National Symposium – Günter Grass: A Retrospect

Department of German, University of Mumbai has taken the lead in commemorating the life and work of the celebrated Nobel laureate for Literature (1999) Günter Grass by celebrating his first birthday through a national symposium “Günter Grass: A Retrospect” (October 16-17, 2015) after his demise on the 13th of April 2015.

The event is taking place just in a few days from now. I shall also be taking part in the symposium and reading a paper “Das Treffen in Telgte: Eine fiktive Literaturgeschichte oder eine Widmungsschrift?” This occasion is going to prove as a melting pot of almost all the scholars working on Grass and his works in India. The exchange of ideas and all major deliberations on this occasion will find a long-lasting expression through a publication of the same. I am already looking forward to meeting a galaxy of scholars from across India.

National Symposium – Günter Grass: A Retrospect

Department of German, University of Mumbai has taken the lead in commemorating the life and work of the celebrated Nobel laureate for Literature (1999) Günter Grass by celebrating his first birthday through a national symposium “Günter Grass: A Retrospect” (October 16-17, 2015) after his demise on the 13th of April 2015.

poster invitation

The event is taking place just in a few days from now. I shall also be taking part in the symposium and reading a paper “Das Treffen in Telgte: Eine fiktive Literaturgeschichte oder eine Widmungsschrift?” This occasion is going to prove as a melting pot of almost all the scholars working on Grass and his works in India. The exchange of ideas and all major deliberations on this occasion will find a long-lasting expression through a publication of the same. I am already looking forward to meeting a galaxy of scholars from across India.

What is convenience?

When I think about this question, several other questions related to this issue occupy my mind. This thought came when I read in the local Hindi newspaper Amar Ujala this morning that all the speed breakers which fell in the route from the Raj Bhavan to Vidhan Sabha in Dehradun have been removed. This happened because the City administration didn’t want the honourable President of India to experience any glitches on his way. Whereas this move on part of the city administration is understandable, I don’t understand the obsession for speed breakers that is there in several parts of our country including Dehradun. Their construction costs the state exchequer certainly something, but for the President’s convenience sake they can be removed without giving any further thought to this.

I wonder as to why do we have these speed breakers in first place. Roads are anyways meant for careful driving. If a person holding a driving licence has obtained it in due process, where is the need to unnecessarily slow them down. The drivers are supposed to drive carefully; if they don’t they don’t deserve a driving licence. Instead of checking this, we get these speed-breakers constructed. They slow everyone down, even those who anyways drive carefully.

I mean to say that we are often concerned with short term goal, we are not prepared to focus on long term goals. How will we this way attain the goal of making India a developped nation one day? Strategic planning is unfortunately critically missing and we are collectively paying a huge price for this every day. Can we undertake a corrective measure for this? It will be wise if we did that soon.

There is an obsession for speed breakers in Dehradun. They don't only slow down a vehicle, but also cause damage. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/Lmo7Qvv4Ce

— Chandrika Kumar (@KumarChandrika5) May 16, 2015

They're a source of utter inconvenience; also cost the exchequer. But now for the sake of President's convenience they've been removed. 2/3

— Chandrika Kumar (@KumarChandrika5) May 16, 2015

Question is: Will the speed-breakers be reconstructed after the President's visit? Will (in)convenience to public vis-á-vis VIP matter? 3/3

— Chandrika Kumar (@KumarChandrika5) May 16, 2015

#DoonUniversityLectureSeries

#DoonUniversityLectureSeries was inaugurated today with Vice Chancellor, Prof. V. K. Jain’s lecture on “Global Warming & Climate Change”. A lecture by one of the faculty members or any invited guest will follow from now on every Friday. These lectures will provide a platform for healthy, productive, interdisciplinary and rich interaction among faculty members and students from various schools and departments. This will create an academic ambience of special nature.

The topic and speaker of the next lecture will be announced soon.

#DoonUniversityLectureSeries was inaugurated today with Vice Chancellor Prof. V. K. Jain's lecture on "Global Warming & Climate Change". 1/2

— Chandrika Kumar (@KumarChandrika5) May 15, 2015

#DoonUniversityLectureSeries will be presented on every Friday. One of the faculty members will interact with rest of the Uni-Community. 2/2

— Chandrika Kumar (@KumarChandrika5) May 15, 2015

‘Where do I belong?’ Shifting Sites of Identity – a talk on the film ‘Almanya Willkommen in Deutschland’

Where do I belong – Shifting Sites of Identity

दून विश्वविद्यालय में आज तीनदिवसिय अंतर्राष्ट्रिय फिल्म महोत्सव “सोल-स्क्रीन सिनेफेस्ट 2015” की शुरुआत हुई

दून विश्वविद्यालय में आज तीनदिवसिय अंतर्राष्ट्रिय फिल्म महोत्सव “सोल-स्क्रीन सिनेफेस्ट 2015” की शुरुआत हुई. इसका उद्घाटन माननीय कुलपति महोदय प्रो. वी. के. जैन ने किया. आज मजदूर दिवस के उपलक्ष पर उन्हौने अपने उद्घाटन भाषन में युवा छात्र छात्राओं से अपील की कि हम सब ज्यादा से ज्यादा मेह्नत करें और इस महोत्सव को सफल बनाएं. इस अवसर पर मुख्य अतिथि जाने माने फिल्म विशेषग्य श्री राजन ब्रिजनाथ (सलाहकार, दून लाय्ब्रेरी और रिसर्च सेंटर) भी उपस्थित थे. अपने भाषन मे उन्हौने कहा कि फिल्मों मे प्रोत्सहित और प्रेरित करने का एक जादू होता है. फिल्में हर एक प्रकार के अनुभव का सम्वाद स्थापित करने में समर्थ हैं. फिल्में कभी कभी हमे हमारे जीवन का उद्देश्य पता करने भी मदद कर सकती हैं. उन्हौंने चार्ल्स डार्विन के उत्भव के सिद्धांत का भी उल्लेख किया और कहा कि फिल्में हमे सदैव आगे की ओर बढते रहने की सीख देती हैं. इस उपलक्ष पर उन्हौंने यह भी कहा कि उन्हें महानायक अमिताभ बच्चन और विक्टर बनर्जी जैसे अभिनेताओं को निर्देशित करने का सौभाग्य प्राप्त है.
इस महोत्सव का आयोजन विश्वविद्यालय का भाषा संस्थान कर रहा है. इसके अंतर्गत संस्थान में पढाये जानेवाले विभिन्न भाषओं के 6 फिल्मों को दिखाया जाना है. आज उद्घाटन के पश्चात सर्वप्रथम स्पेनी और उसके उपरांत जापानी भाषा में क्रमशः “ला सोना” और “होतारु ना हाका” नामक फिल्मों को दिखाया गया. “ला सोना” को दिखाने से पहले स्वागता कुमार बसु (स्पेनी अध्ययन विभाग मे सहायक प्राध्यापिका) ने शहरों मे आज कल अमीरों और गरीबों के बीच बने हुए विभाजन पर एक वक्तव्य दिया. इसके लिये उन्हौने मेक्सिको सिटी और देहरादून के कुछ उदाहरण देते हुए इन दोनो शहरों के बीच कुछ समानताओं को भी उद्ध्रित किया. इसके पश्चात जापानी फिल्म “होतारु ना हाका” को दिखाने से पह्ले रवि कुमार (जापानी अध्ययन विभाग मे सहायक प्राध्यापक) ने इस फिल्म की मदद से द्वितीय विश्व युद्ध की स्म्रितियों के बारे मे बातें की. दोनों फिल्मों को दिखाने के पश्चात उन पर चर्चा भी हुई जिनमे दर्शकों ने खूब जोर शोर से हिस्सा लिया.
महोत्सव के दूसरे दिन अर्थात आज सर्वप्रथम फ्रांसीसी भाषा के फिल्म “बांल्यु 13” और उसके पश्चात अंग्रेजी भाषा के फिल्म “लिंकन” को दिखाया जायेगा. महोत्सव के तीसरे और अंतिम दिन जर्मन भाषा के फिल्म “अलमान्या – विलकॉम्मेन इन दौयचलांड” और अंत मे चीनी भाषा के फिल्म “चान थाय” को दिखाया जायेगा.

SoL-Screen Cinefest 2015 / Reading Talkies: The City and its Changing Landscape

School of Languages

Doon University

Invites you to its

1st International Film Festival

SoL-Screen Cinefest 2015

Reading Talkies: The City and its Changing Landscape

1st to 3rd May, 2015

At Senate Hall, Doon University, Dehradun

School of Langugaes (SoL) of Doon University is proud to organize an International Film Festival showcasing the theme “The City and its Changing Landscape” through 6 masterpieces of world cinema. SoL deals with teaching and research of Foreign Languages, History, Literature and Culture of Chinese, German, Spanish, Japanese and French speaking areas.

Since 2011 SoL-Screen is a platform where films are used as a didactic tool. From 1st to 3rd May 2015 through SoL-Screen Cinefest we are bringing together films from different parts of the world that respond to one common theme “The City and its Changing Landscape”. Our endeavour is to bring academics and cinema lovers together. Each film will be preceded by an academic talk and followed by a discussion. All the films will be shown with English subtitles. Details of the films follow.

La Zona (The Zone, Spanish)

Violence, crime and extreme social disparity dominates life in most of the big cities of Latin America. This film takes us into an exaggerated and hypothetical but quite plausible situation where the obsession to be safe and secure only perpetuates violence and injustice. La Zona is a zone of wealth and privilege, created to shut out the surrounding poverty with a private security system. The film unfolds as Miguel and Alejandro, two teenage boys from the two opposite worlds cross each other’s paths.

Talk on ‘Walls Within- (In)Security and Fragmented Urban Spaces in La Zona by Rodrigo Pla’ by Swagata Kumar Basu

Hotaru no Haka (Grave of the Fireflies , Japanese)

This is a Japanese Animated Film produced in 1998 and the story is based on a novel which was written by Akiyuki Nosaka. The protagonists of the movie are the two siblings (Seita and Setsuko) who strive hard to survive during the last month of World War II. The Kobe city of Japan was badly destroyed during the World War and the people were dying with hunger, malnutrition and other diseases. Seita and Setsuko have lost their family members and have to stay in an abandoned bomb shelter. The film portrays the reality of life during the war days asking many questions related to war and further consequences.

However, the movie ends on a good note showing the dead-spirits of Seita and Setsuko living happily and surrounded by fireflies.

Talk on ‘Memoirs of World War II through a Japanese Animated Movie’ by Ravi Kumar

Banlieue 13 (French)

In 2010, social problems such as violence, drugs and organised crime have overrun the poorer suburbs of Paris, especially a banlieue commonly referred to as Banlieue 13 (B13), a ghetto with a population of some 2 million people, ruled by the drug lords and gangsters. Unable to control B13, the authorities construct a high

wall forcing the inhabitants within to survive without education, proper utilities or police protection behind the containment wall. Though fictionalised, this film represents the changing landscapes of the suburbs built around the periphery of major French cities (Paris in this case) due to various social and economic issues. It also showcases the art of Parkour (freestyle running) which is a new feature of the Parisian suburbs.

Talk on ‘Inside the walls; how did we get here?’ by Shubhra Kukreti

Lincoln (English) is a revealing drama that focuses on the final four months of Lincoln’s life—his efforts in January 1865 to have theThirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitutionby theUnited States House of Representatives. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. His fierce moral courage and determination is to change the fate of generations to come.

Talk on ‘The settings in Spielberg’s Lincoln’ by Richa Joshi Pandey

Almanya – Welcome to Germany (German) released in 2011 is a comedy by a new generation director Yasemin Şamdereli. The film is about a Turkish migrant, who comes to Germany as the 1000001st guest worker in the mid 1960s; is subsequently joined by his family and then it becomes the story of three generations of his family.

The film plays with a lot of stereotypes and highlights the life of an immigrant in a new social, cultural and linguistic environment. These immigrants have not only historically contributed to the German economic miracle, but also to the change in the demographic and cultural landscape of German cities.

Talk on ‘Where do I belong? : Shifting Sites of Identity’ by Chandrika Kumar

Platform (Chinese) released in 2000 is the second film in the “Hometown Trilogy” by Jia Zhangke, one of the most critically acclaimed “sixth generation” directors of China. This epic film is a laconic portrayal of the transformation in the lives of the people and a small city of Fenyang , China from between 1979 to 1989 (a decade of post Mao period of the rise of market economy). A winner of several international awards, the film was voted the second best film of the past decade by the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)’s Cinematheque, by more than 60 film experts (historians, archivists, etc.) from around the world.

Talk on ‘Desultory Wanderings: Reading Jia Zhangke’s ‘Hometown Trilogy‘’ by Madhurendra Kumar Jha

Following is Schedule of the Festival:

Film Name & Director	Language, Duration		Title of Talk with Name of Speaker
1st May, Friday 10:00 AM
La Zona, Dir. Rodrigo Pla	Spanish, 92 mins	Walls Within- (In)Security and Fragmented Urban Spaces in La Zona by Rodrigo Pla by Swagata  Kumar Basu
1st May, Friday, 2:30 PM
Hotaru no Haka Dir. Isao Takahata	Japanese, 89 mins	‘Memoirs of World War II through a Japanese Animated Movie’ by Ravi Kumar
2nd May, Saturday, 10:00 AM
Banlieue 13 Dir. Pierre Morel	French, 86 mins	‘Inside the walls; how did we get here?’ by Shubhra Kukreti
2nd May, Saturday, 2:30 PM
Lincoln Dir. Steven Speiberg	English, 149 mins	‘The settings in Spielberg’s Lincoln’ by Richa Joshi Pandey
3rd May, Sunday 10:00 AM
Almanya – Willkommen in Deutschland Dir. Yasemin Şamdereli	German, 97 mins	‘Where do I belong? : Shifting Sites of Identity’ by Chandrika Kumar
3rd May, Sunday 2:30 PM
站台 Platform Dir. Jia Zhangke	Chinese,  143 mins	‘Desultory Wanderings: Reading Jia Zhangke’s ‘Hometown Trilogy‘ by Madhurendra Kumar Jha

सोल-स्क्रीन सिनेफेस्ट 2015

दून विश्वविद्यालय में एक तीनदिवसिय अंतर्राष्ट्रिय फिल्म महोत्सव “सोल-स्क्रीन सिनेफेस्ट 2015” का आयोजन होने जा रहा है. इसका उद्घाटन 1 मय 2015 को प्रातः 10 बजे माननीय कुलपति महोदय प्रो. वी. के. जैन करेंगे. इस अवसर पर जाने माने फिल्म विशेषग्य श्री राजन ब्रिजनाथ (सलाहकार, दून लाय्ब्रेरी और रिसर्च सेंटर) भी उपस्थित रहेंगे.
इस महोत्सव का आयोजन विश्वविद्यालय का भाषा संस्थान कर रहा है. इसके अंतर्गत संस्थान में पढाये जानेवाले विभिन्न भाषओं के 6 फिल्मों को दिखाया जायेगा. उद्घाटन के पश्चात महोत्सव के पह्ले दिन सर्वप्रथम स्पेनी और उसके उपरांत जापानी भाषा में क्रमशः “ला सोना” और “होतारु ना हाका” नामक फिल्मों को दिखाया जायेगा. दूसरे दिन सर्वप्रथम फ्रांसीसी भाषा के फिल्म “बांलॅ 13” और उसके पश्चात अंग्रेजी भाषा के फिल्म “लिंक्लन” को दिखाया जायेगा. महोत्सव के तीसरे और अंतिम दिन जर्मन भाषा के फिल्म “अलमान्या – विलकॉम्मेन इन दौयचलांड” और अंत मे चीनी भाषा के फिल्म “प्लेटफॉर्म” को दिखाया जायेगा.
इस वर्ष के फिल्म महोत्सव का विषय “नगर और उनकी बदलती सूरत” है. अतः नगर सारे फिल्मों के केंद्रबिंदु में हैं और इसलिये फिल्मों को दिखाने से पहले उनके बारे में एक अकादमिक वक्तव्य प्रस्तुत किया जायेगा और अंत मे उनपर चर्चा भी की जायेगी. आप सभी का स्वागत और अभिनंदन है.

Austrian Exhibition at Doon University

“The Eventful Lull Before the Storm – The period before 1914” from the 13^th to the 18^th of April 2015 at Doon University, Dehradun

These days I am spending a lot of time in planning an event at my department. Department of German Studies, School of Languages, Doon University, Dehradun in collaboration with the Austrian Cultural Forum, Austrian Embassy, New Delhi is organizing  an Exhibition “The Eventful Lull before the Storm: The period before 1914” to commemorate the 100 years of the outbreak of World War I. H.E. Mr. Bernhard Wrabetz, the Ambassador of Austria will inaugurate the exhibition on Monday, the 13^th of April, 2015 at 2:30pm at Administrative cum Academic Building, Doon University, Dehradun. He will also give a talk on the theme. The Exhibition will be on display for the general public from the 14^th to the 18^th of April 2015 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. This exhibition will be of interest to artists, photographers, students and anybody interested in Literature, History, Philosophy and Art. This is the first time that this kind of an event is taking place in Dehradun and Doon University is proud to be hosting this exhibition. We welcome one and all to this exhibition.  Doon University is located at a distance of 3.5 km from Haridwar Bypass with the Rajaji National Park in its backdrop. If one is interested in such cultural programmes it will be worth the trouble to visit the university. The School of Languages, Doon University keeps hosting such events.

A little about the exhibition: 

The Eventful Lull Before the Storm – The period before 1914

With 2014 marking the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War, the Austrian Cultural Forum of the Austrian Embassy New Delhi is bringing an exhibition of a new kind to various cities in India: The visual exhibition „The Eventful Lull Before the Storm“ showcases the rich artistic, scientific and philosophic culture in Austria in the years before the First World War. Austria was undergoing a time of feverish change in the pre-war period, making a last giant leap into modernity in many areas: Sigmund Freud was carrying out research on the unconscious level of our existence, women were starting to emancipate themselves, Zionists longed for the Jewish State, music was abandoning the foundations of harmony and painting was freeing itself rapidly from realism. Around 1900 Vienna had a population of more than two million, coming from all regions and provinces of the Danube monarchy and the city had a feeling of creative forces of modernity. In the years before 1914, all advantages and disadvantages of the old and new Europe were played off against one another and put to the test: traditional, artistic, individual and social boundaries as well as moral and theoretical foundations, new technical approaches and urban settings. All of this was happening in a city where you could „cover a hundred years in one day by walking“, as Austrian author Robert Musil said after World War 1, looking back on Vienna with slightly nostalgic eyes.

Cyber Crime – hacking of someone’s email account: why?

Panchatantra6

The story of the “Shepherd boy and the wolf” from the Panchatantra (herewith attached) occurred to me when I received an email this very afternoon from the Goethe Gesellschaft with subject “bad moment”. One would wonder after reading the mail if the Gesellschaft has really had a bad moment. The word Gesellschaft means society in English. Really? The society has had a bad moment somewhere in Ukraine and all the people on the contact list of the society receives an email requesting for help.

The same happened to me a few months ago. Almost everyone in my contact list received an email that I was in an awful situation and that I needed help from my friends and colleagues. Help rather an urgent help of financial nature!

I have likewise received several times an email from people in whose contact list I happen to be. When you try to cross-check with those people about the plight they are in, they would deny that anything as such happened to them. And that I should delete this mail from my account immediately. Of course I do that. But when I got an email of the same type from the Goethe Gesellschaft, I couldn’t help but felt sorry for the hackers.

But this is not what I am concerned about in the moment. If I read the story of the Shepherd boy and the wolf carefully for myself and my fellow account holders from whose account a fake email requesting for immediate financial help goes to almost everyone in the contact list, this will be construed as a liar and and insignificant stuff worth nothing even if once for God’s sake the request is a genuine one. People in real need will unduly suffer and not get any assistance because of the general nature of such an email; even though there are others perhaps willing to help the person in trouble.

So here goes my request to all the hackers who work hard at midnight and try to obtain certain sensitive information from the email account of people they hack – not to do so. Your habit may one day really put a person in a serious and grim situation. Hope you will read the story carefully and pay some heed to my request. I would also be interested in knowing if you indeed gain something from this immoral act of yours. Sadistic pleasure or something really significant?