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Lamakaan invites one and all to the book launch of ‘Viriah’ authored by Krishna Gubili

About the book: VIRIAH is about the lifelong search for his ancestor, indian indenture and the related aspects of colonial India and sugar slavery.

The book was ranked # 1 on Amazon and got great reviews from Gandhiji’s great granddaughter Uma, actors like Nasser, Tanikella Bharani and scores of readers globally.

One can get a copy of the book at: https://www.amazon.com/Viriah-Indentured-Sugarcane-Plantations-Great-Grandfather/dp/1684663245

About the author and conceptualization of this book: Krishna Gubili, as a youngster, Krishna discovered that his ancestor, Viriah was one of the 1.3 million Indians who were shipped off as Indenture labor to replace slaves on sugarcane plantations in South Africa, Caribbean, Mauritius and Fiji.

Yes. 1.3 Million Indians.

The SEARCH for his ROOTS lasted a Lifetime.

It took him to countless researchers, embassies, websites & ship lists. At last, In 2014, on a miracle trip to South Africa, he found the original ship record of his ancestor!

ALL ARE INVITED. ENTRY IS FREE & OPEN TO ALL!!!

“Indirabayi” was the first social novel in Kannada, published towards the end of the 19th century. Recently it has been translated into English by Prof. Vanamala Viswanatha, Visiting Professor at Azim Premji University, and Prof. Shivarama Padikkal,Professor at University of Hyderabad, and published by Oxford University Press. The present program involves Reading and Discussion with the translators. Dr. Tharakeshwar V.B. of The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad will moderate the discussion.

Darpan Theatre is back with their next play Pakitmaar Rangmandal. The play potrays how one can do anything when they’re passionate about it. Come to witness the practical problems usually faced by theatre groups, how they cope with it, and in the end how they somehow achieve what they aimed for, because the show must go on!

Written by: Asgar Wajahat Directed by: Ali Ahmed

28th Sep 2019, Sat 7:30 p.m. onwards At Lamakaan

India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) in collaboration with Lamakaan presents the premiere screening of

Songs of Our Soil by Aditi Maddali Duration: 52 mins | Language: Telugu with English subtitles

Friday, September 27, 2019 | 07:00 PM | Lamakaan, Hyderabad Off Road 1, Near GVK Mall, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad – 500 034

Join us for the premiere screening of Songs of Our Soil followed by a discussion with the filmmaker Aditi Maddali and writer – scholar Dr Gogu Shyamala.

Through Uyyala songs, an agricultural tradition rooted in the political expression of women in Telangana, Songs of Our Soil traces the histories of their resistance and memories of disillusionment. By looking at women’s participation in major political movements, from the Telangana People’s Movement to the demands of justice from the contemporary Mallana Sagar Irrigation project, this film attempts to complicate the relationship between memory, history and cultural production.

Aditi Maddali is a Mumbai-based researcher and multimedia producer. She is currently pursuing an MPhil in Women’s Studies.

Aditi Maddali received a grant from India Foundation for the Arts, under the Arts Research programme made possible with support from Titan Company Limited.

ALL ARE WELCOME!!!

“Why I Resigned?” A talk by Kannan Gopinath, Former IAS Officer

Injustice and curbing of freedom of expression are worth sacrificing the biggest of power positions

Kannan Gopinath stands by democracy and free speech. He was an IAS officer who resigned in protest to the Centre’s clampdown in Kashmir abrogating Article 370 and 35A. He stated, “What triggered my decision is the attempt to mutilate fundamental rights, to silence people. And the situation is that nobody should protest, nobody should raise their voice, raising your voice is not acceptable. The amount of power to silence those who react is tremendous,” In this juncture of history of the country, where speaking truth to power is seen as an attack on the State and its machineries Gopinathan will talk about his experience in the service and his way forward. The shrinking democratic spaces within the administrative bureaucracy and the public sphere with the legitimisation of the rule of law is another aspect democratic aspirants had to deal in the current political scenario.

ALL ARE WELCOME!!!

Climate change is a global problem. It is a contemporary problem. It may seem counterintuitive, but the solution to this modern global problem is in local, indigenous knowledge based, community driven, de centralized water management.

Speaker Rajendra Singh is an Indian water conservationist and environmentalist from Alwar district, Rajasthan in India. Also known as “waterman of India”, he won the Magsaysay Award in 2001 and Stockholm Water Prize in 2015. He runs an NGO called ‘Tarun Bharat Sangh’, which was founded in 1975.

Entry Free All are welcome

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.