Art and Literature in the Age of Technology Discussed by PUAA

Technology and Art will be engineering our future – Rajan Kashyap
Chandigarh sunita shastri:Panjab University Alumni Association, in collaboration with Department of English and Cultural Studies, under the stewardship of Prof. Deepti Gupta, Dean Alumni Relations organized a web lecture on “Art and Literature in the Age of Technology” by Sh. Rajan Kashyap and Prof. Gurdeepak Singh . This was clubbed with an inaugural session for the new batch of MA English students.Prof. Deepti Gupta, Dean Alumni Relations and Chairperson, Department of English and Cultural Studies welcomed the students and introduced Prof. Pratibha Nagpal, Dr. Meenu Gupta, Prof. Akshay Kumar and Mr. Sudhir Mehra to the students. . Prof. Gupta, while welcoming the students , informed them about the syllabus, timetable, subject specialisations, career choices, assessments and the department library. She urged the students to be punctual in online classes too and attended to their queriesMr Rajan Kashyap,IAS,(Retd), former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Punjab discussed how various writers and philosophers like Yuval Noah Harari in Homo Deus and Aldous Huxley in Brave New World predicted the breakneck speed of technology and its application to every aspect of human activity. For this we would survey very briefly the role that art and literature played historically even as economic and technological change was in progress. He quoted one of India’s great philosophers, Professor Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan and said “In spite of the fact that the great scientific inventions have liberated us from servitude to nature, we seem to suffer from a type of neurosis, from cultural disintegration. Science has relieved us of grinding poverty, mitigated the tortures of physical pain. Yet we suffer from an inward loneliness.” He did a critical survey of literature and how it changes with trends in society. He discussed Indian literary texts like the Vedas and Upnishads, western philosophers like Plato and Aristotle. He discussed different literary ages and the influence of the socio economic condition on Art and Literature.Prof. Gurdeepak Singh, Professor and Director – International Education, Gian Jyoti Group of Institutions, Mohali, discussed the impact of the changing environment, driven by technology, on creativity and vice versa. He discussed the digitisation of Arts and how technology has made available new tools for expression. In this however, some bad art is also being created. The brush pen charcoal is being replaced by a click of the mouse. Sometimes the Art upon conclusion is very different from the Artist’s conception. He said that Technology and Art will be engineering our future. He then discussed the hope and direction for Art and Literature and said that restoration of nature’s balance, psychology, separation, loss, death, disillusion with advance and optimism through faith will be a recurrent theme with the writers and artists the world over. Mr Rajan Kashyap concluded the webinar with his own very touching poem titled ‘My Very Own Prison’ that tells us about how a person feels in the present pandemic.Earlier,Ms Sonia Chandel from PUAA introduced the guest speakers Sh Rajan Kashyap and Prof. Gurdeepak Singh to all the participants. Both the speakers were alumni of Panjab University.Mr Rajan Kashyap was a member of Indian Administrative Service from 1965 to 2003. He is an Alumnus of the Department of English and cultural studies. He got first position in his Masters in 1963 and taught in the department as a tutor for two years. He then joined civil services and has held many important appointments like Deputy Commissioner, Ropar; Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India; Secretary to Governor, Punjab; Managing Director, MARKFED; Principal Secretary, Government of Punjab, for various departments, Finance, Health, Science, Technology, Environment, Technical Education etc. and Chief Secretary, Govt. of Punjab.She informed that Prof. Gurdeepak Singh has worked as Senior Scientific Officer with Punjab State Science & Technology, worked in Government of Punjab for computerization of State Assembly Budget, was Regional Director for bksb, skills anytime, India – subsidiary of West Nottinghamshire College, UK(an online English eLearning tool, designed to help people improve their English). He has been instrumental in setting up International Education ventures in India. He is on the advisory panel of different National and International Tertiary Education Institutions. The webinar aimed to consider the place of art and literature in the technology driven world of today.There was a very interesting interactive session with the students later on where they asked many questions from the speakers. Prof. Akshay Kumar proposed a vote of thanks.