frith Street Gallery, London / Nature Morte, New Delhi INDIAN HIGHWAY IV Indian Highway is curated by Julia Peyton-Jones, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Gunnar B. Kvaran together with Thierry Raspail and organised in collaboration with the Serpentine Gallery, London and the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo.
A solo show by MANISHA PAREKH 31st March - 30th April 2011 amber INDIGO BLUE ART MODERN INDIAN CONTEMPORARY 33 Neil Road, Singapore 088820 | T (65) 6372 1719/38 info@indigoblueart.com | www.indigoblueart.com
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PHOTO GALLERY
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Galoupet, 2011
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Mitali Shah MVA, Painting, M.S. University, Baroda. B.V. Swetha MFA, (PGD), M.S. University, Baroda Kurma Nadham. MVA, Printmaking, M.S. University, Baroda
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