September 5, 2014
Jogen Chowdhury to sketch for Parliament Calendar
Parliamentarians are in for a visual treatcome 2015. Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Jogen Chowdhury, who is a veteran painter,has been asked by the Secretary General of Rajya Sabha to do twelve sketcheswith the Parliament as the theme.
These sketches will be compiled in the formof a calendar for 2015 and will be distributed among all members of the LokSabha and the Rajya Sabha as well as to the senior Parliament officials. Thecalendar will be ready in December, 2014 for distribution.
“I am thrilled and excited. I readilyagreed to the proposal of the Secretary General when he approached me,” saidJogen Chowdhury, who will be beginning his work next month. Trinamool family isextremely happy and proud of the iconic painter of Bengal.
Artistin Residence
Chowdhury is the first 'Artist inResidence' at Rashtrapati Bhavan as part of the 'In-Residence Scheme forWriters and Artists' started by President Pranab Mukherjee, since August 4.Incidentally, his first stint in Delhi was also at Rashtrapati Bhavan back in1972, where he was curator of art for 15 years.
Drawinghis colleagues
While most parliamentarians draw on theirdebating skills, Trinamool MP in Rajya Sabha Jogen Chowdhury prefers to drawhis debating colleagues.
Jogen Chowdhury, an eminent painter andmaster of line drawing, has been quietly at work, seated in the back rows ofthe opposition benches. Even while following the proceedings and taking downnotes, he has been closely observing fellow members of the upper House andsketching them.
RajyaSabha Diary
Though he has completed only 25-oddsketches since he joined the House in April, Chowdhury hopes to be able tocapture more of the 245 MPs and their moods over his six-year term. He plans topublish his collection in the form of a Rajya Sabha Diary. The compilation islikely to be a unique documentation of contemporary politics, whenever it isready.
Among those he has sketched are CPM leaderSitaram Yechury, Congress's Ghulam Nabi Azad, RS deputy chairman P J Kurien,home minister Rajnath Singh, nominated member and lyricist Javed Akhtar, HRDminister Smriti Irani, JD(U) MP Ramnath Thakur and CPI leader D Raja, amongothers.
