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Letter from the margins: Pooja S

On a neon orange background, a faint wave pattern runs down the right side. On top, in a yellow rectangle: Design Below, the headline: Letters from the margins Below, a subhead: Inspirations for Indic scripts Next, the session date: 20 October, 2024 Next, in a circular window, a black-and-white portrait of the presenter with their name: Pooja S And below that, a descriptor: Typeface designer, typographer Below, at centre, the logotype for The Goa Project Sessions, which has the words ‘The Goa Project’ in white text next to a stylised sunset-and-water image, and next to that, the word ‘Sessions’ within a stylised video camera image. In a black strip at the bottom: Once every four weeks on Sundays, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. IST, on Zoom.

An award-winning typeface designer, lettering artist and typographer, Pooja divides her time between being a team member at TypeTogether, and her independent practice, Matra Type. At Matra Type, she focuses on design in and for Indic scripts, notably Devanagari, and studies typographic visual languages that emerge in India. Pooja is a devoted collector of ephemera, and writes a newsletter about local type and design curiosities. For over a decade, she has chronicled street lettering around India, and told the stories of these letterforms through type walks, exhibitions, zines, as well as a recent short film.

Code-switching: Sundar Lakshmanan

On a neon green background, a faint wave pattern runs down the right side. On top, in a yellow rectangle: Design Below, the headline: Code-switching Below, a subhead: Shaping scripts for a digital world Next, the session date: 20 October, 2024 Next, in a circular window, a black-and-white portrait of the presenter with their name: Sundar Lakshmanan And below that, a descriptor: Computational linguist Below, at centre, the logotype for The Goa Project Sessions, which has the words ‘The Goa Project’ in white text next to a stylised sunset-and-water image, and next to that, the word ‘Sessions’ within a stylised video camera image. In a black strip at the bottom: Once every four weeks on Sundays, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. IST, on Zoom.

Sundar was launched into the world of languages, somewhat accidentally, and went on to research syntax and phonology, across Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. He has built applications around transliteration and search across languages including Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Malayalam, Tamil, and Vietnamese over the last 20 years. He is passionate about all things language, including etymology and iconicity, where he dabbles in more than what his day job can afford. His other interests are herpetology and cycling.

Enlighten speed: Prajval Shastri

On a neon green background, a faint wave pattern runs down the right side. On top, in a yellow rectangle: Science & Technology Below, the headline: Enlighten speed Below, a subhead: Why is degendering physics do slow? Next, the session date: 22nd September, 2024 Next, in a circular window, a black-and-white portrait of the presenters with their name: Prajval Shastri And below that, a descriptor: Astrophysicist Below, at centre, the logotype for The Goa Project Sessions, which has the words ‘The Goa Project’ in white text next to a stylised sunset-and-water image, and next to that, the word ‘Sessions’ within a stylised video camera image. In a black strip at the bottom: Once every four weeks on Sundays, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. IST, on Zoom.

Prajval Shastri is an astrophysicist for over four decades and investigates giant black holes. After a PhD from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and several post-doctoral years in the USA, she was a faculty of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics for 23 years. She holds Emeritus positions at the Raman Research Institute and ICRAR, Australia. She believes that the cultivation of scientific thinking is for everyone, engaging lay audiences of all ages in multiple languages, and working for the peoples science movement towards this goal. She is deeply concerned about inequities in science. In addition to her research publications and popular articles on astrophysics, she has written on gender inequity as well as science and society.

Writing between the lines: Arunava Sinha

On a neon pink background, a faint wave pattern runs down the right side. On top, in a yellow rectangle: The Arts Below, the headline: Writing between the lines Below, a subhead: The invisible choices a translator makes Next, the session date: 25 August, 2024 Next, in a circular window, a black-and-white portrait of the presenter with their name: Arunava Sinha And below that, a descriptor: Translator, teacher, editor, reader Below, at centre, the logotype for The Goa Project Sessions, which has the words ‘The Goa Project’ in white text next to a stylised sunset-and-water image, and next to that, the word ‘Sessions’ within a stylised video camera image. In a black strip at the bottom: Once every four weeks on Sundays, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. IST, on Zoom.

Arunava Sinha translates Bengali books from Bangladesh and India into English. He also translates books from English and Hindi into Bengali. Over 85 of his translations have been published so far in India, the UK, the US and Australia. He teaches at Ashoka University, where he is also the co-director of the Ashoka Centre for Translation, and is the Books Editor at Scroll.in.

What Google can’t tell you: Prathibha Nandakumar

On a neon green background, a faint wave pattern runs down the right side. On top, in a yellow rectangle: The Arts Below, the headline: What Google can’t tell you Below, a subhead: Translation in the age of machine learning Next, the session date: 25 August, 2024 Next, in a circular window, a black-and-white portrait of the presenters with their name: Prathibha Nandakumar And below that, a descriptor: Author, poet, translator, columnist, film-maker Below, at centre, the logotype for The Goa Project Sessions, which has the words ‘The Goa Project’ in white text next to a stylised sunset-and-water image, and next to that, the word ‘Sessions’ within a stylised video camera image. In a black strip at the bottom: Once every four weeks on Sundays, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. IST, on Zoom.

Pratibha Nandakumar is a poet, journalist, translator, columnist and feminist activist who works in Kannada and English, with 27 books to her credit. She is considered one of the pioneers of modern women’s poetry in Kannada literature. She has presented her poems in major world literary forums and her poems are taught in several global universities. She is the recipient of several prestigious awards including the Infosys Award, the Dr Shivarama Karanth award, and the Mahadevi Verma Kavya Samman.

Turning the tables: Priya Bala & Priya Joshi

On a neon green background, a faint wave pattern runs down the right side. On top, in a yellow rectangle: Fringe & Geekery Below, the headline: Turning the tables Below, a subhead: Wise food choices Next, the session date: 28 July, 2024 Next, in a circular window, a black-and-white portrait of the presenters with their names: Priya Bala & Priya Nair And below that, a descriptor: Writer, chef / Entrepreneur Below, at centre, the logotype for The Goa Project Sessions, which has the words ‘The Goa Project’ in white text next to a stylised sunset-and-water image, and next to that, the word ‘Sessions’ within a stylised video camera image. In a black strip at the bottom: Once every four weeks on Sundays, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. IST, on Zoom.

Priya Joshi spent nearly 25 years in a professional career with large, international experiences in business and organisational transformation. She is an advocate for responsible business and passionate about the development of communities. Priya is an alumna of the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo, Italy. She has a deep understanding of contemporary food systems and through foodwize, is working on educating consumers, strengthening food producing communities and equipping organisations to adopt sustainable food practices.

Priya Bala is a journalist, writer, chef and curator. She is a respected and renowned food critic in Bengaluru. She is also the author of several best selling food guides and books. Her most recent contribution is featured in India International Centre’s publication, Food Cultures of India. Priya runs Yo Colombo, an authentic and sustainable Sri Lankan cloud restaurant. She cares deeply about quality, provenance and responsible practices in the food industry.

Compliments of the chef: Thomas Zacharias

On a neon orange background, a faint wave pattern runs down the right side. On top, in a yellow rectangle: Fringe & Geekery Below, the headline: Compliments of the chef Below, a subhead: Lessons on local, sustainable food Next, the session date: 28 July, 2024 Next, in a circular window, a black-and-white portrait of the presenter with their name: Thomas Zacharias And below that, a descriptor: Chef, entrepreneur Below, at centre, the logotype for The Goa Project Sessions, which has the words ‘The Goa Project’ in white text next to a stylised sunset-and-water image, and next to that, the word ‘Sessions’ within a stylised video camera image. In a black strip at the bottom: Once every four weeks on Sundays, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. IST, on Zoom.

Thomas, popularly known as ChefTZac, founded The Locavore in 2022, as a platform advocating for local food and sustainability with the ethos of #DoingGoodThroughFood. The Locavore transcends traditional culinary boundaries, promoting sustainable practices, thoughtful consumption, and the celebration of food’s cultural significance. Through projects like the Wild Food Project, Millet Revival Project, and Culinary Arts curation at the Serendipity Arts Festival, The Locavore is revolutionising India’s food ecosystem. Zac’s work positions him as a visionary leader, inspiring a movement towards mindful consumption and environmental stewardship in India’s food culture. His commitment to sustainability and cultural preservation is driving significant change in how India approaches food.