Propaganda

 

28.5x20.5 inches; Pen and ink over graphite pencil on coloured drawing paper (Click on image to enlarge)

I look perfectly charismatic
While my innards are swarming with worms
Festering from corruption and bile,
An immaculate Dorian Gray in the vilest norms!

I can conjure up godly avatars
While orchestrating the most demonic of deeds
Knowing, you shall find me innocent
Disregarding what your faculty of reason heeds!

I will stalk you like a predator
While promising you the world of your dream,
Bending the rules to trap the prey
Leaving you crumbs and stealing all the cream!

I can gradually poison your being
While you thank me for being the saintly messiah!
You will imagine you have free will
As I turn you into slavish mobs taming the pariah!

I will rape and plunder with my power
While you stay drugged with hatred and deceit,
No victim shall receive justice or closure
But in turn will be deemed guilty by moral conceit!

I am quite a scoundrel, I know
While you remain confident of my holy character!
Why else try to control public opinion
If not to lead, unchecked, my fattened lambs to slaughter?

Criminal Culture (5) - Stone that 'Sinner'

 

13.5x20.5 inches; Watercolour, pen and ink over graphite pencil on handmade paper (Click on image to enlarge)

I have lied,

I have lived a lie,

I have envied

Those who could love

Without shame or fear,

Anger nagging me

Up the wall of creepy loathing!

I have eaten my own words

And broken shards of promises,

Cut through the tongue of desire...

To find peace in your embrace is taboo!

To find bliss in your kiss, immoral?

For the love of god and honour, you slay

My love of a human as sin?

Pancha Mahabhoota 2 - Apas (the waters)

12x16 inches; Pen drawing on acid free textured paper (Click on image to enlarge)

The Message In A Bottle

The thirst flows through us.

In our veins,

Yours, mine, ours...

The rivers,

Tributaries,

Waterfalls,

Lakes,

Seas and oceans

Alive with life.

The tides form a cycle

Like life itself.

High then ebbs,

Washes the shore

Breaks

And flows...

Carrying the burden

Of sunken ships

And decay.

‘Pure spring water’ says the label

On bottled paranoia

Served chilled

For quenching thirst.

Free of microbes

Causing diarrhoea,

Added  

With extra mineral...

Life guaranteed.

Water bodies choke with litter.

Discarded

Empty bottles

Of ‘pure spring water’,

Toxic waste

Marinated in acid rain,

Chemical cocktails

And oil spills

Alive with death.

Numerous plastic bottles,

Float out

To sea,

Carrying a singular message:

‘If water turns to poison,

Life will cease

Without hope for recycling,

A discarded empty bottle

Floating in the sea!’

- Rudra Kishore Mandal

Guilty As Charged 6 - Avarice

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

Greed's worst point is its ingratitude.

- Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist.

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

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

The Stigma Of Being An Ostrich

13.5x20.5 inches; Pen drawing on handmade paper with watercolour wash (Click on image to enlarge)
SOLD. In private collection

‘Ostrich Syndrome’ is a term used in psychiatry to define a situation of willful ignorance towards uncomfortable situations. It is the refusal of acknowledging something which is blatantly obvious, because one does not want to deal with it. The syndrome is so named because one human, somewhere, believed that an ostrich sticks its head in the sand when faced with danger and the rumor spread like wild fire! Historians believe the saying may have risen from the writings of Pliny the Elder who wrote "...they imagine, when they have thrust their head and neck into a bush, that the whole of their body is concealed" Yet, there is evidence that this is not true. Fact is Ostriches do not stick their heads in the sand or bush to ignore danger (They might do so while looking for food!); we humans do, metaphorically speaking. We are equipped with a defense mechanism called ‘willful ignorance’ which kicks in whenever we are faced with something which threatens our position of power, control or invades our comfort zone. We ignore and wish the threat away and when this does not work, we find a scapegoat to dump the blame on for all the misfortune that has befallen us and scream for retribution. The ostrich surely does not care (And for all we know it might be laughing at our dim-witted behavior) but what about other humans who become victims of stigma, violence and prejudice due to such ignorance? In this era of communication and information boom, it is criminal to remain willfully ignorant. It does not hurt to say, ‘I don’t know but I can find out!’ Awareness is just a click away, and all we do is withdraw more into our wells of ignorance. When we should be inspired to reach out and form more strong human bonds through informed human interactions, all we do is isolate ourselves more within our own castles protecting ourselves from imagined demons! Curiosity seems to have given up its ghost because the answers are so readily available! The power of our collective willful ignorance cannot be overstated and the poor ostrich (along with many other species including humans) is still victimized due to this ‘Human Ignorance Syndrome’! Ironic, isn't it?