Uka and Nalini Solanki Lecture Series

The Solanki Lecture is an endowed lecture series established by Uka and Nalini Solanki, with the express intention of inviting a distinguished individual to discuss South Asia related topics.

PROFILE OF SPEAKERS

2011: Ramachandra Guha

Ramachandra Guha delivered the ninth annual Solanki lecture entitled The Rise and Fall of the Indian Liberal Tradition. Ramachandra Guha is a historian and biographer based in Bangalore. He has previously taught at the universities of Yale and Standford, held the Arne Naess Chair at the University of Oslo, and been the Indo-American Community Visiting Professor at UC Berkley. His books include a pioneering environmental history, The Unquiet Woods(University of California Press), an award-winning social history of cricket, A Corner of a Foreign Field(Picador), and India after Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy(Harper Collins). Published in 2007, India after Gandhi won the Ramnath Goenka Award for the best work of non-fiction published in India, and the Economist, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Outlook chose it as a Book of the Year.

2010: Mira Kamdar

Mira Kamdar delivered the eight annual Solanki lecture entitled Planet India: America's Stake in India's Future. Dr. Mira Kamdar is a foreign affairs expert, award winning author and international commentator. Her areas of expertise include India and China, their economies, environments and relationships with other world powers, including the United States. Mira Kamdar's latest book is Planet India: The Turbulent Rise of the World's Largest Democracy. Kamdar has been a Senior Fellow at the World Policy Institute since 1992, and is a 2008 Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the Asia Society. She is a member of the editorial boards of World Policy Journal and India Review.

2009: Pico Iyer

Pico Iyer delivered the seventh annual Solanki lecture entitled Our Global Century and Its New Possibilities. Pico Iyer is one of the most revered and respected travel writers alive today and the author of nine books. His first, Video Night in Kathmandu, has appeared on many lists of the top travel books of all time, and his second, The Lady and the Monk, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award in the category of Current Interest. Pico Iyer discussed his new book entitled The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, which is based on his conversations with the Dalai Lama over the last 33 years. For more about Pico Iyer: http://www.rolfpotts.com/writers/iyer.html

2008: SAEED AKHTAR MIRZA

Saeed Akhtar Mirza delivered the sixth annual Solanki lecture entitled Ammi: Letter to a Democratic Mother on Saturday, May 3, 2008. Mirza is a writer and director of Hindi films and television. He is best remembered in popular culture for his TV series Nukkad (1986) and Intezaar (1988), along with various documentary films on social welfare and cultural activism. Mirza trained at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, India, and has also taught there. He has lectured widely on Indian cinema at universities in India and the US. He lives in Bombay and Goa.

2007: SUKETU MEHTA

The fifth Solanki lecture is scheduled for Wednesday, April 25, 2007. It will feature Suketu Mehta, acclaimed journalist and playwright. His book Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found was short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize in 2005. Mr. Mehta will talk about how novelists and journalists deal with moral complexity, by bringing in his own experiences, and his approach to characters. He'll also touch on the differences between fiction and nonfiction. The title of his upcoming talk is “Dealing with Moral Complexity, or, What is a Writer's Dharma?”
More about Suketu Mehta: http://www.suketumehta.com/

2006: SAM PITRODA
           
The fourth Solanki lecture, featured Sam Pitroda, currently chairman of India's National Knowledge Commission. Mr. Pitroda is also largely considered to have been responsible for India's communications revolution. The title of his talk was “India's Knowledge Society in the 21st Century: The CSU-Knowledge Commission Collaboration.”
More about Sam Pitroda: http://www.indobase.com/indians-abroad/sam-pitroda.html

2005: RICHARD GARNICK
           
The third Solanki Lecture featured Richard Garnick, CEO of WIPRO Technologies. This event was attended by 250 people. The title of his talk was “India, Outsourcing and Globalization.”
More about Richard Garnick: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2006/tc20060321_296404.htm

2004: SUNITI SOLOMON
           
The second Solanki Lecture, featured one of India’s most distinguished HIV/AIDS researchers, Dr. Suniti Solomon. This lecture was attended by 200 people. The title of Dr. Solomon’s talk was “Shaping the Response to the AIDS Epidemic in India and Engaging in a Culturally Appropriate Plan of Action.”
More about Dr. Suniti Solomon: http://www.yrgcare.org/overview/dr.suniti.htm

2003: ARVIND PANAGARIYA
           
The inaugural Solanki Lecture, featured economist Arvind Panagariya, Bhagwati Professor of Economics at Columbia. He spoke on comparative development issues between China and India. The title of his talk was “Why India Lags Behind China and What To Do About It.” 
More about Dr. Arvind Panagariya: http://www.columbia.edu/~ap2231/