[Nwsanet] Calendar of Events: 04.02.07

[Juned Shaikh]

1) Poetic Spaces: An exhibition of photographs and poetry
2) April 2 –Feature Film: - Chitra Palekar’s A Grave Keeper’s Tale
3) April 6 – Vedic Cultural Center presents noted singer Hariharan, 
4) April 8: Queering Bollywood: A Bhangra and Bollywood Night
5) April 11 – April 26 – Seattle Public Library and Tasveer Events
6) April 12 - Kathleen Morrison: “On Putting Time in its Place: Landscape History in South India"
7) April 18 – Seattle Trade Alliance Event: Poverty and the World’s Next Superpowers
8) April 25 - Bharti Kirchner & Indu Sundaresan: Panel Discussion on Writing India in the Northwest

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1)

March 19- April 30, 2007

Kalam: Margins Write and the South Asia Center Present -

Poetic Spaces – An exhibition of photographs and poetry of the young living in the socio-economic margins of Calcutta
Venue: Odegaard Library, UW Seattle 
March 19 – April 30, 2007

Youth living in the margins of urban culture are represented with static, one-dimensional identities – disempowered, uncreative, non-intellectual, criminal, and exploited.

Poetic Spaces captures young, emerging poets living in the social margins of Kolkata, whose poetry arises from the moments, the moods, the habits, the landscapes, the routines, the chores, the addiction, and the rebellions of their lives. This exhibition reveals the poets in their poetic spaces – the margins they have reclaimed as centers of creativity.

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2)

April 2, 2007

Marathi Feature Film Screening and Q and A with Filmmaker Chitra Palekar,

A GRAVE-KEEPER'S TALE 
Produced and Directed By Chitra Palekar
Monday, April 02, 2007 - 7:00:00 PM
Columbia City Cinema, 4816 Rainier Ave S, SEATTLE

Renowned filmmaker CHITRA PALEKAR will be on hand for an exclusive post-show Q&A with Warren Etheredge.
Producer: Chitra Palekar
Screenplay: Chitra Palekar, based on the short story "Baayen" by Mahasweta Devi
Cinematographer: Debu Deodhar
Editor: Hemanti Sarkar
Production Designer: Arundhati Chattopadhyay
Sound: Vijay Bhope, Neel Chattopadhyay
Music: Bhaskar Chandavarkar
Principal Cast: Nandita Das, Atul Kulkarni, Kshitij Gavande

Tickets: FREE

In an affecting and atmospheric feature debut, Chitra Palekar adapts Mahasweta Devi''s Bengali-language story "Baayen" ("Witch"). Das
plays Chandi, a wild-haired outcast from her northern Maharashtra village, reduced to banging a pot to warn children of her movements. A young
boy named Bhagirath (Kshitij Gavande) is bright enough to question his father, Narsu (Atul Kulkarni), about Chandi. Narsu claims she is a
ghoul, but he is soon forced to reveal that Chandi is also the boy''s mother.

A GRAVE-KEEPER''S TALE shifts smoothly between the fifties and an earlier time, when we see Chandi as Narsu''s beautiful and lively young wife. Caste and circumstances give her the job of burying young children, but she faces her role pragmatically. "It is God''s work," she says simply.

Palekar immerses the film in the mood and rituals of a remote village, where no film had ever been shot before. This is a parched landscape of sun-bleached earth and gnarled trees. As Narsu recounts how his wife and Bhagirath''s mother transformed from human to ghoul, the eerie, spectral setting gives the story palpable force.

Narsu barely believes the things his son has learned in school. The Earth orbits the Sun? Equality among all Indians has been decreed from far-off Delhi? These sound like fairy tales. So why should he doubt that his former wife is now an evil spirit, especially when he hears her siren song drifting across the cracked earth?

By paying close attention to character detail, Palekar achieves a unique naturalism, even with the film''s supernatural elements. A GRAVE-KEEPER''S TALE also has provocative hints of allegory. Who is Chandi but any woman,
anywhere, cast out from society by ignorance and fear?

             - Cameron Bailey, Toronto International Film
             Festival

Chitra Palekar was born in Dharwar, India and received her B.A. in economics from St. Xavier's College in Mumbai, and her M.A. in economics at the University of Mumbai. An actor and director, she has played an important role in Indian avant-garde theatre. She wrote screenplays for the features THE VILLAGE HAD NO WALLS(96) and THE SQUARE CIRCLE (96), and has directed the short documentary PORTRAIT OF A VISIONARY (02) and the fiction feature A GRAVE-KEEPER''S TALE (06).
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3)

April 6, 2007

Vedic Cultural Center Presents:

An Evening to remember with noted playback singer Padmasri Hariharan
Friday, April 06th 2007 at 7:30 PM
Meany Hall, University of Washington, Seattle.

Featuring songs from North to South, Geet to Ghazals & popular songs with
Live Orchestra

Suggested Donation(s) (and not limited to):
$25, $35, $50, $100, $250 (VIP) & $500 (VVIP).

Donations ($250 and higher) are now accepted for advertisement in Program
Brochure in color!!!

All proceeds from the concert will benefit construction of VCC for future
generations.

Advance tickets are available online at:
https://www.sulekha.com/ticketsV3/buytickets.aspx?cid=492657

Donations will be matched by Microsoft and other participating companies.

Advance ticket purchases will get preferred seating choice.
For advance tickets & more information please contact:
hariharan2007 at gmail.com

The Vedic Cultural Center (A 501 (c) (3) Non Profit Organization registered in WA), 1420, 228th Ave SE, Sammamish, WA 98075 Ph: (425) 558-4251     ------http://www.vedicculturalcenter.org
4)

April 8, 2007

Trikone Northwest Presents:

Queering Bollywood: A Bhangra and Bollywood Night
7:00 PM, NEUMO’s 11th Ave and E. Pike St, Seattle, WA

Featuring DJ Anjali and Aleksa Manila and expect some gender-bending surprises.
Tickets: $10

With the generous support of the Pride Foundation and the Seattle LGBT Community Center. Trikone provides a supportive, affirming and empowering space for differently-oriented South Asians and allies.

No homophobia permitted.

5)

April 11-April 26,


Seattle Public Library and Tasveer present:

Seattle Public Library Reads Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘The Namesake.’ Tasveer is
co-presenting the following events. All events are free.
http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=audience_current_seattlereads_schedule


April 11,

Community Organizations Dialogue on 'The Namesake'
7:00 PM Wednesday, April 11 Green Lake Branch

May 6
3 p.m. Sunday May 6 Capitol Hill Branch
How does The Namesake ask readers to imagine immigration and intimacy?
Join Chaya, Tasveer, and Trikone, local South Asian groups redefining their experiences of family, sexuality, and visibility as they respond to the novel. Panelists will also address the question of how successfully the recently released film, 'The Namesake,' directed by Mira Nair, visualizes the story of immigration and identity.

April 15,

  'American Chai': a film by Anurag Mehta
1:00 PM, Sunday, April 15; Ballard Branch


April 23,
'Bend It Like Beckham': a film by Gurinder Chada
7: 00 PM Monday, April 23; Green Lake Branch

April 26,

'Mississippi Masala': a film by Mira Nair
7 p.m. Thursday, April 26; Capitol Hill Branch
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6) 
April 12, 2007

South Asia Center Presents:

“On Putting Time in its Place: Landscape History in South India"

By Kathleen Morrison, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago
Thursday, April 12, 3:30 PM, Thomson Hall 317.

Katheen Morrison has directed and carried out archaeological research for more than twenty years.  Although her primary area of interest is southern India, she has also worked in Sri Lanka, the Pacific, and western North America.  Her research integrates paleoenvironmental analysis (pollen, microscopic charcoal, and sediment analysis using techniques from chemistry, earth sciences, botany, and limnology); archaeological survey and excavation; and the analysis of texts and architecture.  Thus, her work combines data and methods from the social sciences, sciences, and humanities.  Particular research interests include archaeological method and theory, historical anthropology, colonialism and imperialism, agricultural organization and change, landscape history, and the organization and exercise of power by both state and non-state actors.

Professor Morrison’s major research projects include the Vijayanagara Metropolitan Survey, a ten year long program of systematic regional survey around the capital city of the Vijayanagara empire, an expansive state that controlled much of southern India between the 14th and 16th centuries.  She is also working on a re-analysis of the notes and collections from Sir Mortimer Wheeler’s 1947 excavations of the important archaeological site of Brahmagiri, in central Karnataka.  As part of a more general program of work on the impact of invasive species following European colonial expansion, Professor Morrison is also studying vegetation history and landscape change in precolonial and colonial New Mexico.  Most recently, Professor Morrison has begun the “Early Historic Landscapes of the Tungabhadra Corridor” project, which deals with such issues as the beginning of institutionalized social inequalities and the expansion of rice agriculture in southern India.

Her major publications include two single-authored books (soon three) and three edited volumes as well as several journal issues and some 50 journal articles and chapters in books. She has advised many graduate and undergraduate students from the U.S., Canada, India, Thailand, the UK, and Bhutan.  Former chair of Chicago’s venerable Committee on Southern Asian Studies, which brings together scholars and students working on South and Southeast Asia, Professor Morrison now serves as the Director of the Center for International Studies (CIS), recently named a Department of Education National Resource Center for International Studies.
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7)

April 18, 2007

Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle Presents:

“Poverty and the World's Next Superpowers: A Closer Look at India and China”
Featuring: Tim Hanstad, President & CEO Rural Development Institute (RDI)
Wednesday, 8:00-9:30 AM
Venue: Offices of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce
1301 Fifth Ave, Suite 2500, Downtown Seattle

$10 members of TDA
$12 non-members and at the door
*Includes Continental Breakfast*
Click here to register online

Many pundits continue to prophesize the ascendance of the world's next superpowers, China and India. Yet a closer look reveals a more complicated picture. In China, rural and urban inequality continues to grow at an alarming rate, stirring unrest amongst the hundreds of millions of rural poor- the majority of the country. In India, the much lauded hi-tech sector accounts for less than one quarter of one percent of the country's labor force. The majority of the nation still lives in rural poverty where it holds the world's highest illiteracy rate, with a fifth of the population living with chronic hunger and more than half of the country's children either malnourished or stunted.

While there is no doubt about the great potential of these two economies, both China and India are still wrestling with rural poverty. Of the 2.3 billion people living in these two countries, nearly 1.5 billion earn less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank. At the heart of this rural poverty is the inability to have secure rights to own and farm the land. For 40 years, the Rural Development Institute (RDI) has worked in over 40 countries to help governments secure land rights for more than 400,000,000 people. Learn how land rights are laying the foundation for poverty-alleviation in India and China with RDI President and CEO, Tim
Hanstad.

TIM HANSTAD, RDI President and CEO, has nearly 20 years of experience in research, consulting, and writing devoted to expanding land access, improving land tenure security, and developing land markets for the benefit of the rural poor in developing and transitional economies. His field experience includes 14 countries in Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America.

From mid-2001 to mid-2003, Mr. Hanstad was based in India, where he launched and developed RDI’s India program. His experience in India includes field research in nine Indian states, on topics including homestead plot access and benefits, tenancy, land administration, and gender issues. He has also conducted numerous workshops and consulted with land officials from most Indian states, central-level policymakers, and from the World Bank on various land policy reform topics.

Registration: The cost for this event is $10 for members and $12 for
non-members and at the door. Refunds cannot be made after Tuesday, April
17. For more information, please contact Michelle Grey at 206-389-7227 or
via email at michelleg at seattlechamber.com.
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8)

April 25, 2007

Seattle Public Library Presents:

Bharti Kirchner & Indu Sundaresan: Panel Discussion on Writing India in the Northwest 
Wednesday, April 25 at 7:00 PM at Microsoft Auditorium, Seattle Public Central Library

Presented as part of “Seattle Reads The Namesake” by the WASHINGTON CENTER FOR THE BOOK AT THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY. Two fine Seattle-area fiction writers, each of whom has dealt one way and another with her home country of India.

Bharti Kirchner, whose first books were well-received cookbooks, has won praise for a series of novels, including Shiva Dancing, Sharmila's Book, Darjeeling, and Pastries. Indu Sundaresan has worked on the historical terrain, particularly that of Mughal India, in her three novels, including The Twentieth Wife (winner of a Washington State Book Award), The Feast of Roses, and, most recently, The Splendor of Silence (Atria).

Free, no tickets necessary. Seattle Public Central Library is located at 1000 Fourth Avenue (between Madison and Spring). $5 parking coupons for the Central Library garage will be available at the reading. For more information on “Seattle Reads The Namesake,” including other events and author Jhumpa Lahiri’s May visit, please see http://www.spl.org or call 206.386.4636.
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Juned Shaikh,
Ph.D. Student,
Department of History,
R.A. South Asia Center,
University of Washington.
juneds at u.washington.edu