Kalam Patua is an artist. 2 works are cataloged here, principally at Victoria and Albert Museum.

Kalam Patua worked on Calcutta’s streets for years, painting tiny Kalighat scrolls that fit in your palm, like pocket-sized stories. He gave these traditional devotional pictures a twist: lovers hiding from nosy neighbors, gods looking awkward in everyday poses. His brush was loose, his lines quick, as if he had seconds to capture the scene before the next customer walked by.

If you like the way folk art feels warm and alive, tap his “Abhisarika” scroll, it’s a moonlit tryst that even gods would envy.