Lamakaan

2 Day Workshop for children on Speaking and Writing Skills to enable effective communication .
Materials: Pen, pencil, colour pencils, Children's edition of any English Newspaper, Fevistic/ glue
Age group: 8 to 12 years

As a part of 3 day Farmer's film unfestival, today we screen "The World According to Monsanto", a 2008 film directed by Marie-Monique Robin.
The film reports many controversies surrounding the use and promotion of genetically modified seeds, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), Agent Orange, and bovine growth hormone. Cases in the United States (including Anniston, Alabama), Canada, India, Mexico, Paraguay, the United Kingdom (Scotland) and France, are explored, claiming that the corporation's collusion with governments, pressure tactics, suppression and manipulation of scientific data, and extra-legal practices aided the company's attempts at dominating global agriculture. Scientists, representatives of the United States Food and Drug Administration and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, civil society representatives, victims of the company’s activities, lawyers, and politicians are interviewed.

Robin travels to India, Mexico, Argentina, and Paraguay to see how Monsanto's genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have affected local farmers using it for their crops. The film claims that GMO use has increased suicide rates of farmers in India. However, research by IFPRI has shown that this is not the case.

Open to All. Entry: Free

It is a 3 day films screening on Farmer, Food & Environmental issues on 31st May, 1st & 2nd Jun, 2013.
India has more farmers than any country in the world, and they are in a crisis that is unprecedented in human history. Every 30 minutes a farmer in India kills himself in despair.
Docu Circle of Hyderabad (DCH)and National Alliance of People's Movement (NAPM) invite you to a 3 days film screenings:
Fri 31st May - 7pm: "The world according to Monsanto".
Sat 1st Jun - 7pm: "Raithu Bathuku (Death of a Farmer)", "Bitter Sedds".
Sun: 2nd Jun - 7pm: "Unatural Selection".

Film screenings are followed by discussion with farmer activists.

Open for all. Entry: Free

Please do drop in your used ,silk ,cotton sarees , dupattas and jeans at collection points in the city . Somajiguda ,Jubilee Hills and Secunderabad .The material collected will be used by women in the slums to create beautiful upcycled products for household use .
Contact rubina@safaindia.org
Fareesa@safaindia.org

We are an NGo and are interested in collecting used clothes which will used by our producer groups of women from the slums to make well desgned products and sold in the markets .

As a part of 3 day Farmer's film unfestival, today we screen 'Unnatural selection'.

This explosive exposé reveals what the biotech industry doesn't want you to know - how industry manipulation and political collusion, not sound science, allow dangerous genetically engineered food into your daily diet. Company research is rigged, alarming evidence of health dangers is covered up, and intense political pressure applied. Chapters read like adventure stories and are hard to put down:

* Scientists were offered bribes or threatened. Evidence was stolen. Data was omitted or distorted.
* Government employees who complained were harassed, stripped of responsibilities, or fired.
* Laboratory rats fed a GM crop developed stomach lesions and seven of the forty died within two weeks. The crop was approved without further tests.
* The only independent in-depth feeding study ever conducted showed evidence of alarming health dangers. When the scientist tried to alert the public, he lost his job and was silenced with threats of a lawsuit.

Open for all and Entry is Free.

As a part of 3 day Farmer's film unfestival, today we screen BT cotton – a 3 year fraud.
Bt cotton is the first genetically modified organism (GMO) to have entered India. It was introduced in 2002 in Warangal District, in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It has brought in its wake a trail of misery, destruction and death, particularly among small and marginal farming families. While Bt cotton made its entry into Warangal, it was backed up with a massive advertising blitz which promised three things to farmers who grew it: 1) your pesticide use will be less; 2) your cultivation costs will reduce; 3) your yields and profits will increase. However, a citizen-led study carried out over a period of three years chronicles the fraudulent promises of the industry and the impacts of Bt cotton in Warangal. While farmers did incur marginally less expenditure on their pesticide use, their cost of cultivation went up. Yields and profits came down considerably. This three-year study of Bt cotton was initiated by the AP Coalition in Defence of Diversity and the Deccan Development Society in collaboration with the Permaculture Association of India. The study, Bt Cotton in Andhra Pradesh: A Three Year Assessment, was published in 2005. The film "Bt Cotton in Andhra Pradesh: A Three Year Fraud" was part of the study and captured the more qualitative dimensions of the crisis experienced by farmers. The film brings alive the voices and images of farmers who went through a deadly nightmare as they tried to grow Bt cotton. The film vividly brings out the experiences of a number of farmers as they narrate their stories of terrible loss, deep pain, and cold anger, leading to explosive violence and even death. To make this film, the women film-makers of the Community Media Trust have traveled to Warangal month after month, braving the scorching sun, carrying their equipment, walking miles into farmers’ fields, talking to farmers, especially women, building friendships and generating insightful interviews. They have filmed the false promises of Bt cotton at every stage and analysed the reasons with farmers. The last year of their filming was led by Eedulapally Manjula, and was supported by Matoor Shakuntala, Nagwar Kavita, Ippapalle Mollamma, Humnapur Laxmamma, Borancha Sangamma and Pastapur Chinna Narsamma. Being small and marginal farmers themselves, the media women of CMT have sensitively captured the images and voices of the Bt cotton farmers in crisis. The brilliance and invaluable nature of their effort cannot be adequately described.

Open to All. and Entry is Free.

Lecture on "Innovations in Higher Education" by Prof. Ramakrishna at the launch of the part-time course in Liberal Arts.
The 20 Weeks of Liberal Arts is visualized as an experiment in collaborative learning using advanced technology for a mix of in-class and at home learning. The programme will begin from July 1st and is open to all age groups with a minimum of class 10 education. 20 Weeks of Liberal Arts will accommodate 30 students and will be offered from the City Campus of the Hyderabad Institute of Liberal Arts on Banjara Hills Road No 11.
A press conference follows the lecture

On the world Environment Day, we sho 'The Man who Planted Trees', an Oscar winner for Best Animation film. It tells the story of one shepherd's long and successful single-handed effort to re-forest a desolate valley in the foothills of the Alps throughout the first half of the 20th century. The tale is quite short—only about 4000 words long.

The shepherd, Elzéard Bouffier, after being widowed, has decided to restore the ruined landscape of the isolated and largely abandoned valley by single-handedly cultivating a forest, tree by tree. The shepherd makes holes in the ground with his curling pole and drops into the holes acorns that he has collected from many miles away.

Over four decades, Bouffier continues to plant trees, and the valley is turned into a kind of Garden of Eden. By the end of the story, the valley is vibrant with life and is peacefully settled.

Entry Free

To promote Young poets every month Kavisangamam is organising a Poetry Reading session. ప్రతినెల రెండవ శనివారం ' లామకాన్ ' వేదికగా - ఒక సీనియర్ కవి + ఇదివరకే కవిగా గుర్తింపు పొంది,'కవిసంగమం'లో రాస్తున్నకవి + 'కవిసంగమం'లో రాస్తున్న ముగ్గురు ప్రామిసింగ్ వర్ధమాన కవులు పాల్గొని కవిత్వం చదువుతారు.
Entry Free

Around the World in 80 minutes

Jazz is the voice of a people trying to find their place in a constantly changing environment. Though the voices and the techniques may be contemporary, the issues are universal, stitching cultures and milieus together across time.

In 1872, Phileas Fogg and his valet, Passerpartout set out to travel around the world in eighty days to win a wager. 140 years after the publication of Jules Verne's amazing novel, we set out to recreate the journey - musically. This fortnight's Jazz Listening Post presents the music one can hear as one retraces this epic journey. A journey of discovery of our collective roots through Jazz.

Presented by Subhorup Dasgupta, Jazz-Lover & Writer at http://subhorup.blogspot.in/

Sex, likes and Pokes is the comical stripping of facebook and the whole online dating phenomenon. In today's online driven world three friends make a wager whether it is still possible to find the ideal women through old school way of wooing a women. Sex, Likes and Pokes is a satire on the modern guy-girl relationship that men and women share these days.

This is a Play on the issue of Farmer suicides in AP by the volunteers of Caring Citizen’s Collective Medak district. Followed by a Discussion and an Appeal for Supporting Children’s Education from these families.
As you are aware, due to severe agrarian crisis in India the farmers in various states including the state of Andhra Pradesh have been committing suicides for more than a decade.

During recent years, rural India has been stalked by the deadly epidemic of terminal despair that shows no sign of ending, due to various factors including drought, famine, rapid and drastic shift in agricultural and economic policies, taking the lives of more than 2,50,000 farmers owning less than two hectares. They borrow from money lenders at exorbitant rates of interest. They cannot get credit on time as they cannot show enough security for the loan. When the monsoon fails them, they are harassed for re-payments, driving them to suicides, conclusively proving that suicides are forced deaths.

Various factors contribute to the intense human distress in the surviving families. In many cases the next meal is uncertain. When mother succumbs to starvation, the trauma and vulnerability of children is particularly striking. Children become orphans and are forced out of education. Government admitted its inability to stop the suicides. Moreover in many cases women of these families, especially wife/mother, are blamed for the deaths by the villagers and also by officials.

In view of the above circumstances, social activists, academicians, intellectuals and journalists came together in 2006, and formed ‘Caring Citizens’ Collective’ (CCC) in 2007 in Andhra Pradesh. The CCC’s volunteers are working in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh where the farmer suicides are high specifically in Medak, Mahabubnagar and Warangal Districts. A beginning has been made to support the education of the children belonging to farmers families affected by suicides. In addition to supporting the children’s education, CCC also working hard to assist the suicide and starvation deaths affected families to obtain financial and other required assistance from the government. The CCC also works together with victims/survivors and other organizations to pressurize the govt. administration in a democratic manner to implement applicable policies. To create awareness and to seek support from the civil society, CCC organizes civil forum and meeting in schools and colleges. With the help of volunteers in the village, teachers, people’s representatives, media and based on reports filed in police stations, CCC identifies the children in the affected families, and ensures that the children are provided with education and reasonable care by joining them in appropriate schools/educational institutes.to be filled

TLabs Startup Accelerator in Delhi has just launched its next batch applications. For this purpose, TLabs is hosting mixer events in many cities of the country including Hyderabad. This is going to be an evening event with networking and discussion about offerings of TLabs.

An evening of Baul & Sufi Music celebration. Each community has its own music. There is one unifying thread between Kabir and Sri Chaitnya; Lalon and bulleh shah; Meera and Khusru - The Mysticism.

Bhaki Varsham or Bhakti Movement is an effort to see the unifying thread by renditions of all different poetry of different prophets of different time and geography at the present time on the stage of Lamakaan.

Lose and Find yourself and help our Indigenous ethnic Musicians with your presence at this evening!

An initiative by Studio E1E.

Entry Free.

In this farce about politics in marriage, a man persuades his suicidal wife that an open marriage is politically correct and embarks on dalliances with younger women, to her dismay and fury. After deciding to be on her own, the tables are turned when she confesses to a new man, Nobel prize nominated professor and inspired singer-songwriter; it is the husband who becomes suicidal.

The Open Couple is a play by Dario Fo is a romantic play which was written with his wife Franca Rame.

In this farce about politics in marriage, a man persuades his suicidal wife that an open marriage is politically correct and embarks on dalliances with younger women, to her dismay and fury. After deciding to be on her own, the tables are turned when she confesses to a new man, Nobel prize nominated professor and inspired singer-songwriter; it is the husband who becomes suicidal.
The Open Couple is a play by Dario Fo is a romantic play which was written with his wife Franca Rame.

An evening of ghazals - some own and some known ghazals to make a summer evening pleasant.

Swar Ninad is presenting a talented artist in Hindustani Classical, Ghazal, Geet and Bhajan, Sanjeev Bhatnagar. A disciple of Pt D V Jadhav, an exponent of Jaipur Gharana, Sanjeev is known for adding emotions to his music.

Sanjeev is a B-high grade artist of All India Radio, Mumbai, since 1985.

Karnad’s Nagamandala has perhaps always been a play ahead of its time, dealing with the complex theme of female sexuality in the language of modern theatre characteristic of the 80s decade. Today, in the wake of raging debates on rape, desire, sexuality and morality, the text appears strikingly relevant.

The plot of Play With A Cobra traces the journey of a young girl called Rani from naivety to eventual womanhood in a traumatic marriage, while toiling upon the complex theme of desire. Drawing on the experiences of exclusion, confinement and the inferno of desire that abets transgression, the text revolves around the events of Rani’s mistreatment by her husband, her finding camaraderie in an old widow, to eventual fulfilment of her desires in dubious circumstances. But in fulfilment lies the germ of an impending turmoil - that of moral questioning and judgement.

This adaptation of Nagamandala takes liberties with the original script in two ways. First, it presents the inherent ambiguity of the plot in blatant words to an urban audience. Second, it attempts to shift the focus from the written text to a performative language that relies more on the use of space, lights, and visuals. Play With a Cobra hopes to be not a stage play, but an experience.

Karnad’s Nagamandala has perhaps always been a play ahead of its time, dealing with the complex theme of female sexuality in the language of modern theatre characteristic of the 80s decade. Today, in the wake of raging debates on rape, desire, sexuality and morality, the text appears strikingly relevant.

The plot of Play With A Cobra traces the journey of a young girl called Rani from naivety to eventual womanhood in a traumatic marriage, while toiling upon the complex theme of desire. Drawing on the experiences of exclusion, confinement and the inferno of desire that abets transgression, the text revolves around the events of Rani’s mistreatment by her husband, her finding camaraderie in an old widow, to eventual fulfilment of her desires in dubious circumstances. But in fulfilment lies the germ of an impending turmoil - that of moral questioning and judgement.

This adaptation of Nagamandala takes liberties with the original script in two ways. First, it presents the inherent ambiguity of the plot in blatant words to an urban audience. Second, it attempts to shift the focus from the written text to a performative language that relies more on the use of space, lights, and visuals. Play With a Cobra hopes to be not a stage play, but an experience.

Open Show is back to our spiritual home of Lamakaan for Volume 10.


Open Show is a free monthly event that provides photographers, filmmakers and multimedia producers the chance to present their work in high-profile spaces.


OPEN SHOW FORMAT
Five curated presenters have 15 minutes each to introduce one project. Both ongoing and completed work is accepted. We welcome diverse topics ranging from documentary to fine art.

FREE event and submissions FREE as well.

http://openshow.org/submissions/

Hyderabad Institute of Liberal Arts is organizing a public debate on the state of school education in the Old City region of Hyderabad.
HILA is launching a 20-week long part time liberal arts education programme from this July 1st where students will be exposed to a variety of disciplines of learning including science, maths, literature, economics and geography. The programme is open to anyone with a highschool certificate and aims to enrich the students overall life skills.

In the debate, we have six individuals who have been involved in educational activities in the Old City to share their perspectives with the audience. These are Ayesha Rubina, nominated corporator of GHMC; Mohd. Azam Khan, businessman and educationist; Shama Parveen, deputy director at Princess Esin Educational Society; Sana Hussain, principal, Princess Esin junior college; Lakshmi Sankranti, teacher trainer; and Sangeeta Kamat, researcher from University of Massachusettes. We are also inviting journalists from different media organizations who specialize in reporting on education and on the Old City, he added.
The panel discussion will focus on the state of school infrastructure, facilities for instruction in Urdu and Telugu, the efficacy of vocational training schemes. Even as Hyderabad city itself has become more tightly integrated with the global economy. While this integration goes on rapidly, parents of children of all classes are faced with tough choices in selecting and keeping their children in schools. A large number of private schools have also emerged in the Old City even as government school system has not been doing well. In a city that has a long tradition of public education system, these are matters of concern not just for residents of the Old City but for everyone who believes in a just urban society.
Open for all and ENTRY is FREE.

Fancy getting round a table with like minded photo-book lovers to leaf through a bunch of great books? Want to start on your stories, have started but need some help?

We are organizing an informal gathering of friends and fellow photographers, sharing and talking about their favorite books related to photography. Our idea is to promote and enable discussion around photography through the various printed books. In a time when photo books are in scarce supply or command very high prices, it becomes difficult for the working person to allocate the resources to find books and/or purchase them.

We also hope to find photographer's books which are not currently in vogue, or books that look at photography from an outside point of view, situating in the greater galaxy of art forms.

What you need to do: Bring and Share books of yours that would be of interest to photographers.

We would appreciate it if you could bring at least one book. If you don;t have even one then time to buy one!! Seriously just come and participate even if you don;t have any in your library.

Story Sunday

The pre-lunch session will be a documentary photography bootcamp, open to anyone with an interest in visual storytelling. Photographers wanting to start working on their first stories or those who have taken the first step will benefit the most from this session. We will talk about finding stories, doing the research, getting on ground, earning trust, finding direction and editing. A day we hope will be a precursor to many more interesting events in Hyderabad. This is in collaboration with friends at Galli Magazine.

19th Listening Post:
The Voice in Western and Indian Classical Music

Vocal traditions and stylistic use of the voice differs from region to region. Here we will explore the use of the voice as an instrument in Hindustani as well as Western classical music, and contrast these two styles with each other.
Some topics we will explore will be hearing gender, the voice as an agent of information, the use of text in significant ways and so forth.
This fortnight's Classical Listening Post presents explores some critical differences in the use of the voice in the musical genres we are closest to as Indians, and helps us see some of our historical identity through the medium of vocal music!

Presented by Tejaswinee Kelkar, who is at present doing her MS at IIIT in Hyderabad. She has studied Western Classical as well as Hindustani Classical music and is locally part of the choir group the Deccan Voices

Bible preaches us: world was created in just 6 days.

Hindu texts: The creator god Brahma emerged from the egg and created the world, while in yet another tradition the Brahma himself is the Hiranyagarbha. Then there is the Vishwakarma story. All many stories in one 'faith'!

Then we have Noah; who took one pair of each species in his arc and we have multiples of many lives now!

What rational to believe?

Hyderabad Institute of Liberal Arts (HILA) presents David Attenborough's "Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life" a 2009 BBC television documentary about Charles Darwin and his revolutionary theory of evolution through natural selection, produced by the BBC to mark the bicentenary of Darwin's birth. It is part of the BBC Darwin Season. The presenter, David Attenborough, outlines the development of the theory by Darwin through his observations of animals and plants in nature and in the domesticated state, visiting sites important in Darwin's own life, including Down House, Cambridge University and the Natural History Museum, and using archive footage from Attenborough's many nature documentaries for the BBC. He reviews the development of the theory since its beginnings, and its revolutionary impact on the way in which humans view themselves - not as having dominion over the animals as The Bible says, but as part of the natural world and subject to the same controlling forces that govern all life on Earth.

Lets not get stuffed anymore! Lets learn more!! Come and watch this film for Free!!!

Fouzia Amjad a retired professor of Sociology has self published and written a book on Sociology title "Principals of Sociology and Social problems"
This is written in Urdu and is aimed at students studying in Urdu medium.
This book is written both for general reading and students.
It aims to create awareness among people on social problems by throwing light on it in various chapters.

The floor will be open for various points of view and debate.

Open to all. Entry Free.

The writing was on the wall - or shall we say - on the Dams.

Lamakaan and NAPM host a panel discusson on what happened in Uttarakhand.

When CAG rang a bell an year ago, who did not hear it? When Governor of the state tried to alert the laxity in the execution, who muzzled him?
Our state has suffered more human loss than many states. AP not only tops in the the highest number of pilgrims inflow but also the highest number of contractors and engineers who relentlessly grind those hills down.

The experts will share with us where has it all began to go wrong? They will throw light on 'dam'ning revelations and our utter disregard for the nature and environment.

The panelists include Dr. Channa Basavaiah, Dr. BabuRao, Saraswati Kavula and many environment activists.

Open for all and Entry is Free.

An Tribute to Mullapudi Venkata Ramana, the writer part of Bapu-Ramana duo. An audio visual presentation together with an open discussion will be done. Participated by his friends Mr. Sri Ramana, popular author, Mr. BNIM, artist, and Sri Ramulu, Vara Mullapudi, Mullapudi Ramana's son and film director will be present on the occasion.

Open to All and Entry is Free.

Performing Classical Dance (Bharatnatyam)

2 Day Workshop for children on Speaking and Writing Skills to enable effective communication .
Materials: Pen, pencil, colour pencils, Children's edition of any English Newspaper, Fevistic/ glue
Age group: 8 to 12 years

As a part of 3 day Farmer's film unfestival, today we screen "The World According to Monsanto", a 2008 film directed by Marie-Monique Robin.
The film reports many controversies surrounding the use and promotion of genetically modified seeds, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), Agent Orange, and bovine growth hormone. Cases in the United States (including Anniston, Alabama), Canada, India, Mexico, Paraguay, the United Kingdom (Scotland) and France, are explored, claiming that the corporation's collusion with governments, pressure tactics, suppression and manipulation of scientific data, and extra-legal practices aided the company's attempts at dominating global agriculture. Scientists, representatives of the United States Food and Drug Administration and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, civil society representatives, victims of the company’s activities, lawyers, and politicians are interviewed.

Robin travels to India, Mexico, Argentina, and Paraguay to see how Monsanto's genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have affected local farmers using it for their crops. The film claims that GMO use has increased suicide rates of farmers in India. However, research by IFPRI has shown that this is not the case.

Open to All. Entry: Free

It is a 3 day films screening on Farmer, Food & Environmental issues on 31st May, 1st & 2nd Jun, 2013.
India has more farmers than any country in the world, and they are in a crisis that is unprecedented in human history. Every 30 minutes a farmer in India kills himself in despair.
Docu Circle of Hyderabad (DCH)and National Alliance of People's Movement (NAPM) invite you to a 3 days film screenings:
Fri 31st May - 7pm: "The world according to Monsanto".
Sat 1st Jun - 7pm: "Raithu Bathuku (Death of a Farmer)", "Bitter Sedds".
Sun: 2nd Jun - 7pm: "Unatural Selection".

Film screenings are followed by discussion with farmer activists.

Open for all. Entry: Free

Please do drop in your used ,silk ,cotton sarees , dupattas and jeans at collection points in the city . Somajiguda ,Jubilee Hills and Secunderabad .The material collected will be used by women in the slums to create beautiful upcycled products for household use .
Contact rubina@safaindia.org
Fareesa@safaindia.org

We are an NGo and are interested in collecting used clothes which will used by our producer groups of women from the slums to make well desgned products and sold in the markets .

As a part of 3 day Farmer's film unfestival, today we screen 'Unnatural selection'.

This explosive exposé reveals what the biotech industry doesn't want you to know - how industry manipulation and political collusion, not sound science, allow dangerous genetically engineered food into your daily diet. Company research is rigged, alarming evidence of health dangers is covered up, and intense political pressure applied. Chapters read like adventure stories and are hard to put down:

* Scientists were offered bribes or threatened. Evidence was stolen. Data was omitted or distorted.
* Government employees who complained were harassed, stripped of responsibilities, or fired.
* Laboratory rats fed a GM crop developed stomach lesions and seven of the forty died within two weeks. The crop was approved without further tests.
* The only independent in-depth feeding study ever conducted showed evidence of alarming health dangers. When the scientist tried to alert the public, he lost his job and was silenced with threats of a lawsuit.

Open for all and Entry is Free.

As a part of 3 day Farmer's film unfestival, today we screen BT cotton – a 3 year fraud.
Bt cotton is the first genetically modified organism (GMO) to have entered India. It was introduced in 2002 in Warangal District, in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It has brought in its wake a trail of misery, destruction and death, particularly among small and marginal farming families. While Bt cotton made its entry into Warangal, it was backed up with a massive advertising blitz which promised three things to farmers who grew it: 1) your pesticide use will be less; 2) your cultivation costs will reduce; 3) your yields and profits will increase. However, a citizen-led study carried out over a period of three years chronicles the fraudulent promises of the industry and the impacts of Bt cotton in Warangal. While farmers did incur marginally less expenditure on their pesticide use, their cost of cultivation went up. Yields and profits came down considerably. This three-year study of Bt cotton was initiated by the AP Coalition in Defence of Diversity and the Deccan Development Society in collaboration with the Permaculture Association of India. The study, Bt Cotton in Andhra Pradesh: A Three Year Assessment, was published in 2005. The film "Bt Cotton in Andhra Pradesh: A Three Year Fraud" was part of the study and captured the more qualitative dimensions of the crisis experienced by farmers. The film brings alive the voices and images of farmers who went through a deadly nightmare as they tried to grow Bt cotton. The film vividly brings out the experiences of a number of farmers as they narrate their stories of terrible loss, deep pain, and cold anger, leading to explosive violence and even death. To make this film, the women film-makers of the Community Media Trust have traveled to Warangal month after month, braving the scorching sun, carrying their equipment, walking miles into farmers’ fields, talking to farmers, especially women, building friendships and generating insightful interviews. They have filmed the false promises of Bt cotton at every stage and analysed the reasons with farmers. The last year of their filming was led by Eedulapally Manjula, and was supported by Matoor Shakuntala, Nagwar Kavita, Ippapalle Mollamma, Humnapur Laxmamma, Borancha Sangamma and Pastapur Chinna Narsamma. Being small and marginal farmers themselves, the media women of CMT have sensitively captured the images and voices of the Bt cotton farmers in crisis. The brilliance and invaluable nature of their effort cannot be adequately described.

Open to All. and Entry is Free.

Lecture on "Innovations in Higher Education" by Prof. Ramakrishna at the launch of the part-time course in Liberal Arts.
The 20 Weeks of Liberal Arts is visualized as an experiment in collaborative learning using advanced technology for a mix of in-class and at home learning. The programme will begin from July 1st and is open to all age groups with a minimum of class 10 education. 20 Weeks of Liberal Arts will accommodate 30 students and will be offered from the City Campus of the Hyderabad Institute of Liberal Arts on Banjara Hills Road No 11.
A press conference follows the lecture

On the world Environment Day, we sho 'The Man who Planted Trees', an Oscar winner for Best Animation film. It tells the story of one shepherd's long and successful single-handed effort to re-forest a desolate valley in the foothills of the Alps throughout the first half of the 20th century. The tale is quite short—only about 4000 words long.

The shepherd, Elzéard Bouffier, after being widowed, has decided to restore the ruined landscape of the isolated and largely abandoned valley by single-handedly cultivating a forest, tree by tree. The shepherd makes holes in the ground with his curling pole and drops into the holes acorns that he has collected from many miles away.

Over four decades, Bouffier continues to plant trees, and the valley is turned into a kind of Garden of Eden. By the end of the story, the valley is vibrant with life and is peacefully settled.

Entry Free

To promote Young poets every month Kavisangamam is organising a Poetry Reading session. ప్రతినెల రెండవ శనివారం ' లామకాన్ ' వేదికగా - ఒక సీనియర్ కవి + ఇదివరకే కవిగా గుర్తింపు పొంది,'కవిసంగమం'లో రాస్తున్నకవి + 'కవిసంగమం'లో రాస్తున్న ముగ్గురు ప్రామిసింగ్ వర్ధమాన కవులు పాల్గొని కవిత్వం చదువుతారు.
Entry Free

Around the World in 80 minutes

Jazz is the voice of a people trying to find their place in a constantly changing environment. Though the voices and the techniques may be contemporary, the issues are universal, stitching cultures and milieus together across time.

In 1872, Phileas Fogg and his valet, Passerpartout set out to travel around the world in eighty days to win a wager. 140 years after the publication of Jules Verne's amazing novel, we set out to recreate the journey - musically. This fortnight's Jazz Listening Post presents the music one can hear as one retraces this epic journey. A journey of discovery of our collective roots through Jazz.

Presented by Subhorup Dasgupta, Jazz-Lover & Writer at http://subhorup.blogspot.in/

Sex, likes and Pokes is the comical stripping of facebook and the whole online dating phenomenon. In today's online driven world three friends make a wager whether it is still possible to find the ideal women through old school way of wooing a women. Sex, Likes and Pokes is a satire on the modern guy-girl relationship that men and women share these days.

This is a Play on the issue of Farmer suicides in AP by the volunteers of Caring Citizen’s Collective Medak district. Followed by a Discussion and an Appeal for Supporting Children’s Education from these families.
As you are aware, due to severe agrarian crisis in India the farmers in various states including the state of Andhra Pradesh have been committing suicides for more than a decade.

During recent years, rural India has been stalked by the deadly epidemic of terminal despair that shows no sign of ending, due to various factors including drought, famine, rapid and drastic shift in agricultural and economic policies, taking the lives of more than 2,50,000 farmers owning less than two hectares. They borrow from money lenders at exorbitant rates of interest. They cannot get credit on time as they cannot show enough security for the loan. When the monsoon fails them, they are harassed for re-payments, driving them to suicides, conclusively proving that suicides are forced deaths.

Various factors contribute to the intense human distress in the surviving families. In many cases the next meal is uncertain. When mother succumbs to starvation, the trauma and vulnerability of children is particularly striking. Children become orphans and are forced out of education. Government admitted its inability to stop the suicides. Moreover in many cases women of these families, especially wife/mother, are blamed for the deaths by the villagers and also by officials.

In view of the above circumstances, social activists, academicians, intellectuals and journalists came together in 2006, and formed ‘Caring Citizens’ Collective’ (CCC) in 2007 in Andhra Pradesh. The CCC’s volunteers are working in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh where the farmer suicides are high specifically in Medak, Mahabubnagar and Warangal Districts. A beginning has been made to support the education of the children belonging to farmers families affected by suicides. In addition to supporting the children’s education, CCC also working hard to assist the suicide and starvation deaths affected families to obtain financial and other required assistance from the government. The CCC also works together with victims/survivors and other organizations to pressurize the govt. administration in a democratic manner to implement applicable policies. To create awareness and to seek support from the civil society, CCC organizes civil forum and meeting in schools and colleges. With the help of volunteers in the village, teachers, people’s representatives, media and based on reports filed in police stations, CCC identifies the children in the affected families, and ensures that the children are provided with education and reasonable care by joining them in appropriate schools/educational institutes.to be filled

TLabs Startup Accelerator in Delhi has just launched its next batch applications. For this purpose, TLabs is hosting mixer events in many cities of the country including Hyderabad. This is going to be an evening event with networking and discussion about offerings of TLabs.

An evening of Baul & Sufi Music celebration. Each community has its own music. There is one unifying thread between Kabir and Sri Chaitnya; Lalon and bulleh shah; Meera and Khusru - The Mysticism.

Bhaki Varsham or Bhakti Movement is an effort to see the unifying thread by renditions of all different poetry of different prophets of different time and geography at the present time on the stage of Lamakaan.

Lose and Find yourself and help our Indigenous ethnic Musicians with your presence at this evening!

An initiative by Studio E1E.

Entry Free.

In this farce about politics in marriage, a man persuades his suicidal wife that an open marriage is politically correct and embarks on dalliances with younger women, to her dismay and fury. After deciding to be on her own, the tables are turned when she confesses to a new man, Nobel prize nominated professor and inspired singer-songwriter; it is the husband who becomes suicidal.

The Open Couple is a play by Dario Fo is a romantic play which was written with his wife Franca Rame.

In this farce about politics in marriage, a man persuades his suicidal wife that an open marriage is politically correct and embarks on dalliances with younger women, to her dismay and fury. After deciding to be on her own, the tables are turned when she confesses to a new man, Nobel prize nominated professor and inspired singer-songwriter; it is the husband who becomes suicidal.
The Open Couple is a play by Dario Fo is a romantic play which was written with his wife Franca Rame.

An evening of ghazals - some own and some known ghazals to make a summer evening pleasant.

Swar Ninad is presenting a talented artist in Hindustani Classical, Ghazal, Geet and Bhajan, Sanjeev Bhatnagar. A disciple of Pt D V Jadhav, an exponent of Jaipur Gharana, Sanjeev is known for adding emotions to his music.

Sanjeev is a B-high grade artist of All India Radio, Mumbai, since 1985.

Karnad’s Nagamandala has perhaps always been a play ahead of its time, dealing with the complex theme of female sexuality in the language of modern theatre characteristic of the 80s decade. Today, in the wake of raging debates on rape, desire, sexuality and morality, the text appears strikingly relevant.

The plot of Play With A Cobra traces the journey of a young girl called Rani from naivety to eventual womanhood in a traumatic marriage, while toiling upon the complex theme of desire. Drawing on the experiences of exclusion, confinement and the inferno of desire that abets transgression, the text revolves around the events of Rani’s mistreatment by her husband, her finding camaraderie in an old widow, to eventual fulfilment of her desires in dubious circumstances. But in fulfilment lies the germ of an impending turmoil - that of moral questioning and judgement.

This adaptation of Nagamandala takes liberties with the original script in two ways. First, it presents the inherent ambiguity of the plot in blatant words to an urban audience. Second, it attempts to shift the focus from the written text to a performative language that relies more on the use of space, lights, and visuals. Play With a Cobra hopes to be not a stage play, but an experience.

Karnad’s Nagamandala has perhaps always been a play ahead of its time, dealing with the complex theme of female sexuality in the language of modern theatre characteristic of the 80s decade. Today, in the wake of raging debates on rape, desire, sexuality and morality, the text appears strikingly relevant.

The plot of Play With A Cobra traces the journey of a young girl called Rani from naivety to eventual womanhood in a traumatic marriage, while toiling upon the complex theme of desire. Drawing on the experiences of exclusion, confinement and the inferno of desire that abets transgression, the text revolves around the events of Rani’s mistreatment by her husband, her finding camaraderie in an old widow, to eventual fulfilment of her desires in dubious circumstances. But in fulfilment lies the germ of an impending turmoil - that of moral questioning and judgement.

This adaptation of Nagamandala takes liberties with the original script in two ways. First, it presents the inherent ambiguity of the plot in blatant words to an urban audience. Second, it attempts to shift the focus from the written text to a performative language that relies more on the use of space, lights, and visuals. Play With a Cobra hopes to be not a stage play, but an experience.

Open Show is back to our spiritual home of Lamakaan for Volume 10.


Open Show is a free monthly event that provides photographers, filmmakers and multimedia producers the chance to present their work in high-profile spaces.


OPEN SHOW FORMAT
Five curated presenters have 15 minutes each to introduce one project. Both ongoing and completed work is accepted. We welcome diverse topics ranging from documentary to fine art.

FREE event and submissions FREE as well.

http://openshow.org/submissions/

Hyderabad Institute of Liberal Arts is organizing a public debate on the state of school education in the Old City region of Hyderabad.
HILA is launching a 20-week long part time liberal arts education programme from this July 1st where students will be exposed to a variety of disciplines of learning including science, maths, literature, economics and geography. The programme is open to anyone with a highschool certificate and aims to enrich the students overall life skills.

In the debate, we have six individuals who have been involved in educational activities in the Old City to share their perspectives with the audience. These are Ayesha Rubina, nominated corporator of GHMC; Mohd. Azam Khan, businessman and educationist; Shama Parveen, deputy director at Princess Esin Educational Society; Sana Hussain, principal, Princess Esin junior college; Lakshmi Sankranti, teacher trainer; and Sangeeta Kamat, researcher from University of Massachusettes. We are also inviting journalists from different media organizations who specialize in reporting on education and on the Old City, he added.
The panel discussion will focus on the state of school infrastructure, facilities for instruction in Urdu and Telugu, the efficacy of vocational training schemes. Even as Hyderabad city itself has become more tightly integrated with the global economy. While this integration goes on rapidly, parents of children of all classes are faced with tough choices in selecting and keeping their children in schools. A large number of private schools have also emerged in the Old City even as government school system has not been doing well. In a city that has a long tradition of public education system, these are matters of concern not just for residents of the Old City but for everyone who believes in a just urban society.
Open for all and ENTRY is FREE.

Fancy getting round a table with like minded photo-book lovers to leaf through a bunch of great books? Want to start on your stories, have started but need some help?

We are organizing an informal gathering of friends and fellow photographers, sharing and talking about their favorite books related to photography. Our idea is to promote and enable discussion around photography through the various printed books. In a time when photo books are in scarce supply or command very high prices, it becomes difficult for the working person to allocate the resources to find books and/or purchase them.

We also hope to find photographer's books which are not currently in vogue, or books that look at photography from an outside point of view, situating in the greater galaxy of art forms.

What you need to do: Bring and Share books of yours that would be of interest to photographers.

We would appreciate it if you could bring at least one book. If you don;t have even one then time to buy one!! Seriously just come and participate even if you don;t have any in your library.

Story Sunday

The pre-lunch session will be a documentary photography bootcamp, open to anyone with an interest in visual storytelling. Photographers wanting to start working on their first stories or those who have taken the first step will benefit the most from this session. We will talk about finding stories, doing the research, getting on ground, earning trust, finding direction and editing. A day we hope will be a precursor to many more interesting events in Hyderabad. This is in collaboration with friends at Galli Magazine.

19th Listening Post:
The Voice in Western and Indian Classical Music

Vocal traditions and stylistic use of the voice differs from region to region. Here we will explore the use of the voice as an instrument in Hindustani as well as Western classical music, and contrast these two styles with each other.
Some topics we will explore will be hearing gender, the voice as an agent of information, the use of text in significant ways and so forth.
This fortnight's Classical Listening Post presents explores some critical differences in the use of the voice in the musical genres we are closest to as Indians, and helps us see some of our historical identity through the medium of vocal music!

Presented by Tejaswinee Kelkar, who is at present doing her MS at IIIT in Hyderabad. She has studied Western Classical as well as Hindustani Classical music and is locally part of the choir group the Deccan Voices

Bible preaches us: world was created in just 6 days.

Hindu texts: The creator god Brahma emerged from the egg and created the world, while in yet another tradition the Brahma himself is the Hiranyagarbha. Then there is the Vishwakarma story. All many stories in one 'faith'!

Then we have Noah; who took one pair of each species in his arc and we have multiples of many lives now!

What rational to believe?

Hyderabad Institute of Liberal Arts (HILA) presents David Attenborough's "Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life" a 2009 BBC television documentary about Charles Darwin and his revolutionary theory of evolution through natural selection, produced by the BBC to mark the bicentenary of Darwin's birth. It is part of the BBC Darwin Season. The presenter, David Attenborough, outlines the development of the theory by Darwin through his observations of animals and plants in nature and in the domesticated state, visiting sites important in Darwin's own life, including Down House, Cambridge University and the Natural History Museum, and using archive footage from Attenborough's many nature documentaries for the BBC. He reviews the development of the theory since its beginnings, and its revolutionary impact on the way in which humans view themselves - not as having dominion over the animals as The Bible says, but as part of the natural world and subject to the same controlling forces that govern all life on Earth.

Lets not get stuffed anymore! Lets learn more!! Come and watch this film for Free!!!

Fouzia Amjad a retired professor of Sociology has self published and written a book on Sociology title "Principals of Sociology and Social problems"
This is written in Urdu and is aimed at students studying in Urdu medium.
This book is written both for general reading and students.
It aims to create awareness among people on social problems by throwing light on it in various chapters.

The floor will be open for various points of view and debate.

Open to all. Entry Free.

The writing was on the wall - or shall we say - on the Dams.

Lamakaan and NAPM host a panel discusson on what happened in Uttarakhand.

When CAG rang a bell an year ago, who did not hear it? When Governor of the state tried to alert the laxity in the execution, who muzzled him?
Our state has suffered more human loss than many states. AP not only tops in the the highest number of pilgrims inflow but also the highest number of contractors and engineers who relentlessly grind those hills down.

The experts will share with us where has it all began to go wrong? They will throw light on 'dam'ning revelations and our utter disregard for the nature and environment.

The panelists include Dr. Channa Basavaiah, Dr. BabuRao, Saraswati Kavula and many environment activists.

Open for all and Entry is Free.

An Tribute to Mullapudi Venkata Ramana, the writer part of Bapu-Ramana duo. An audio visual presentation together with an open discussion will be done. Participated by his friends Mr. Sri Ramana, popular author, Mr. BNIM, artist, and Sri Ramulu, Vara Mullapudi, Mullapudi Ramana's son and film director will be present on the occasion.

Open to All and Entry is Free.