Guilty As Charged 3 - Lechery

8x8 inches (unframed); Watercolour and Pen drawing on Executive Bond paper (Click on image to enlarge)

A Shaikh beheld a harlot, and quoth he,

“You seem a slave to drink and lechery”;

And she made answer, “What I seem I am,

But, Master, are you all you seem to be?”

- Omar Khayyam

Guilty As Charged 2 - Wrath

8x8 inches (unframed); Watercolour and Pen drawing on Executive Bond paper (Click on image to enlarge)

“I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow.”

- William Blake quotes (English visionary Mystic, Poet, Painter and Engraver. 1757-1827)

Guilty As Charged 1 - Sloth

8x8 inches (unframed); Watercolour and Pen drawing on Executive Bond paper (Click on image to enlarge)

"I am overcome by my own amazing sloth…Can you please forgive me and believe that it is really because I want to do something well that I don't do it at all?"

-Elizabeth Bishop, Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the National Book Award winner in 1970, and the recipient of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1976.

Promises of Promiscuity

20.5x28.5 inches; Pen drawing on handmade paper with watercolour wash (Click on image to enlarge)
SOLD. In private collection

Our eyes avoid meeting

Like moths evading darkness

But words keep spilling around

Leading us by the hand

Into meandering alleys

Dead ends...

Of old forgotten cities.

We recognize the charade

Yet, we indulge

For the sake of appearances

A fleeting glance meets

Catches flame!

We see each in the eyes of the other

Burning, a mirror of mutual shame.

Don’t take off that mask of words

The fine web of silk will tear

Revealing the dark circles

Under our smiles.

Cracks will show

In the walls of our hearts

The emotions all piled up in a row.

Keep the doors and windows barred

The curtains down, shrouded...

For fear our precious image gets tarnished.

A masterpiece so carefully crafted

With half truths and ruse

By the dust of dreams, the bile of regret

And spotless virtue, as our muse.

- Rudra Kishore Mandal

Tiny Deceptions 4 - The Golden Fawn (Mirage)

3.5x5.5 inches; Watercolor and Pen drawing on executive bond paper (Click on image to enlarge)

Under a sheepskin, a wolf may hide

Under a flower, a snake

Yet the fault lies in our pride  

If we can’t spot the fake

- Rudra Kishore Mandal

Tiny Deceptions 3 - The Red Herring (Fallacy)

5.5x3.5 inches; Watercolor and Pen drawing on executive bond paper (Click on image to enlarge)

Ruthless mind brimming with unspoken words

Misleading glances hide cruel intent

Cloaks make the cuts deeper from pointy swords

Reality hurts when dreams are spent. 

- Rudra Kishore Mandal

Tiny Deceptions 2 - Two Faced Snake (Double Speak)

3.5x5.5 inches; Watercolor and Pen drawing on executive bond paper (Click on image to enlarge)

Tell me this and tell me that,

Don’t reveal the fault

But riddle it with fat.

Serve it hot with a pinch of salt.

- Rudra Kishore Mandal

Tiny Deceptions 1 - The Little Birdie (rumor)

5.5x3.5 inches; Watercolor and Pen drawing on executive bond paper (Click on image to enlarge)

Words waft in the wind

Like dandelion seeds

Searching for a fertile mind

To germinate into cruel deeds.

- Rudra Kishore Mandal

Water Ballet

20.5x28.5 inches; Pen drawing on acid free textured paper with watercolour wash (Click on image to enlarge)

The first time I had seen a swan was in a depiction of Goddess Saraswati, sitting and playing the veena on a beautiful white bird, in a calendar image. I had fallen in love with the milky whiteness, the curvaceous neck and the beautiful depiction of plumage. Somehow the image of that bird got stuck in my memory. Somehow that bird symbolized serenity and grace for me. The story of ‘The Ugly Duckling’ only enhanced this imagery in my mind. So many times I have scribbled the letter ‘S’ and transformed it into an idealized design of a swan in my school books. I kept seeing the swan in logos and designs on packets of sweets. The logo of Ramkrishna Mission was very attractive to me once. I have only seen a couple of swans once at our local zoo, and yes I was mesmerized by the way they were gliding around in the artificial pond. Then I watched the ballet ‘Swan Lake’ on television and I was completely enamoured with the beautiful concept. The beautiful imaginary tale ignited my passion for the graceful bird once again. I also read a story about Zeus taking the form of a swan to entice and impregnate Leda, quite an erotic tale it was.  Today, when I look back at my obsession with the lovely bird in my growing years, I feel I was searching for the swan in me all through those years. I guess we all have our swans hidden inside us and only a few can perceive them when they look at us and hence what is ugly to the world becomes so beautiful to a few chosen beholders. I am not yet sure if I, ‘the ugly duckling’ have matured into a swan yet, but this painting is my humble offering to those birds who glide and dance in water captivating me with such beauty, grace and tranquility. 

Sebastian

12x12 inches; Watercolour and Pen drawing on executive bond paper (Click on image to enlarge)
SOLD. In private collection

Sliced by the hands of fate

Criss-crossing lanes

On the palm

Of your hand

Each turn

A choice you make

Each twist

The noose

Around your neck

Either Slackens

Or tightens

Without respite

No way out

Of the maze

Living with the choices

You make

Or dying for them

Whether the heart

Or the mind

You follow

You are twice martyred

And you believe

You have lived.

- Rudra Kishore Mandal

Amba

12x12 inches; Watercolour and Pen drawing on executive bond paper with (Click on image to enlarge)
SOLD. In private collection

Unwanted

Uprooted

Patronized

Tolerated

And yet unwanted

Bounced

From court

To court

Invalidated

In Love rejected

Undesired

Of being

Of soul

Denied

Defined Of existence

Limited

Constrained

Mutilated

Defamed

By vows and absence

Embraced

Consoled

Nurtured

Rejuvenated

Blooming in self love

Revolting

Offending

Sacrificing

Disregarding

What’s dictated from above

Defying

Denying

Slaughtering

Castrating

What’s accepted as respectable

Amba stands

Unchallenged

Yet vulnerable.

- Rudra Kishore Mandal