There are many arbitrary signs --written, painted or printed-- which have acquired a kind of conventional significance. And before we start analyzing their effects into our intelligence, we find them expressing directly or indirectly by an image, form, or model. Ambiguity is a cap on their expressions however, for always not an expression's meaning can be determined from its context alone. A Freudian sketch entitled as "What on a Man's mind," at its first sight appears vulgar for its sheer portrayal of naked women, provoking criticisms from stern moralists, traditional feminists and disciplinarians. Still, it pictorially recapitulates Sigmund Freud's philosophy of the male libido for those who have understood Freud and interpret the sketch on that light. The sketch patently represents the man who thinks about sex all the time. Through this portrayal, Freud tries to prove that this model is universally valid. This sketch also reflects Freud's understanding of ancient Greek mythology on Oedipus, who made love with his mother and butchered his own father. Freud has named his theory as Oedipus complex. It is a complex of males upon a desire to possess the mother sexually and to exclude the father. Some modern Psychoanalysts however consider it as a source of personality disorders if unresolved. The argument over this issue also seeks social and cultural interpretations, on the sidelines of psychological and aesthetic reading.

The picture is of a man whose mind is deeply absorbed in thought of a woman completely unclothed. An admirer of Freud would undoubtedly love to hang the sketch on his/her study room but he shall feel insecure and timid whenever a visitor concerning with the distinction between good and evil or right and wrong comes up with a question: what is the motive behind hanging this trash? "Yes! I know you love and respect Freud but don’t you think it is still offensive and objectionable to the visitors at your room for its lewd delineation," my closest friend Sanjaya had made such remarks once over my status of being fascinated by Freud. I mean, what about those who don't have read Freud and are not aware to his sexual and psychological theories! Take the example of Sanjaya.

Would it not evoke the feeling of moral looseness and lasciviousness to the spectator! It does, at least in the Third World country like Nepal where still sexual imageries are taken as tending to moral laxity. Hence, despite of its aesthetic beauty and the sexual-psychological construal, the sketch is vulgar, lewd and obscene. But this statement seems ironic, paradoxical, and persists as an utterance of a hypocrite when we come to know that most of the upper layers of the threshold to Hindu temples are decked by sexual imageries evoking mythical interpretations of sex. The place of worship is always considered holier than any room dwelled by people like me! After all, former is the place built for the worship of a deity. "But what we care is not about what is painted, it is our religious devotion which predominates our mood after we enter the place of worship consisting of an edifice for the worship of a deity," said Shikhar Paudel, a regular visitor to Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu. Paudel stays close to the old Hindu temple, whose doorway is adorned with a skeleton posing a long phallus against a painted female sex organ.

Let me exemplify more on the ambiguous facade of the symbols and their usages (relevance? authenticity?) with a pro-communist symbol of the hammer and sickle overlapping each other. It actually indicates an association with Communism, a Communist party, or a Communist state. Hammer and sickle, are the symbols of the industrial proletariat and the peasantry respectively. Placing them together symbolizes the unity between the labors at industry and workers at the field, to terminate the rule of what they call "impressive" feudalists, capitalists, and imperialists. The emblem of hammer and sickle was actually conceived during the Bolshevik revolution. It drew people's attention after it was incorporated into the red flag of the Soviet Union along with the Red star. The Red Army and the Red Guard wore it as the revolutionary emblem on their uniforms, medals, and caps. The Communist Party of China along with the Maoist group, Shining Path in Peru uses it as the party symbol. However, Hungary, Lithuanian, and Poland have banned all the communist symbols, including the emblem of the hammer and sickle.

The argument over this issue also seeks philosophical and political interpretation on the sideline of political and economic reading. As the insignia of hammer and sickle represents the inevitable unity between the hammer users at the industries and the sickle users at the field to overthrow the landlords, capitalists, and imperialists, the issue is entirely political.

The emblem on the flag of the former Soviet Union "Hammer and sickle," typified a need for ultimate revolution for the betterment of peasants and industry workers, but at the same time it drew a thick line between those who have control over means of production and those who are devoid of. Encouraging one class to declare war against the other class group for equality is a polemical motive for those who deem that a utopian society cannot be created on the blood of one economic class. Butchering rich and pleased is not a solution. It is a violence of one group against the other. At least to guys like Anjan Sigdel, a Master level student in the Kathmandu-based St.Xavier's College, who came up with a different opinion when his tutor posed a question to the class: What is your identity? One immediately popped up with an answer "I am Leftist, sir!" There was the other sharp-eyed guy who said, "I am from Gurung community, so my identity is Gurung. The question fell like an axe on Anjan's desk and we heard him saying: Man's identity is not that much easy to define and classify sir, I guess. Meanwhile he asserted in a modest, soft tone, "In the morning, I am a son to my parents... during the afternoon, I am an employee to an institution... inside the bus, I am a passenger... on the footpaths I am pedestrian... and yes ... inside this class I am a student to my teachers and friends to my buddies.” The mood of the class took a U-turn when he said, "how can we be identified by a mere single ideology?" Countries dwelled by Anjans in majority have banned the use of the symbol of the hammer and sickle, while some states are using it as a visible symbol; sometimes even to promote their national image.

Mona Lisa is another ambiguous figure, which illustrates a female face. Mona Lisa is a 16th century oil painting on poplar wood by the far-famed Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. All agrees that it is an enigmatic facial expression of a woman gazing at the spectator. The half-length portrait is considered mysterious regarding the true identity of the woman in the portrait, and second is the smile. "First she is smiling. Then the smile fades. A moment later the smile returns only to disappear again. What is with this lady's face? How did the great painter capture such a mysterious expression and why haven't other artists copied it," wondered Sandra Blakeslee in her NY Times article, "What is it with Mona Lisa's Smile?It's You!"

If you have looked at Mona Lisa's eyes, you may have noticed that no matter from which angle you are looking at them, they will appear to gaze back at you. Owing to this, we can at least speculate for a while: had Leonardo Da Vinci painted himself by using something like a mirror! No matter from which angle you look at your reflection, the reflection's eye appears to be looking back at you! One school of thought says all speculations about the identity of the Mona Lisa have been winnowed out following a discovery by Dr. Armin Schlechter, a manuscript expert. The opposing school says, there are not sufficient evidences to prove that one Lisa del Giocondo was indeed the model for one of the most famous portrait in the world.