Arange of interesting events continue to enthral visitors at Delhi’s The India International Centre Experience: A Festival of the Arts. In its 16th edition now, the programme includes art shows, food experiences, dance dramas and spectacular films among others. The overarching theme of the festival is based on the city of Lucknow. Exhibitions, titled Awadh Se Chand War and Husn-e Karigari-e Awadh are focused on the traditional and cultural aspects of the City of Nawabs. While Awadh… depicts photographs, artifacts, archival textiles, books and letters, Husn…is centred on craft traditions from the neighbourhood with live demonstrations by master artisans.
The musical, entitled Soz Khwani or Songs of Lament, presented by Askari Naqvi from Mustafabad, Uttar Pradesh brings forward the story of a battle between evil and truth fought by the Prophet’s grandson Hussain when he was accompanied with a band of 72 women, men and children against the rulers of the times in Karbala about 1400 years ago.
A separate section is also designed for film enthusiasts, titled Filmi Duniya Mein Awadh. The food in the festival curated as Awadhi Bawarchikhana was straight from the kitchens of homes in Lucknow. Home chefs Atiya Naqvi from Pratapgarh and Sheeba Iqbal from Lucknow with their skills, prepared the sumptuous plate.
Omita Goyal, chief editor, IIC, Publications, at the launch of the autumn issue yesterday spoke to The Morning Standard. “As October 2020 concludes two years of celebration of Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary this issue has a section of three articles that look at Gandhi from different perspectives in a time when we are examining his relevance today. The other articles deal with religion, identity, cinema and politics.Though Lucknow being the focus of the festival, visitors on October 15 could also enjoy hearty Italian spread along with watching world cinema. The day will conclude with a music recital by Carnatic singer TM Krishna. On: October 15 At: India International Centre, Delhi