Lamakaan launches its Annual Hasan Memorial Lecture on Contemporary Politics with Telangana's Most influential Intellectual.
There is little doubt that Prof M. Kodandaram was one of the leading lights of the movement that has won us a new state. And yet in the very act of realizing statehood, Prof Kodandaram’s vision and role has changed dramatically. If in the heat of political struggle for Telangana his acumen as a strategist and negotiator was in the fore, today he has the task of a visionary and a critic. Having stepped away from an electoral future, Prof Kodandram has emerged as the vision-keeper and compass for the people of the new state. In his lecture on Friday August 15th, KDR, as he is known popularly will seek to articulate as to why Telangana must and will be different from other new state formations in India, the difference in the politics that produced statehood, the organic relation between people’s aspirations and the new state, and from such a basis articulate the vision that we must aspire for as we 'remake' Telangana. Lamakaan is also launching its Annual Hasan Memorial Lecture with this engagement with the question of a new vision for Telangana.
Prof Moyed Hasan in whose memory the annual lecture is named was a scientist, a photographer, an environmentalist and a person with deep concern for the lives of ordinary people. His house, that he named Lamakaan (as in the Sufi literary tradition to mean 'an abode for those who travel without any worldly possessions') has now become an important part of Hyderabad’s cultural and political life. The once-in-a-year lecture is dedicated to foregrounding the most important political questions of our contemporary moment.
Prof Hasan left behind an imaginary of what an engaged life is. From science to art, and environment to international affairs he encompassed a vision of how we must live our lives meaningfully. There is no better way to memorialize such a life than to bring it into play with new visions of the future.
Program: Friday, the 15th August 2014 7:00 PM - Brief Introduction of the Hasan Memorial Lecture Series 7:10 PM - Introduction of Prof Kodandaram 7:15 PM - Lecture by Prof Kodandaram 8:00 PM - Engagement with audience - Question and Answer session. All are welcome.