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The play, ‘Rajar’ has drawn from Camus’ “Caligula” the concept of deification of emperors which was common to the pagan world, the Greek and Macedonian kings. Raja (the king) discovers on the death of his sister and lover, Apurupa, that people die and they are not happy. From this point on, obsessed by his search for the absolute, poisoned with contempt and horror, he tries to exercise, through murders and systematic perversion of all values. He rejects friendship, love, simple human solidarity, and the concepts of good and evil. He takes literally all those around him like Taruni, his poet-friend, and forces them to see things logically, and levels everything around him through the force of his rejection. But if his truth involves revolting against destiny, his mistake is to deny humanity. One cannot destroy everything without destroying one’s self. This is why Raja depopulates the world around him and, faithful to his own logic, decides to strangle Kamini, his mistress, uttering his gospel of hate at everything around him. This play is the story of a superior suicide, as described by Camus. It is the most human of stories and the most tragic of errors. Faithless to humanity out of faith in himself, he accepts to die for having understood that no one can save himself by himself, and that one cannot be free while opposing humanity. The play remains universally relevant. It represents the face of contemporary despotism, not only in terms of the whimsical madness of rulers, but also in terms of how people react to such rule with a glimmer of hope for the future

On the occasion of Bhagat Singh’s Birth Anniversary, Lamakaan cordially invite one and all to an important discussion on the relevance of Bhagat Singh today. With the fascists forces in political power and spreading their reactionary politics like a virus in the country, it becomes all the more necessary to recollect the society that Bhagat Singh dreamt of.

Relevance of Periyar today : Contradictions of caste, language and religion

Thanthai Periyar lived in a time when the country was witnessing a turmoil in its social and political landscape. He stood against the current questioning the idea of nation, social constructs of caste, religion and the dominant culture. He was not an armchair revolutionary, nor a seasonal activist but a speaker who spoke his mind wherever he was. The talk will revolve around the contemporary relevance of Periyar at a time the nation is divided drastically on the lines of caste, religion and other identities and rise in inequality.

Thirumurugan Gandhi is an human rights activist and a geopolitical commentator. He spoke in the UN for the past three years advocating the rights of people facing war crimes against imperial regimes. He is also the founder of May 17 Movement and raised his voice against the Indian government’s atrocities against Tamils.

17th September this year marks 71 years since the erstwhile state of Hyderabad was annexed to India, in the year 1948, more than a year after India got its independence. While what transpired then has been largely forgotten and left out of our history books, a very important thing within that subject is the Telangana Armed Struggle (1946-51).

While the last Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, was busy trying to do his best to stay independent and was negotiating with the Indian government, the communists in Telangana had given a call to arms against oppressive landlords in 1946 itself, two whole years before Operation Polo. The movement is one of the nest successful peasant revolutions that took place in independent India.

The state of Hyderabad, which comprised Telangana and parts of present day Maharashtra and Karnataka, was in flux, but what transpired between 1946 and 1951 in the region of Telangana was very different from the rest of the state. The Razakaars, a militia led by Qasim Razvi, which caused a lot of disturbances in the name of keeping Hyderabad independent, was met with resistance by the communists.

A very important aspect today, especially given that the issue of ‘liberation day’ (of Hyderabad from the Nizam) is being talked about, is that the anti-feudal struggle in Telangana was against oppressive landlords (working for the Nizam), who mostly perpetrated caste violence in the rural areas of the state. Chakali Ailamma, P. Sundarayya, Makhdoom Mohiuddin, Ravi Nayaran Reddy and many others fought for freedom to set poor peasants free from oppression.

Moreover, it is well-recorded in the Sunderlal Committee report about the atrocities perpetrated against Muslims (between 27000 to 40000 reportedly killed) in the aftermath of Operation polo (in the districts of Maharashtra and Karnataka mainly). However, in Telangana, so such thing took place, in spite of the communally charged atmosphere, thanks to the communist leadership which essentially controlled the rural areas of Telangana.

Today, very few people from that generation live; who can tells us what they witnessed during that period of flux in Telangana. Among them are Gabbete Raghu Pal (78), a member of the Communist party of India-Marxist and Kandimalla Prathap Reddy (85), a member of the Communist Party of India, who were just children when Operation Polo took place, but have several stories and eyewitness accounts that will help us understand both Operation Polo and the Telangana Armed Struggle.

So come join us for a talk and discussion with the speakers, who will help us understand our state’s history in a more personal manner and also throw some light on what transpired during those days of strife.

About the speakers:

Mr. Raghu Pal’s association with the Telangana Armed Struggle started as child, when he witnessed many incidents in his village in Jangaon Taluka (district today). His father, G. Gopal Reddy, was in fact a senior CPI leader, who was also arrested and jailed for his participation in the armed struggle (CPI was banned even after independence, the party called-off the rebellion in 1951). He has been with the CPM since his youth.

Kandimalla Pratap Reddy is a renowned author and public speaker on the Telangana peasant armed uprising. His association with the communist movement started when he was a teenager as a courier responsible for passing messages between the leaders and comrades underground and aiding them with food and transport. His well known books include “Veera Telangana Sayudha Samaram”, “Ralina Ratnalu”, “Gadar Viplavam”, “Bandook (novel)” etc to name a few. In “Ralina Ratnalu” he captures the stories of hundreds of commoners who lay their lives down for the cause of the peasant uprising from every district of Telangana.

ALL ARE INVITED.

Organizer: The event is being hosted by Yunus Lasania, a city based journalist and Moses Tulasi, Documentary filmmaker who are currently interviewing eyewitnesses of Operation Polo and Telangana Armed Struggle.

Based on Tarapada Roy’s story, dramatised by Soumitra Basu, Gadha Kahini is a political satire that portrays through a story telling style on how some of the decision making authorities are being driven by their whims and fancies and how it all turns out to be a comedy of errors

Reflections on the Indian Constitution and Judiciary in the Current Moment

The transfer of judges their appointments and related challenges throw long shadows on the efficacy and credibility of the system. Is the last sentinel suffering an credibility crisis or is it being attacked?

Speaker: L Ravichander is a Senior Lawyer practising at Hyderabad High Court.

Ishq Mastana | Drunk on Love Life and philosophy of Kabir, in story and song by Vipul Rikhi

An introduction to the enigmatic, iconoclastic 15th century Bhakti-Sufi poet, Kabir, through storytelling, commentary, poetry and songs. The songs are in dialects of Hindi and the entire narration will be in English.

Why Kabir? Over 500 years after his lifetime, Kabir still speaks to our times. In simple, direct words, he addresses complex emotional and cultural issues, with deep insight and clarity. But who was Kabir? How and where did he live? What made him who he was? Was he just one person or has he become many? Exploring legends around his life, his poetry, the depth of his thought, and the beauty of the music that has sprung up around him, we take a journey into the heart of this unique phenomenon.

Vipul Rikhi is a poet, translator and singer, and a co-creator of Ajab Shahar, a forthcoming digital archive that celebrates the oral traditions of Bhakti, Sufi and Baul music and poetry. His work with Kabir Project includes extensive writings and translations in the area of mystic poetry, including forthcoming books. He is also the author of a novel and collections of poetry and short stories.

http://ishqfakiri.com/ https://vipulrikhi.com/

IS INDIA A SECULAR COUNTRY? Tue Sep 10, 7:00 PM

Journalist and commentator Kapil Komireddi will discuss his critically acclaimed new book, Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India, with Mohan Guruswamy and Sridala Swami.

Under Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party, India has undergone the most total transformation since 1991. The ‘invisible threads’ Nehru said held together an improbable union divided by language, religion and ethnicity have snapped under the burden of Modi’s Hindu-supremacist rule.

In this blistering critique of post-Independence India from Nehru to Modi, Komireddi charts the unsound course of Indian nationalism: its cowardly concessions to the Hindu right, convenient distortions of India’s past and demeaning bribes to India’s minorities. He argues that the missteps of the nation’s founders, the mistakes of Nehru, the betrayals of his daughter and her sons, the anti-democratic fetish for technocracy inaugurated by Narasimha Rao and carried to the extremes by Manmohan Singh—all of them laid down the road on which Hindu nationalists rode to absolute power.

Hindu bigotry, ennobled under Modi as a healthy form of self-assertion, has reopened old fissures that threaten to devour India’s hard-won unity. If secularists fail to reclaim the republic from Hindu nationalists, Komireddi argues, India will become Pakistan by another name. A short history of the modern Indian nation, Malevolent Republic is also an impassioned plea for India’s reclamation.

Kapil will be joined in conversation with Mohan Guruswamy, founder and chairman of the Guruswamy Centre, and poet Sridala Swami.

Praise for Malevolent Republic:

‘In precise and sharp language Malevolent Republic takes readers on a terrifying and yet illuminating journey through the rapidly transforming political, social and religious landscape of Modi’s India.’ — Times Literary Supplement

The water need in the city is massive, and the city extracts groundwater for the same. With depleting groundwater levels and fluctuating climate conditions, the method, with hands on practical knowledge, promises to go a long way to help mitigate water shortage and maintain the water balance by collecting rainfall for future usage.

Hyderabad, with its topographic and underground water specifics, also requires to look at this method a lot more carefully. Applied questions such as how rainwater harvesting should be practiced or where is it viable to practice rainwater harvesting, are best answered by practitioners engaged with this technology through years of experience. The Rainwater Harvesting Mela intends to demonstrate locally developed means and processes of water harvesting that people in and around the city of Hyderabad have been using. Through this mela, we hope to disseminate reliable knowledge to capture rainwater that not only recharge local aquifers in an arid zone, but also reduce urban flooding by integrating rainwater harvesting as an integral means for Hyderabad’s annual flood control.

Join us on 7th September 2019, Saturday, from 10.00 am onwards to know more about doable and practical rainwater harvesting from resource persons who will be available on site. Stay tuned to this page for more updates, from time to time !