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wednesday 1^st february
6.30 pm “Moonweavers – Chaand Ke Julaahe organizes an open mic poetry session

saturday 4^th february
1-2 pm “Cooking with my mother: Celebrating Chinese New Year in Delhi” Yun Pang

saturday 4^th february
6.30 pm “A Child Prodigy in Hindustani Classical Music: Dhruv Singh Bedi on the sitar”

wednesday 8^th february
6.30 pm “A Trek in Upper Mustang” an illustrated talk by Deb Mukharji

thursday 9^th february
6.30 pm Zubaan Talkies -Take 1: ‘Writing the Self’ readings by various authors

saturday 11^th february
6.30 pm “Fragments from the Indore Gharana” a Hindustani vocal recital by Siddhant Bhatia

friday 17^th february
6.30 “Music of the Sarode: Then and Now” - a recital by Arnab Chakrabarty

thursday 23^rd february
6.30 pm ‘SHE’ a presentation of the feminine in Kathak & Odissi dance by Kristina Luna
and
thursday 23 to tuesday 28^thfebruary (except sunday)‘Homeland’ a photography exhibition of Lithuania

wednesday 1^st february
6.30 pm “Moonweavers – Chaand Ke Julaahe organizes an open mic poetry session

The evening will begin with a poetry recital by the gifted Urdu & English poet Mohsin Shamsi. Shamsiji has had a varied career across India and the U.K. He was for years a practicing accountant and is now devoting all his time to his first passion, writing. His recital will be followed by a poetry open mic. The poems should be self-composed and could be in English, Hindi or Urdu. It’s ok to read work in any other language, accompanied by a translation. You could read out poetic text, poetic drama, improvise something poetic on the spot. No standup comedy or long-winded stories please. You could read up to 2 – 3 short pieces or 1 long piece. But, please keep it within 3 minutes.

The evening will end with a short performance by the Moonweavers group – Rati, Paulomi, Elsa, Rajesh, Vishwaas, Anuraag, Ashutosh and Harsh.

saturday 4^th february
1-2 pm “Cooking with my mother: Celebrating Chinese New Year in Delhi” Yun Pang

My mother expresses her love through food. She would spend hours in the kitchen making my favorite sweet and sour ribs or fish head soup with tofu. I remember my mom making dumplings, sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, rice cakes with shredded meat and mustard greens for Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in China. It celebrates the arrival of spring and all new beginnings. The celebration lasts for 15 days and ends with the Lantern Festival on the last three days of the New Year.

It is a time for family reunions, gifts and feasts. My mother and my paternal grandma would make up to twenty dishes for the Spring Festival. For 15 days we feasted on countless delicacies.

I learnt how to cook by watching and helping her in the kitchen. Everything has to be of uniform shape and size. The colors must be harmonious. There would be carrots and green scallions if she is cooking tofu. Her stir fried noodles would be a mixture of pink prawns, slices of chicken, green peas, carrots, and baby bokchoi. I used to complain about the cutting and the mixing, but her reply would be: “This is Chinese cuisine – it has to be the right balance of color, aroma and taste”.

A few years ago, I asked her to write down some of her recipes. She wrote down in her neat handwriting some recipes of my favorite dishes, but they never taste as good as when she makes them. My mother stayed with us when my daughter was born. She made chicken soups and cooked everything my heart desired. It’s not surprising that my daughter’s favorite food is my mom’s cooking. My mother taught her how to make dumplings and wontons. My daughter said grandma made a lot of yummy food when she came to India.

I’d like to share with you some of this experience to welcome the Year of the Dragon. Dragon symbolizes strength, success and happiness. Join us at the Attic to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Yun Pang loves food and believes the way the food is prepared, as well as the traditions in which it is anchored, and the way it is shared, is central to the well-being of individuals and communities. She is a trained psychotherapist, who moved to New Delhi from New York a few years ago.

Yun maintains a private practice in Delhi where she provides individual, couple and family therapy. She is also a cross-cultural consultant. She has lived, worked and studied in different countries and cultures, including China, the U. S., France and India. She holds post-graduate degrees from the Sorbonne and New York University.

saturday 4^th february
6.30 pm “A Child Prodigy in Hindustani Classical Music: Dhruv Singh Bedi on the sitar”

21 year old Dhruv was born into a family of musicians. He started playing and learning from his father internationally renowned Sitar and Surbahar Artist Jagdeep Singh Bedi at the age of 4. He is now being taught by the great sitar Maestro Pt..Budhaditya Mukherjee.

Being part of the Imdadkhani gharana his approach to ‘rhythm’ and ‘sur’ is largely intuitive, fresh and spontaneous.The Imdadkhani gharana is a North Indian school of sitar and surbahar music, stemming from the very ancient Gwalior gharana, created by Imdad Khan (1848–1920). The gharana's major achievements include the development of the Surbahar, major structural changes to both the sitar and surbahar and the creation and development of the instrumental style known as the gayaki ang (vocal style performed on sitar).

Dhruv Bedi performed in Mauritius for a 11 day long cultural exchange program at the age of 14. In the same year he received a National Scholarship under the Cultural Talent Search Scholarship Scheme. At the age of 15 he performed solo in the Asian music conference in Seoul, the youngest Indian artist.

He has given solo performances for the President, The Prime Minister, the Chief Minister of Delhi and on the death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, a programme organized by Sangeet Natak Academy and telecast live on T.V.

He performed at the National Center for Performing Arts, Mumbai, in the World Economic Forum Davos, Switzerland, in the Delhi Jazz Festival at Nehru Park and was the youngest participant at the 34th Chandigarh Music Festival last year.

wednesday 8^th february
6.30 pm “A Trek in Upper Mustang” an illustrated talk by Deb Mukharji

It’s like Tibet as it was. Tibet before the Chinese occupation. The last true Shangri-la, untouched by modern civilisation, isolated in its rugged mountain terrain. A way of life persists here in Mustang that is fast disappearing in Tibet proper. And unlike Tibet proper, Mustang’s ancient Buddhist monasteries haven’t been desecrated or destroyed and religious leaders haven’t been thrown into prison. Wild, windy and harsh, yet stunningly beautiful, it is a land of myths and legends, of monks and monasteries, of a proud and ancient culture. Pristine Tibet, more Tibetan than Tibet.

Until recently prohibited to foreigners, the only access to which is along the Kali Gandaki river lying deep between the Dhaulagiri and the Annapurna massifs. It has mythological associations with both Hinduism and Buddhism. In the words of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, “Authentic Tibetan Culture survives only in exile in a few places like Mustang which has had long historical and cultural ties with Tibet”.

Deb Mukharji has been walking in the Himalaya for many years. He has published two books on the mountains (Magic of Nepal, Rupa, 2005) and Kailash and Manasarovar: Visions of the Infinite, Nepalaya, 2009). He visited Lo Manthang in Upper Mustang in August, 2011. His camera seeks to capture Mustang as it has been, before the rapid construction of roads changes the scene inexorably.

Zubaan Talkies

Zubaan kicks off the New Year with a brand-new series slated for the second Thursday of every month at The Attic beginning with 9^th Feb 2012. Zubaan Talkies aspires to be a platform for articulating and nurturing feminist thought across various media and disciplines. Each Talkie will be a carefully curated event and will feature film screenings, slideshows of photography, open-mike sessions, performance art, panel discussions, play readings, stand-up comedy, workshops, readings and discussions.

The spirit behind Zubaan Talkies is to create an exchange of ideas related to feminist thought and to encourage those who are outside of the movement to participate and learn more about issues concerning women. Additionally, Zubaan Talkies also hopes to mentor emerging literary talent through a writing group for aspiring women writers.

Zubaan hopes to collaborate with other publishing houses, writers, artists and academics to create a vital space through which feminist issues become relevant to the public.

thursday 9^th february
6.30 pm Zubaan Talkies -Take 1: ‘Writing the Self’ readings by various authors

For centuries, women’s narratives have been sustained through the space of the memoir and the autobiography. These genres offer women the possibility of recounting the story of their lives and their experiences first-hand. Indian literature has been enriched by these re-tellings, these attempts by women to write their selves.

“Writing the Self”, Take 1 of Zubaan Talkies, pays tribute to these narratives. The event will feature readings from a selection of excerpts from first-person accounts by writers such as Rashsundari Devi, Binodini Dasi, Kamala Das, Sister Jesme, Baby Halder, Revathy, Anjum Zamrud Habib, and others. The event will also feature performances by women writers and poets who will perform original work. Additionally, the audience is also invited to share extracts from their own personal diaries/blogs.

Social media pages:Twitter: @ZubaanBooks, Facebook: Zubaan Books, Tumblr: zubaanbooks.tumblr.comWordpress: zubaanbooks.wordpress.com, Website: www.zubaanbooks.com

An ambient, candle-lit evening, either outdoor or at the Attic, featuring readings from feminist ghost stories including excerpts from Venita Coelho’s “Washer of the Dead”, published by Zubaan.

For generations, myths have defined and restricted our conceptions of femininity and even feminism. Virgin Mother. Whore. Sita. Medusa. Draupadi. Radha. Echo. Hera. Aphrodite. Artemis. Penelope. Somewhere in the course of history, through oral and written literature, womankind got entangled in these myths. Women writers have intervened at various moments to free some of these characters from the shackles of the myths that surrounded them and tied them down. And of course there are the myths that surround the feminist movement which continue to persist even among the literate.

We invite writers to perform an original piece of work around the theme of myth busting, this could involve a brief re-telling of a myth, like Jeanette Winterson’s Weight or a poem that has reinvented a myth or any piece of writing that examines myth from a feminist perspective. Performers will get five minutes to perform their piece. A three-member jury including an audience member will judge the best piece.

There will be a selection process. Interested writers must email the piece they’d like to perform by a given date. The event will feature the selected writers although there will be ten minutes reserved at the end for an Open Mike session that is open to all.

Food has become the next big thing whether in publishing or on TV. For many years, food was part of the feminine domain. Kitchens were spaces where women exchanged gossip, shared ideas, but more importantly, it was a space were their creative energies could be channeled, especially in societies that were not necessarily receptive to the idea of women artists. In various works of literature, the kitchen has been the most important site for subversion.

This event will focus on the idea of the kitchen as feminine domain and will feature readings, screenings and a live demonstration.

Pecha Kucha is a concept explored by many Japanese designers. It involves a powerpoint presentation where each presenter is expect to explore a certain idea/concept or a body of work but within a restricted number of slide, the presenter gets just a few seconds per slide in which to articulate an idea.

Zubaan will invite women photographers who have been consistently or efficiently documenting issues pertaining to women. Like Sheba Chachi, Tejal Shah, Anita Duba, Mithu Sen and others.

Zubaan will invite audience members to bring an object related to a yet-to-be finalized theme and encourage them to speak about the object in question.

This event, we hope, will coincide with the launch of Venus Flytrap. This would be a multimedia event which involves short-film screenings, photography, music, dance and readings, all around the subject of erotica. We will handpick whatever we intend to show and choreograph the flow of the event to make it more like an erotica salon.

Following on the free book movement that’s been happening in different places across the world. Zubaan will invite booklovers to come to the attic with books they would like to donate to the Free Book movement. The Attic will be set up as a space where these free books could be placed for people to pick them up. We would also use this particular session as an opportunity to ideate on how to create a free book movement in Delhi and get people to volunteer.

Women activists who have been part of various feminist movements will share their experiences with the audience.

Zubaan hopes to create and nurture an mentor a writing group for women writers, the aim being to promote and encourage women’s writing. We will soon send out a call for applications, and ask women writers to send in samples of their writing. We would encourage the group to meet at the Zubaan office, help them out with whatever support they might need and get them to work towards hosting a session sometime in September which will feature their original work written during their time with the group.

Participation is by registration on payment only. Call The Attic 23746050 or email: mina@theatticdelhi.org.

saturday 11^th february
6.30 pm “Fragments from the Indore Gharana” a Hindustani vocal recital by Siddhant Bhatia

The Indore Gharana is one of the more recent of the gharana styles that evolved in the early 20th century. Its lineage began with the legendary Ustad Amir Khan Saheb, whose father, Ustad Shahmir Khan and grandfather, Ustad Change Khan, served at the courts of the Holkars of Indore. Amir Khan developed his own singing style, incorporating the styles of Abdul Waheed Khan (vilambit tempo), Rajab Ali Khan (taans) and Aman Ali Khan (merukhand). This unique style blends the spiritual flavor and grandeur of dhrupad with the ornate vividness of khayal.

Siddhant performes Raga Gaud Sarang and Raga Jog and some Bhajans (devotional songs)

He is a singer, trained in the classical Khyal gayaki. He had his initial training in the Kirana Gharana tradition from Shashibhal Mishra. At the age of 16, he was introduced to the Indore Gharana tradition from the great Sarangi Maestro, Ustad Munir Khan.

Siddhant studied Music Production and Audio Engineering in Australia. There he collaborated and sang with some of the best Australian musicians like Greg Sheehan, Tarshito, Ariel Kalma, the Israeli band ‘Sheva’ and Steve Berry and also taught Classical Vocal to teachers at the Lismore Conservatory.

On his return to India Siddhant started learning from the duo Ustad Jawwad Ali Khan – Mazhar Ali Khan of the Kasur Patiala gharana tradition. (The direct lineage of the Great Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan).

Siddhant has performed at concerts for Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and is associated with the ‘Art of Living Foundation’, where he spends most of his time in devotional semi classical music. He has a fresh voice, a free mind and an emotionally creative feel to his singing and his training in a mixture of various musical worlds has given him a chance to develop his own musical style.

friday 17^th february
6.30 “Music of the Sarode: Then and Now” - a recital by Arnab Chakrabarty

The sarode is a short-necked lute native to India. It is an amalgam of features of the Afghan rabab and a near-extinct Indian instrument known as the sursringar.

The story of the sarode is intrinsically linked to that of the migrant Afghan population that settled the plains of northern India over a period of 800-1000 years, and their socio-economic transformation from a martial community to one of musicians, craftsmen and small traders.

Arnab usually plays on a 130 year old sarode inherited from his teachers from the the Seniya-Shahjahanpur gharana. Built Circa 1880 in Darbhanga, Bihar and owned by Murad Ali, the famous founder of the gharana, this type of sarode has been compared to the Cremonese violins from the 17th and 18th centuries in terms of the clarity of its voice, acoustic sustain, and richness of timbre.

Today Arnab Chakrabarty talks a little about the Sarode and performs several variants of Kalyan in the first part, and traditional sarode gats in Kafi, Zila, Pilu, Gara and Bhairavi in the second part. This occasion also marks the first public unveiling of Arnab's new sarode, a near-identical replica of his 130-year-old concert sarode, built by Delhi's own Nizamuddin Khan, also known as Nizam Sitarwale. The new instrument has been built with the intent of retiring the ancient heirloom from the risks and rigours of concert touring.

Chakrabarty is one of the finest sarode players of the younger generation and is an important exponent of the Seniya-Shahjahanpur gharana. He is a disciple of the late Prof. Kalyan Mukherjea, a protege of Pandit Radhika Mohan Maitra, and has also studied with Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta, Pandit Ywashwantbuwa Joshi and Pandit Brij Narayan. Arnab's guru, Prof. Mukherjea, has hailed him as the "best representative of the musical values I inherited from my guru, Pandit Maitra".

India and Lithuania have some things in common. They call their countries motherland (not fatherland). They had a tradition of dedicating young girls to the temple. The Indian tradition of devadasis is comparable to the tradition of priestesses (Vaidiluté) for guarding the sacred fire in the Pagan temple. Alas one tradition died centuries ago and the decline of the other started with the period of colonization. However the Indian tradition survives symbolically with a dancer dedicating her performance to a deity. It is also reflected in her dress, the ‘taihya’ head dress in Odissi reflects the gopuram of the temple, the dancer herself is the temple.

Kristina dances, this evening in both Kathak and Odissi styles introducing her item with a poem of her own composition.

The photographic exhibition is a collection of photographs from the archives of the 13 Lithuanians living in Delhi. It is a nostalgia for their homeland and an opportunity for us to acquaint ourselves with their country in a cultural setting that they have chosen to live in.

Kristina Luna Dolinina Firsth came to India to study Hindi 1997. She was fascinated by Indian culture and decided to do an MA in Hindi at JNU. She also started learning Kathak under Guru Shovana Narayan and Guru Teerath Ajmani. She has been given the chance to perform with her Guru and her troupe "Asavari" in the annual festival for upcoming artists " Lalit Arpan 2007" and other locations.

In 2005 she started learning Odissi with Guru Sharon Lowen and later joined The Sri Ram Bharatya Kala Kendra under Guru Priyamvada Pattnayak, where she completed their certificate course of three years.

She returned to Lithuania a few years ago where she teaches Hindi language and literature in Vilnius University and continues practicing both dance styles.

Diana Mickevièienì is the Minister Counsellor in the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in India.

She has diplomas in Philosophy, History and Political Science from Vilnius University in Lithuania. She teaches courses in Indian History and the History of Indian culture in Vilnius University. Her journey to India started in 1994 when she joined the three months course for young diplomats in Delhi, organised by the Ministry of External Affairs. She came back again in 1999 to study Indian culture at the National Museum. She joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and is now posted as Minister Counsellor.

In 2011 she published her first book "All My Indias" - an interesting and informative combination of her diary, written in India, critical social observations and rich academic knowledge in Indology, Philosophy and cultural studies.