new delhi while most parliamentarians draw on their debating skills trinamool congress member in rajya sabha jogen chowdhury prefers to draw his debating colleagues chowdhury an eminent painter and master of line drawing has been quietly at work seated in the back rows of the opposition benches even while following the proceedings and taking down notes he has been closely observing fellow members of the upper house and sketching them though he has completed only 25odd sketches since he joined the house in april chowdhury hopes to be able to capture more of the 245 mps and their moods over his sixyear term he plans to publish his collection in the form of a rajya sabha diary it will have the sketches and writings to go with it both prose and poetry said chowdhury who is known for the caricaturequality of his characters using distortions of form including his selfportraits created earlier in his career the compilation is likely to be a unique documentation of contemporary politics whenever it is ready observing people and their expressions is a hobby there are so many interesting characters around me in the house politics is an interesting area and i see many fascinating faces said the 75yearold energetic artist explaining what inspired this endeavour new to parliament and a political outsider even as he has been an activist chowdhurys main problem is identifying some of the faces that he has been drawing since my seat is in the second last row i have a view of most people in the house from the back the faces are not visible or they are visible only from a certain angle he said planning to shift seats to ensure a better view whenever the house is not full while chowdhury found former pm manmohan singh one of the easiest subjects because he sits absolutely still he is looking forward to profile bsp chief mayawati ib minister prakash javadekar and some southern mps as interesting faces a politicians face is very interesting he said among those he has sketched are cpm leader sitaram yechury congresss ghulam nabi azad rs deputy chairman p j kurien home minister rajnath singh nominated member and lyricist javed akhtar hrd minister smriti irani jdu mp ramnath thakur and cpi leader d raja among others chowdhury is the first artist in residence at rashtrapati bhavan as part of the inresidence scheme for writers and artists started by president pranab mukherjee since august 4 incidentally his first stint in delhi was also at rashtrapati bhavan back in 1972 where he was curator of art for 15 years