Indian envoy unveils project exploring diversity in faiths

• Amit Roy
• 29 November, 2024

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By: Amit Roy

INDIA’S high commissioner in the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, has hosted a reception at his residence in London to express support for a project called JLF Voices of Faith.

It is being curated by Teamwork Arts, the organisation that produces the Jaipur Literary Festival. Eastern Eye is the media partner of JLF London.

“We, in India, feel if there is one country that can talk about faith and the idea of faith being a diverse experience, then it really is us,” Doraiswami told guests gathered at his residence in Kensington Palace Gardens.

“From every known major religious tradition in the world, you have it represented in India and usually from its oldest incarnations,” Doraiswami added.

In a statement to explain Voices of Faith, the organisers said: “As the world continues to grapple with challenging times, we are all learning new ways of survival and reflecting on deeper truths. We are curious about the meaning faith gives to our understanding of our evolving reality – whether personal or in a larger context.

“Teamwork Arts, supported by the Kamini and Vindi Banga Family Trust, curated a new online series under its JLF Brave New World umbrella – Voices of Faith – that sought to make sense of our troubled times through the timeless wisdom and philosophy of spiritual thinkers through centuries. Truths that resonate now and answer questions of the present.

“Through this series, we have explored the cultural history, spirituality, the meaning behind ritualistic traditions, and the philosophical contours of religions and their holy texts, spanning Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Bhakti and Sufism, through the lens of our speakers and their perspectives.”

Doraiswami said: “The purpose of today’s exercise is to introduce an idea and a project around the notion of faith, not as a conversation around religion, because that’s never going to be an easy subject, particularly in today’s polarised word, but around the celebration of faith and everything that goes with it – music and the arts and the notion that there is more commonality in what we seek to find in faith, rather than things that divide us.

“And, so, the initiative is to bring people who will speak about it, who will celebrate the traditions of it in the most thoughtful, practical and learned way.”

He pointed out that “Teamwork runs the Jaipur Literature Festival, which is, I think, the biggest literature platform. They run a series of global cultural events in cities as diverse as Hong Kong, Denver, Colorado, Cairo, Maldives and South Africa.

“The Teamwork team have the ability to be able to draw upon not just India’s cultural and academic heritage, but also from Bollywood to the universities and everything in between, as well as global speakers of the highest quality. It absolutely makes sense.”

The 10 podcasts done so far include: Ramcharitmanas: Then and Now (Pavan K Varma and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni in conversation); Tales from the Qu’ran and Hadith (Rana Safvi in conversation with Manimugdha S Sharma); Across Boundaries: The Spirit of Christmas (Michael Williams, John Varghese, Margaret Alva and Paul Swarup in conversation with Deepak Mukarji); and Peaceful Heart: The Buddhist Practice of Patience (His Eminence Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche in conversation with Puneeta Roy).

Sanjoy K Roy, managing director of Teamwork, said at the reception last Wednesday (20): “Our idea of Voices of Faith came about during Covid. We said, ‘Why don’t we look at getting some information out about philosophies that are behind these religions?’

“How can we use considered information and knowledge to push back on what we know is the WhatsApp University? Can we use that in some way to break down ignorance, and by breaking down ignorance, perhaps push back on hatred, which is so easy. It’s a virus. By pushing back on hatred, can we make some kind of difference on violence?

“When we set up JLF Voices of Faith, we did 10 episodes online, and we had over five million people watching them. It was about the spiritual connect. It was about the philosophy, and about celebrating differences.”

One of the interlocuters was Pavan K Varma, a former diplomat and author, whose books include Being Indian: the truth about why the twenty-first century will be India’s. He is a former director of the Nehru Centre in London.

“You get to understand a religious concept through music, and, of course, through food,” Roy said.

“It’s also going to be a global podcast and a global video broadcast that we’re going to do and try and see if we can make a difference.

“Can we do a sort of holistic offering? Our traditional partners have been the British Library, where JLF continues to operate year on year. We celebrated 10 years last year. We’ve got the Barbican (another partner) in this room here. And we’ve got the London School of Economics – we are partnering with their religious study department.”

He posed the question: “Can we give the next generation something more to take forward and leave a safer, more empathetic and respectful space?

He set out why JLF was equipped to take on the task: “The Jaipur Literary Festival reaches out to about 25 million followers across the world. And where are these people from? Internationally, one and two are US and UK, but number three and four are China and Germany. Five is Indonesia. Six is Uzbekistan. It is people from across the world. We’re hoping by reaching out to them maybe we can start conversations. This will be the beginning of what we hope will be a larger movement for JLF Voices of Faith.”

He thanked businessman Vindi Banga and his wife, Kamini, for their financial support – “they have become part of our investor board in recent years”.

Vindi’s younger brother, Ajay, is the president of the World Bank.

Manvinder (“Vindi”) Singh Banga’s CV says “he worked at Unilever for 33 years, where was on the Unilever executive board and he held roles including chairman and CEO of Hindustan Unilever and president of the Global Foods, Home and Personal Care businesses. He subsequently became a partner at private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. He has served as a senior non-executive director at Marks & Spencer and at GlaxoSmithKline. He also serves as the chairman of Marie Curie and as a non-executive director of The Economist Group. In September 2021 he was appointed as chair of UK Government Investments, the governance and corporate finance arm of the UK Government, highlighting his extensive leadership experience.”

Banga told the gathering: “What we would love to do is find a way to bring those voices of knowledge, of education, to many more people. When we were discussing this with Sanjoy and Vikram, we said let’s make a start where we live – in London. London is the epicentre of the modern world.”

His wife, Kamini, revealed how she got involved: “It started one day when Sanjoy sent me a podcast during Covid. I’m a non-believer. I have to say that. That’s a disclaimer, but I am a Hindu. Grew up very strongly entrenched in Hindu values, but learned everything through osmosis.

“He sent me a podcast by Pavan Varma, and out of curiosity, I heard it, and I thought, ‘Oh, my god, I don’t know anything about Hinduism.’ So I said, ‘Let’s do two more.’ He said, ‘Okay, will you pay for it?’ As always. I said, ‘Yes.’

“Then I thought, we don’t want clerics, we want scholars. We want people like Pavan. And I was amazed at the podcast. These guys were articulate. They’ve done such wonderful research, and I learned more and more about these religions. So we did 10 podcasts in the series.

“I strongly believe that everybody should listen to this. He came back with, ‘We have to do it on every religion.’ And I thought, yes, because Vindi and I’ve always thought comparative religion should be taught in schools, especially since the way we are growing up is getting more fragmented.”