museman

4/06/05

Hyderabad

The writing instrument

Untill around the 12th class...i always used to carry a pen with me. The only otherwise time was when i used to sleep.

But the engineering days were different. Pen was carried only on the day of the exam. And that too on and off. I mean..people were so very paronoid that they wud bring 3-4 pens. Its always easy to find someone with an extra pen on an exam day.

There was a time when i used to believe that the only reason they manage a 70+ % was because of those pens. Anywayz....lets carry on with our dissection of the writing instrument.

All of us would agree that the transition frm 4th to 5th class is a monumental event in most of our lives. Pencil gaya pen aaya.

And in those days there was no other pen than the Reynolds 045. And i remember we used to put in small rolled up papers inside the blue transparent part of the pen with our names on it as a distinguisher. And when quarells ensued on the ownership of the pen,the bully wud claim the pen with more refill.

Then,with the famous Rotomac-likhte likhte love ho jaaye ad of raveena..ppl changed their preference but yours truly struck to his older allegiance with 045. The only time that i changed my pen brand was when i used a Hero pen. With its made in korea tag,they had a charm of thier own. Although i used it only for a week. Three reasons...1)The Hero leaked. My shirts started to bleed with blue color. 2)Being a lefty...its always tuff to write with foutainpens. The nibs are designed for right handers. 3)As was the tradition, i lost the pen after the mandatory week.

And then came the oh-so-wonderful era of jetters and the gel pens. My allegiance changed to Reynolds jetter for abt 5 years and then it was time for Reynolds racer.

Pens also make a fashion statement. If u dont agree...plz see the parker ad of Amitabh Bachan. I always wonder why the Parkers cost so much. Although i wud hve to agree that the arrow symbol of the pen is very elegant. And most of these politicians use pens whose cost runs into 6 figures. I believe i wud never indulge in such things. My idols being the likes of George Fernandes and RamalingaRaju who flaunt their Reynolds 045 with great pride. My strong feeling tht George is innocent in the Coffins scam stems from the fact that he still uses a Reynolds!

Apart from my communist inclination there is another reason why i will never invest much in buying pens. My awesome talent to loose them in the first week of buying them. Better to loose a Rs6 Reynolds than a Rs225 Parker. And i hear there are brands whose starting price runs into lakhs. We should never buy such stuff unless they have all the features that BONDs pens have.

Pens, like newspapers, are public property. The most easy way to loose a pen is to stand idly in banks/post offices/std boothes. There is no dearth of people like me who shamelessly ask for a pen when they need it. Although i wud admit, one of the most embarassing moments of life come when u borrow someones pen in the bank to fill up a DD form and subconciously put the pen into the pocket and the owner tells u,"excuse me sir the pen is mine". The routine of mumbling a sorry and returning the pen with a sheepish smile is a very excruciating affair. A classmate of mine still pesters me abt a parker pen which she claims, i took from her. Although the only parker i have at home is of a friend from whom i took the pen an year ago..promising that i wud return it in a weeks time.

In any bachelors room,one of the biggest battles waged are the ones for the pens on the morning of the exam. And the guiding rule is that the ones who find it, keep it. Somewhere around 2-1 it became an obsession with the class boys to remove pens from others pockets thru deft legerdemain.

And sentiments too. I've got used to writing exams with a reynolds racer for about 18 months now. And for every exam..i either buy a new pen or a new refill from the same store. Has brought me lots of luck.But thats relative though. Others with my marks wud feel devasted.

This association with the writing instrument is for a lifes time. And my wish is that iam still around to gift my grandchild a Reynolds045 fine calibure, when he takes that step forward from 4th to 5th. Welcome to the world of the writing instrument!

My only wish is i get hold of that special fountain pen...which my left-handers-club newsletter states, is manufactured with a nib specially designed for lefty's like me.