december 2010 programmes

thursday 2^nd december
6.30 pm ‘In the Belly of the fish’ by Stella Dupuis an illustrated talk and Book Launch 

saturday 11 december
1 to 3 pm Food Meditation # 12 

saturday 11^th december
4 to 6 pm “Exploring Creativity and Self Expression through Therapeutic Music-Making” a workshop conducted by Mike Hewitt 

wednesday 15^th december 
6.30 pm ‘The Dark Side of The Universe 2’ an illustrated talk by Priyamvada Natarajan

friday 17^th december
7 pm -9 pm “ 9 Minutes of Fame (9 writers | 81 minutes | 1 coffee break)”  

tuesday 21 december
1 to 3 pm Forgotten Foods – an experiment in eating 

tuesday 21 december
 6.30 pm ‘Translating Sikh Scripture without His Masters Voice’ – a lecture by Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh 

monday 27^th december
6.30 pm “Some Vedic and Greek goddesses” a talk by Nicholas Kazanas 

wednesday 29th december
6.30 pm ‘Fighting terror or fighting freedom? Whither the rule of law in post 9/11 Britain and India.’ A talk by Marina Wheeler

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thursday 2^nd december
6.30 pm ‘In the Belly of the fish’ by Stella Dupuis an illustrated talk and Book Launch 

In the Belly of the Fish is a novel of transformation expressing philosophical themes through sensuality, humor and spiritual awareness. The theme is presented through the mystic figure of Matsyendranatha, an enigmatic and multifaceted teacher, said to be the founder of Yogini Kaula school probably related with the Yogini Temples (in  Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and U.P.) 

The Tantric tradition in India is commonly identified with the worship of Shakti (personification, of divine feminine creative power). It deals primarily with spiritual practices and ritual forms of worship and from the 10^th CE onwards developed into many schools from Agamas, Vishnuism, Bhakti movements, Pancharatra, Vaikhanasa, Shivaism, and yogic schools such as the Nathas, Pashupatas and the Dattatreya bhaktas with wide ranging beliefs from the use of mantras, tantras and yantras to black magic and the importance of sexual contact. 

The ancient manuscript of the Kaulajñânirnaya (discovered in the library of the king of Nepal in the 20^th c) is attributed to Siddha Matsyendranath .It  is an esoteric work full of knowledge about the siddhi techniques in the path of the state of Oneness. He and his disciple Gorakshanath came to be associated as founders of the Natha tradition. 

Abhynavagupta honored Matsyendranath as being the father of Yoga and in Nepal he is venerated in the Kathmandu Valley as the God of Mercy.  

The plot of the novel takes the Yoginis and Matsyendranatha through exotic locales such as Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Colombia and Russia by means of legends and everyday stories while revealing the secret knowledge of instant happiness and everlasting bliss. 

Stella Dupuis is a Swiss novelist born in Panama. She studied marketing and advertising in Switzerland and Sweden before launching a successful business career in Latin America and Europe.  Since becoming a writer seven years ago she has published four novels in Spanish and English.  In her work she depicts a yearning for a spiritual destiny that transcends blind commitment, stereotypes, or religious fanaticism. For many years Stella has also been teaching Yoga and meditation in many countries. She is the author of  Memoria de viento, (In the wake of the wind); La Puerta de Jade (Teli-Ka Mandir) and Travel notes: The Yogini Temples of India, In the pursuit of a mystery.

saturday 11 december
1 to 3 pm Food Meditation # 12 

Today being Osho’s (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) birthday we bring you some quotes from him on vegetarian food. 

“Life in its infinite forms exists as one organic unity. We are part of it: the part should feel reverence for the whole. That is the idea of vegetarianism. It simply means: don’t destroy life. It simply means: life is God — avoid destroying it, otherwise you will be destroying the very ecology.” 

“Jainism is the first religion that has made vegetarianism a fundamental necessity for transforming consciousness. And they are right. Killing just to eat makes your consciousness heavy, insensitive; and you need a very sensitive consciousness — very light, very loving, very compassionate. It is difficult for a non-vegetarian to be compassionate; and without being compassionate and loving you will be hindering your own progress.” 

We continue our Food Meditation series by gathering together to eat wholesome, nutritious food meditatively. 

Menu
1. Chaulai (Amaranth) Roti
2. Naurangi (Rice bean/ Cow Pea) daal       
3. Jhangora (Barnyard Millet) Pulao         
4. Alloo (Potato) jakhia
5. Raita

 Participation is by registration on payment only. Telephone The Attic 23746050 or email anaam@aol.in, mina@theatticdelhi.org.
Charges:  Rs 100. 

saturday 11^th december
4 to 6 pm “Exploring Creativity and Self Expression through Therapeutic Music-Making” a workshop conducted by Mike Hewitt

The healing powers of music have been used and understood from ancient times in India and throughout the world. The modern Art and Science of Clinical Music Therapy has been developing in the West over the last 60 years but is, as yet, very new to India. The World Federation now has over 50 members including UK, USA and Australia. 

Clinical Music Therapy requires very different skills in the use of music, where both client and Clinician improvise music together, building and developing a therapeutic relationship. Emphasis is placed on the process of shared music-making, rather than the aesthetics of the music itself, leading towards therapeutic goals. The music is very much seen as a language for communication and self expression, in a safe and trusting environment, facilitated by the Therapist. The training includes developmental psychology (particularly looking at research into early communication processes), a grounding in psychotherapeutic skills (and the role of play and creativity in fostering change and growth), as well as developing students’ abilities in clinical music-making. 

Workshop Content 

This workshop aims to encourage individuals to explore the role of music within their lives using simple practical musical activities to explore and develop participants’ own creative and expressive abilities in using music. 

Thus the workshop is experiential in nature and Mike will provide a variety of interesting and unusual tuned and un-tuned percussion instruments for participants’ use. 

The workshop is ideal for non-musicians, but also for amateur musicians wishing to develop and broaden their musical flexibility and expression. 

For proficient musicians who are interested in finding out more about the postgraduate Clinical Music Therapy training Mike will be holding separate 1 day workshops at The Music Therapy Trust’s clinic room. Please contact Mike separately at: howlingmike@hotmail.com

Mike has taken a sabbatical from the Health Service in the UK to work for The Music Therapy Trust as the Postgraduate Music Therapy Course Tutor in Delhi. He is also giving lectures and workshops in Nepal, Mumbai and Delhi to Clinical Psychologists, Creative Practitioners, musicians and interested parties in his time here. Since July Mike has played sax/flute with Delhi Drum Circles, performing at the Monsoon Festival and Udaan 2010 for the Come Together Family Foundation, as well as regularly in public events.

Mike qualified as a Clinical Music Therapist at the Roehampton Institute, London in 1994. He has 15+ years of experience of working as a Clinical Music Therapist for the British National Health Service as well as in Education – Mainstream and Special Schools – for Charities, Social Services and Privately in the UK. He also worked for 1 year with the elderly in Australia. Mike composes, plays the saxophone, keyboard and sings in various bands, as well as singing tenor in several choirs.

Registration by 2^nd December. Cost Rs 300 Maximum 10 persons Call Mina Vahie 23746050 or email mina@theatticdelhi.org

wednesday 15^th december 
6.30 pm ‘The Dark Side of The Universe 2’ an illustrated talk by Priyamvada Natarajan   

Black holes are the most enigmatic objects in the Universe and recent breakthroughs in astronomy are providing us important clues to understanding them better. We have detected black holes in the nearby and distant Universe. This enables us to unravel their growth and assembly history over cosmic time. I will be presenting exciting, new results that reveal that black holes are constantly binging teetering from feasting to fasting as they grow in the Universe. 

Priyamvada Natarajan is a Professor in the departments of Astronomy and Physics at Yale University. In addition, she currently holds the Sophie and  Tycho Brahe Professorship at the Dark Cosmology Center at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark. She did her undergraduate studies at MIT, and her PhD at Trinity College at the University of Cambridge where

she was also elected to a Title A prize fellowship. She is a theoretical cosmologist and works on exotica   in the Universe: dark matter, dark energy and the growth of black holes in the Universe. She has won numerous awards for her work, and recent honors include an election to a fellowship at the Royal Astronomical Society (2008); a Radcliffe Fellowship (2008); a Guggenheim fellowship (2009) and the Face of the Future Award (2009) from the India Abroad Foundation. She is very interested in the public dissemination of science, and writes frequently for the public and serves on the advisory board of NOVA. 

friday 17^th december
7 pm -9 pm “ 9 Minutes of Fame (9 writers | 81 minutes | 1 coffee break)”

9 writers share excerpts from their unpublished/unfinished manuscripts.
Selected by a jury of 3, they will each be given 9 minutes to read and discuss their work with the audience. A great opportunity to get feedback on their work.

Novels, poems, film scripts, plays, essays. Anything with words. Good writing is the bottom line! The key is to make each of the 9-minute interactions meaningful—for the writer and the audience.

The folks from Kunzum Café would be at the venue to add the ever-so-important coffee to the conversations!

Kanishka Gupta, who has recently published a novel ‘History of Hate’ and heads a very successful literary agency called *Writer’s Side*, is associated with us as a guest jury. The prose writers who are a part of the evening would be getting a brief written feedback from him. This could just
be their chance at fame… and not just for nine minutes!

An evening when writers become readers and readers become listeners. Be there!

Registration for the event closes on 5th December. For more details,
facebook.com/wordsrhythmsimages or email us at: writeto.images@gmail.com

An event conceptualized by *words. rhythms. images* in association with kunzum café, writer’s side and cathaayatra.

wordsrhythmsimages.co.in

saturday 18^th december
6.30 pm X’mas surprise 

The Attic's Christmas event this year was billed as “Christmas surprise” and surprise it will be. There will be a cooking demonstration of how to make a Christmas cake and we have a group of assorted singers who will be singing carols and teaching us how to sing them. 

Christmas cake demo – by Anubhav Kumar Sharma and Kedar

Anubhav is a doctor by profession and started baking by accident. He was a stressed out student preparing for his UPSC exam when he met the owner and started working part time at the Maxmueller Bhawan café. Kedar Bhaiya was the professional baker there and with his patience and good humour and desire to learn even more they started baking together. They even went around to many of the bakeries of Delhi to look for new ideas. They serve over 200 people daily with a range of 150 recipes, with a clientele from the German, British Embassies and the American Center nearby.     

We hope there is enough to sample along with the Hot ? punch. 

Carol singing

A carol is a "religious song...associated with Christmas". But this was not always so. The first specifically Christmas hymns that we know of appeared in fourth century Rome. Followed in the 10^th century and the 13^th centuries by non church popular songs which did not have to be sung in the church. Carols gained in popularity after the Reformation in the countries where Protestant churches gained prominence, specially in the ‘vernacular’ languages..

Adeste Fidelis (O Come all ye faithful) appears in its current form in the mid 18th century. The first appearance in print of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen", "The First Noel", "I Saw Three Ships" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" was in Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (1833) by William  Sandys.

In modern times such favorites as "Good King Wenceslas" by Arthur Sullivan  "White Christmas" and  "Blue Christmas started blurring the distinction between a Christmas carol and a Christmas song and both are now sung regularly in  sacred and secular settings.

This evening Ashima Batra and her 2 daughters Nedabia and Acsah will be singing, demonstrating and helping us to sing along many of the popular carols of the season. Ashima works for an IT firm and has been a counsellor for 'DHARKAN' (radio programme) on FM GOLD for two years. She has a passion to sing and has been part of many Delhi choirs. Nedabia is a 2nd year Jesus and Mary College student who has mesmerised her school audience with her portrayal of Mrs Danvers character in the play 'Manderlay' . She loves acting, singing carols, praise and worship songs. Acsah is in the 12th class, and currently rehearing for her upcoming school musical 'Children of Eden'. She is portraying the Snake in this play and we get to hear the sssssss sound all day. Her lovely husky voice has lent its own spell to all the choirs she has sung for. 

tuesday 21 december
 6.30 pm ‘Translating Sikh Scripture without His  Masters Voice’ – a lecture by Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh 

As Walter Benjamin wrote in "The Task of the Translator," “Languages are not strangers to one another, but are, a priori and apart from all historical relationships, interrelated in what they want to express.” However, English has imposed his master’s voice on to the voice of the Sikh Gurus — distorting their vision of the transcendent One into a male God, reducing their multiple concepts of the Divine to merely a single concept of a Lord, and dichotomizing the fullness of their experience into body and Soul. Such impositions, reductions, and dualizations debilitate any genuine relationship between languages. I want us to think about new ways to translate the Sikh sacred text, and thus recover the true affinity between Punjabi and English – and our common humanity.
 
 Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh is the Crawford Family Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Colby College in Maine, USA. Her interests focus on poetics and feminist issues. Nikky Singh has lectured and published extensively in the field of Sikhism, including The Birth of the Khalsa (State University of New York Press, 2005), The Feminine Principle in the Sikh Vision of the Transcendent (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), Sikhism (Facts on File, 1993), The Name of My Beloved: Verses of the Sikh Gurus (HarperCollins and Penguin), Metaphysics and Physics of the Guru Granth Sahib (Sterling, 1980), and Cosmic Symphony (Delhi: Sahitya Academy, 2008). Her views have also been aired on television and radio in America, Canada, England, India, Australia, and Bangladesh.  

tuesday 21 december
1 to 3 pm Forgotten Foods – an experiment in eating 

For the meal today we are combining traditional with seasonal while still staying in the Punjab, Haryana, UP area of North India. The sarson fields are just about losing their flowers and edible leaves, but the carrots are in full season and the favourite dessert is gajar ka halwa.                                                                                            

Reservations are possible on advance payment but not necessary.  Seating will be on cushions on the ground and silence will be encouraged.  

Charges Rs 300/- per person. Telephone Mina Vahie 23746050 or email mina@theatticdelhi.org, anaam@aol.in  

monday 27^th december
6.30 pm “Some Vedic and Greek goddesses” a talk by Nicholas Kazanas 

                     The names of some Vedic goddesses appear in other ancient cultures of Europe - Greece, Italy, Gaul and Scandinavia. In the ancient Vedic religion the goddesses do not receive as much attention and worship as the male gods, except Ushas the Dawn and Sarasvati, goddess of inspiration and nourishment. Sarasvati is the only one who passed into the later Hindu pantheon. In Greece the goddesses are much more recognisably anthropomorphic with many human traits. Four of the more important ones are Hera, the consort of Zeus; Aphrodite, (older than Zeus,) goddess of beauty and love; Artemis, daughter of Zeus and sister of  the Sun god Apollo; and Athena who sprang out of Zeus head fully armed, goddess of wisdom and war. There are also lesser known ones Demeter, goddess of earth and growth, Persephone of Spring and light Hestia, of the hearth and home. 

Nicholas Kazanas is a graduate of University College, London  and a post-graduate at SOAS and at Deccan College in Pune. (India) 

He taught in London and Athens and since 1980 has been Director of Omilos Meleton Cultural Institute. (www.omilosmeleton.gr/en/default_en.asp) In Greece he has published treatises of social, economic and philosophical interest. He is on the Editorial Board of Adyar Library Bulettin (Chennai). He has also produced a three-year course of learning Sanskrit for Greeks.

From 1997 he has turned towards the Vedic Tradition of India and its place in the wider Indo-European culture. This research comprises thorough examination of Indo-European cultures, comparing their philosophical ideas and values, their languages, mythological issues and religions. He has also translated the ten principal Upanishads from the original Sanskrit text into Greek. His latest publications are 'Indoaryan Origins and Other Vedic Issues' and 'Economic Principles in the Vedic Tradition' .

wednesday 29th december
6.30 pm ‘Fighting terror or fighting freedom? Whither the rule of law in post 9/11 Britain and India’ a talk by Marina Wheeler 

Since 9/11, London and Mumbai have fallen victim to carnage at the hand of terrorist groups.  Terrorist atrocities create fear, and fear threatens human rights and the rule of law. Since 9/11, in both India and the UK, legislation has been passed granting the state and security forces new powers to deal with those suspected of terrorist offences. In the UK, many consider that hard won freedoms are being jettisoned, with the judiciary in the vanguard of this defence of the rule of law. Detention without trial and control orders (a form of house arrest) have been struck down by the courts – an astonishing display of judicial independence but not welcomed in all quarters.

This seminar looks at the pressing question facing both our societies:  how to balance the state’s duty to protect the public against the rights of those suspected of involvement in terrorism – individuals who may, of course, be wrongly suspected.   It also considers the role of the courts – lawyers and judges – in defending the rule of law and the rights of those who do not attract public sympathy and are vulnerable to ill-treatment by agents of the state.  

Marina Wheeler is a London-based barrister (with an Indian mother) who practices public and human rights law. She obtained her law degree from Cambridge University and a Masters Degree in EU law from the Free University in Brussels. She has practiced at the Bar in London since 1994, and is a member of the Attorney General’s Panel of Counsel who undertake legal work on behalf of the Government. She recently represented the Ministry of Defence in litigation challenging the legality of UK detention policy in Afghanistan.   

She is a member of the UK Human Rights Lawyers Association and the Bar Human Rights Committee.