Urmi Chanda

Writer, Peacebuilder, Interfaith Researcher

Scroll.in •

‘History for Peace Tracts’: Truths, histories may be multifaceted but peaceful existence is the goal

Blurring the lines between myth and history and reconstructing it according to a tinted worldview is how the past is often distorted, and the present, polarised, in India today. This is the way stories are now worryingly told and heard in countless drawing rooms, as they are on social media and messaging platforms. This is why book series like The History for Peace Tracts by Seagull Books, which offers clear-eyed views on the subject, are more important than ever.
eShe •

Building an arsenal of peace in a world wracked with armed conflict

Ukraine. Manipur. Sudan. Congo. Palestine. As the list of places reeling under acute humanitarian crises grows heartbreakingly long, I am often given to despair. But then I remind myself that it is a luxury not afforded to those of us living in safety and privilege, and there is much to be done.

Forty-five years after the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People was first observed, the world is not only still grappling with much the same conflicts, but in fact facing incre
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‘The Indians’: Historians tell the many histories of India with humanness and scholarly objectivity

The ICHR has been tasked by the State to write a multi-volume revised history of India – no, Bharat – and one can reasonably guess the nature of its contents. While their stated intention of including neglected or forgotten histories deserves praise, their omissions-by-design stink of bigotry.

This breathtaking width of topics is necessary to accommodate the intention of the book, that is, to map the “histories” of a civilisation. Note that the title is purposefully plural because the story of India is the story of each one of us; stories told in multiples, and indeed sometimes, in contradictions.
Sapan News •

What a new Bollywood film and a recent fatal car crash reveal about road safety in Southasia

The loss of Manoj and Priyanka’s lives and the devastation of Ishika’s is a tale that is repeated all too often in Southasia. While the region has only 10 percent of the world’s vehicle fleet, it accounts for 25 percent of the global crash fatalities, reports the World Bank. ...

Both the state and citizens must step up to create and follow safety norms so that these perfectly avoidable losses may be minimised, and stories of the living are not so cruelly cut short. Perhaps the film Ghoomer will help put the spotlight on this issue.
Sapan News •

Love in the time of conflict: The making of India’s first forum for interfaith arts and dialogue

The creator and curator of India’s first-ever forum for interfaith art and dialogue reflects on the vision, inspirations, challenges, and lessons from the recent three-day event in Mumbai.

Those at the opening ceremony of In Sync: India’s first forum for Interfaith Arts and Dialogue earlier this month saw a rather frazzled emcee, bumbling her way through the script. Many would not have known in those awkward initial moments that the emcee was also the creator, curator, researcher, writer, designer, marketer, project coordinator, and producer of the event. They would not have known the absolute chaos of the last few weeks.
Sapan News •

“It was a daunting task bringing three faith traditions together” – writer-director of unusual play on Mother Mary

For three days this week in April 2023, the St. Andrews Centre for Philosophy and Performing Arts in Bandra, Mumbai, was the site of the unfolding of an unusual story. Morning Star, a play written and directed by sociologist Dr Omkar Bhatkar, presented a perspective that is rare in mainstream narratives. For 120 minutes, the audience could co-imagine the life of Mary before she became the blessed mother of Jesus Christ. While most stories about Mary start at the annunciation, i.e. when the angels told Mary about her extraordinary mission, Morning Star ends at that milestone.
Southasia Peace Action Network •

Rise in Interfaith, Intercultural Events Around India Kindles Hope

Does the plethora of interfaith and intercultural events in February indicate a resurging respect for India’s pluralistic culture?

25 February 2023: The poetry of 17th-century mystic Bulleh Shah at a nine-day cultural festival (Feb 18 – 27) on ‘Unity in Diversity’ (lead image) beautifully underscores the point of the programme.

The venue is the Chowpatty campus of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, the well-known education charitable trust in Mumbai...
Outlook India •

Kala Ghoda Art Festival: Artist Sufia Khatoon’s Million Prayers For Peace

She said, “I wanted this installation to be a living, breathing testimony of people’s need for peace, and hence had included only works of living poets.”

The loss of this life underscores in the saddest yet most poignant manner possible the need for art like this. It reminds us that not just Russia and Ukraine, but perhaps all of us need to pick up, commit to, and incessantly wave that white flag of peace, much like Sufia has.
ThePrint •

How do you recognise 'peace literature'? It is the new boom in South Asia

Ever since the Nobel Peace Prize was first conferred in 1901, the list of peace prizes has only grown, with honours being instituted each year to recognise the efforts of people. That was a century that saw much war. A host of humanitarian workers, social leaders, faith actors, and human rights activists have been conferred these awards for their work. However, there is a manner of peace work that warrants more recognition — the literary kind.