Jaitley, Queen to open India-UK culture year
LONDON : A range of activities reflecting the historical and contemporary links between India and Britain – from the Kama Sutra to Magna Carta to Shakespeare to the diaspora – will mark the Year of Culture 2017 to be launched by Queen Elizabeth and finance minister Arun Jaitley.
The launch event at Buckingham Palace is scheduled for February 27, but related events have already begun, with one scheduled for Monday at the British Library: a selection of romantic and erotic tales by storyteller Seema Anand, titled ‘Love, Lust and Liabilities’.
Anand told HT: “The selection will be mainly from the Mughal era ‘Hamzanama’ and Ismat Chugtai’s ‘Gharwali’. The very first story from India to come out to the west was the ‘Kama Sutra’. Indian literature over the centuries has been heavily influenced by its writings”.
The iconic Kew Gardens in south-west London is showcasing a giant Indian flag put together with 900 chrysanthemums, while thousands of orchids from Assam, Sikkim and other states are the highlight of its annual Orchid Festival.
A copy of one of the most famous books in the world ‘Shakespeare’s First Folio’ (printed in 1623) – is on display at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalay in Mumbai, on loan from the British Library in London.
The Science Museum in South Kensington will open a season of exhibitions and events related to India later this year. One exhibition is said to be “an ambitious and unprecedented survey of photography from the emergence of the medium in the nineteenth century to the present day”.
Another exhibition at the museum will highlight the tradition of scientific thought in India, looking at its expertise in observation, calculation and innovation and stressing the importance of science in India as a way of understanding the world.