On 11 March 2020, the Pridi Banomyong International College, Thammasat University presents a special lecture by Her Excellency Mrs. Suchitra Durai, Ambassador of India to Thailand. The presentation will be on India-Thailand Relations and the Importance of India Studies Programmes. It will be held from 1:30pm to 4pm in the Sanya Dharmasakti Conference Room on the second floor of the Dome Building at Thammasat University, Tha Prachan campus.
As the website of the Embassy of India in Bangkok notes, the Ambassador earned master of arts degrees in English and Defence Studies at the University of Madras.
As the website of the International Center for the University of Madras (ICOM) observes,
ICOM aims to be a ‘single window’ for international students and scholars to pursue their studies and research at the University of Madras and its affiliated institutions… International students at the University of Madras hail from the USA, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Mauritius, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Fiji, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka.
- Mission of ICOM
Facilitating and developing strategic links with other institutions of higher learning and participating in internationalization of higher education and research.
- ICOM Aims
To promote the understanding of ‘the other’ through the exchanges, both cultural and academic.
To enable Indian students to experience international education through exchange programmes / visits / Digital Video Conferences.
To enhance the scholarly pursuits of University and overseas faculties with appropriate exchanges.
To promote qualitative research by becoming a part of the global joint research teams conducting research in frontier areas
To develop the teaching – learning process by including latest technological advances and addressing scientific, social, economic, political and cultural problems of India and abroad by promoting comparative studies in the curriculum
To encourage interaction with overseas delegations.
The Ambassador is also a graduate of the National Defence College at New Delhi.
Its website explains that National Defence College (NDC) is
a multiservice institution, continues to provide future decision makers with the necessary skills and background for filling senior positions in National Security and associated fields…
Aim
The aim of National Defence College is to equip future policy makers with the background necessary for a broad understanding of the varied social, economic, political, military, scientific and organisational aspects involved in the planning of national strategy.
With this aim in mind the National Defence College imparts training in national and international security related fields to the selected senior Defence and Civil Services officers and promotes research and understanding of various related issues by creating the necessary academic environment for such work.
Along with the study, the College offers an opportunity to the Armed Forces and Civil Services officers of getting together and exchanging ideas and hence enabling a holistic appreciation of each other’s challenges, both in peace and in war. The course not only caters to the needs of officers holding highly specialised appointments, but also provides general education to offer them a wider outlook on a great variety of state affairs. Such training becomes an additional qualification for officers already holding or likely to hold important appointments in the Government.
Role
The role of National Defence College is:-
(a) To provide a structured exposure to diverse issues related to national security of a modern state, in general and India, in particular.
(b) To facilitate individual development by creating at the College the necessary academic environment related to National Security issues.
(c) To develop a thorough and lasting mutual understanding between different organisations of the Government of India and selected foreign countries by providing necessary opportunities.
(d) To be an instrument for the Government of India to foster better understanding, mutual co-operation and desirable linkages in the national, regional and international security arena with friendly foreign countries.
To fulfil the above roles, the course of instruction at the NDC comprises “National Security and Strategic Studies”, conducted annually for 47 weeks. The course is centred on high level security issues in the global and regional context. The central theme is the challenges of managing change while preserving stability and the contextual relevance of political, economic and military power.
Cultural exchange
As all TU students know, on the Underground 1 level of the Pridi Banomyong Library, Tha Prachan campus, The India Corner contains books generously donated by the Embassy of India in the Kingdom of Thailand, located in Thawi Watthana, Bangkok.
A book newly donated to the Thammasat University Library should be of interest to students of cultural studies, comparative folklore, and the performing arts.
Indian Puppetry and Puppet Stories by Sampa Ghosh and Utpal K. Banerjee is shelved in the India Corner of the Pridi Banomyong Library.
Utpal K. Banerjee is an Indian writer, adviser on management and information technology. After graduating with a degree in physics from the University of Calcutta, he earned a Ph.D. degree from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.
Dr. Banerjee has published a number of books on management, information technology, and Indian culture. The TU Library collections owns another of his books, Indian Performing Arts, which is shelved in the General Stacks of the Pridi Banomyong Library.
Dr. Banerjee’s coauthor for Indian Puppetry and Puppet Stories is Sampa Ghosh, a puppeteer from New Delhi. Sampa Ghosh participates in activities by The Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT), an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Culture of the Government of India. Its website tells us that CCRT
- Organizes theoretical and theme based academic programmes on Indian art and culture for teachers and students.
- Conducts Workshops to provide practical training and knowledge in crafts to be incorporated in school curriculum. Various art activities like drama, music, narrative art forms, classical dances, etc. are organized to create an awareness of the regional variations and richness of cultural expressions of our country.
- Organizes various educational activities for school students, teachers and children belonging to governmental and non-governmental organizations under its Extension Services and Community Feedback Programme, to create an awareness of the need for conservation of the natural and cultural heritage.
- Collects and develops a library of resources in the form of scripts, digital photographs, audio and video recordings and films with the objective of producing culturally-oriented educational aids to encourage the art and craft forms of rural India and their revival.
- Prepares publications and other audio-visual material which attempt to provide an understanding and appreciation of the different aspects of Indian art and culture.
- Implements Cultural Talent Search Scholarship Scheme for providing facilities to young talented children in the 10-14 age group to study one or the other art form…
As Sampa Ghosh informed an online interviewer in 2008, the CCRT holds workshops
with teachers to make them understand the role of puppetry in education. Mostly primary school teachers are called and taught to make low cost puppets (rod, hand, finger, and glove) and 2 years hence, same teachers are called for a refresher course and are then taught string puppets. These workshops are conducted all over the country and seek to promote the use of puppetry as an educational aid… After my B.Ed exam, one of my mothers’ friends who was a mime artist suggested that I work for a while under Suresh Datta in his group Calcutta Puppet Theatre.
There I learnt puppetry, and started reading a lot about puppetry. In the 1980s I even got Ministry of Culture’s Young Scholarship. I went along with Suresh Datta for his research about puppet forms in north east India for his fellowship. That was quite an experience for me. I came to Delhi and joined Shri Ram Centre Puppet Repertory for two years after Dadi Pudumjee left, and in 1989 I joined CCRT and have been here since then. For a short while in between I had started Delhi Puppets Theatre, but closed that down soon. Usually contemporary puppeteers use all styles of puppetry, but I mainly do glove and rod puppetry. I’ve been inspired majorly by my guru Suresh Datta and his style of rod puppets.
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)