My school included writing with fountain pens from standard V. Ball point pens were a strict no-no and the use of the same would attract a punishment. Fountain pens or ink pens what we called back in the day, were considered crucial in the development of a good handwriting. They were introduced at standard V as this was considered to be the time/age when our handwriting starts stabilizing. I remember well that my mother would make us practise our writing with fountain pens, at least a page every day in some old notebooks and diaries during summer holidays so that it improves for the next academic year. Thanks to that, I think my handwriting, though not the most beautiful ( but still quite beautiful and pearly), is quite legible and nice.
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| A Sample of my pearly writing |
Ball point pens were allowed in my school from standard VIII. I had a book called Luxor Book of Writing (which was borrowed by a friend 14 years back, I am still waiting for it to find its way back to its true abode), which talked of how writing evolved, what can one do to improve writing, different writing tools etc. It was a very engaging book and an unusual topic to be written about. This book talked about taking our pens for a "jog" and the positive impact it would have on our handwriting. This was an amazing concept which inspired me to practise writing a lot.
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| Pen Jogging |
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| Smudging and Feathering Pen Jog |
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| Another Feathering Pen Jog |
I wrote all my major exams from school days until I finished college, using fountain pens. As I was a science student, all my lab records were also written using fountain pens. Any essays and assignments which were required to be handwritten, were again in fountain pens.
Though I use ball point pens a lot, I do write almost everything in my journal using fountain pens. I have quite a few fountain pens and though I love them a lot, I cannot write about all of them in great detail. I will just write about 3 of my favourites.
None of my fountain pens are extraordinarily expensive. The most expensive fountain pen that I own as of now must be around Rs.350. Fountain pens prices can range anywhere between Rs.25 to Rs.5 lakh or more. All of them are quite practical pens and write well with any ink on any paper. To me, this is the most important quality of a good pen. According to me, no matter how expensive your fountain pen is, it is not of good quality if it needs special inks and special paper to write on. Good fountain pens are those that write well irrespective of which ink you use in it and which paper you write on, as long as it writes legibly. I must admit some of my pens did "feather" but I got them repaired.
Most of my fountain pens, owned currently were bought from the Deccan Pen Stores in Hyderabad- either the Abids branch or the Ameerpet branch.
My first and most favourite pen is from Skyglory. I call it my Spaceship pen just because it looks like one to me. This pen has a fine nib, both in terms of thickness and quality. This pen requires ink cartridges. I usually pair it up with green ink cartridge from Schneider. It is my favourite due to its small pocket size and smooth writing.
My second favourite pen is from a Chinese brand- Dikawen. It has a lovely bright red body with a copper band and copper clip, and a dual toned nib. The thickness of the nib is medium. I usually like using Royal Blue or Pink or Orange ink with this pen. It can be used with a cartridge or a convertor which can siphon ink from the pot. Since it has a metal body, it is slightly heavy in comparison to pens with plastic bodies. This pen just glides on paper and brightens up my writing and makes it look beautiful.
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| Dual toned nib of Dikawen Pen |
My next favourite is Camlin Pressa. It is a nice student friendly pen with a nice grip and transparent body. It is a pen that needs cartridge and I use it with blue ink usually. It is a very practical pen for daily use and rough work.
Just in case you are interested, my other fountain pens are from the below brands:
- Baoer
- Pilot
- Camlin/ Kokuyo
- Classmate
- Wality
- Pierre Cardin
- Flair
- Hero
- Parker
- Jinhao
I store my fountain pens in a carton that used to contain a light bulb. I am looking to store it in a suitable pen stand,but until I find it, I am quite happy with the current storage arrangement.
That is it from me now, I hope you enjoyed reading my rambling about the fountain pens.
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