Sunday, October 27, 2013

Some photos of pens used during my school days

I have been meaning to put this up for sometime now, Here are some photos of pens I used during my school days.



From L to R: Wing Sung Fountain Pen + Ball-point pen combo, Hero Aerometric (China Pen), Unnamed (probably a Chelpark), Myawadi (my first Cartridge/Converter), Armour with hooded nib, Reymand


Hero Aerometric (China pen)





Wing Sung Fountain Pen + Ballpoint Pen combo





Myawadi Cartridge/Converter



Unnamed - probably Chelpark from the "C" in the nib. 
Yes, those are teeth marks - those were the days before I knew of section pliers or silicone grease. Had to use my teeth! 





Armour pen with Hooded Nib


You can see the tines have separated due to amateur, unnecessary flossing using razor blades and anything else that I could use - when the pen would not write. Of course, I could have just cleaned it, but who uses such a simple solution to such a complicated problem. 


Reymand pen - local Indian make. Again, you can see the light through the tines.



Saturday, October 26, 2013

Inspiration from the movie Kung-fu Panda

The movie Kung-fu Panda, seen superficially, is a children's movie. My daughter loves to watch this movie and so do I. But I feel that the philosophy preached by Masters Oogway and Shifu is very real.

Here are some inspiring quotes I heard in the movie and it is also what has inspired my blog title.

1. Control is an illusion.

2. There are no accidents.

3. There is no secret ingredient.

4. To make something special, you just have to believe it is special.

5. Inner peace!

Another movie - or more specifically, the book - where I feel the psychology is very real is "The Godfather." I will try and post some of my favorite quotes from The Godfather soon.

Enjoy reading and keep writing!

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Pen Resources I Use Frequently

While other posts are still work-in-progress, I thought I would mention some excellent pen resources that I refer quite regularly.

You may have noticed the links on the right side of the post that take you to some pen sites and blogs. Here are some which are absolutely fantastic if, like me, you like fountain pens.

General Site:

Fountain Pen Network

By far, the best forum/site for FP knowledge. Do become a member (if you are not already) – it’s free. The forum topics are pretty well organized and I have generally found people on the forum to be extremely helpful, knowledgeable and quite disciplined. I have not really seen the kind of nasty or personal attacks that I have seen on other such sites. Well moderated and almost everybody contributes seriously. Use the “First Stop - Frequently Discussed Topics” section to start if you are a newbie or go directly to the “View New Content” link on the top right to jump right in and read. You may be surprised to see how many others have the same or similar thoughts, concerns, issues, likes and dislikes as you do…

I became a member and lurked for a long time before jumping in and posting. But, when I started, I was received very warmly and got very sound advice in response to my questions.


Some other sites/blogs give a ton of information and I would especially recommend the following:

Brian Goulet’s www.gouletpens.com site and his www.inknouveau.com blog.

Brian’s Ink Nouveau videos are available on his YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPdFDFTd6P1a__tAr8CrpCQ) and you can also subscribe to his Ink Nouveau Podcast to download and watch videos off-line. Travel was a real PITA till I started downloading and watching these podcast videos off-line…

Do visit the Swab Shop, Nib Nook, Pen Plaza and Fountain of Knowledge links on the www.gouletpens.com site. Very useful.

I should mention that in addition to his evangelism of fountain pens and related stuff, Brian also retails them.


Fountain Pen Geeks www.fpgeeks.com run by the geeks below.
Do visit this site for the Awesome Reviews, Hands-on Reviews, Inkcyclopedia and Forum links.

Oh yes, the Geeks are:

Managing Editor, co-founder: Daniel Smith
Co-founder: Eric Schneider
Ink Reviews Editor: Stephen BRE Brown
News & Reviews Writer: Azizah Asgarali
Cartoonist Laureate: Tim Hofmann


The YouTube Channel of Stephen BRE Brown – one of the geeks mentioned above – (http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeWDDbfQxKv0Cgq_UNpwYpA) is my go to resource to check out pen and ink reviews. In fact, I make it a point to watch his videos before I spend on pens or inks and his reviews are rock solid.

Azizah Asgarali – another of the Geeks mentioned above blogs at www.gourmetpens.com and that is another site I check out quite often.

Ivan aka The Fountain Pen Sith Lord blogs at inktronics.wordpress.com and has very good reviews.

Ken Cavers Custom Pens blog kcavers.blogspot.ca is Fountain Pen eye-candy…

And there are a lot of other blogs I keep reading off and on. This is by no means an exhaustive list, nor is it a complete one. These are just some sites I naturally gravitate to when I open my browser.

Also, in alphabetical order, here is the list of links that appears on my Feedly (RSS) page and in my desktop RSS reader.


Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Nostalgia OR How it began... Part 1

I want to start with why I like Fountain Pens. When we were kids, in the early 80's, we were expected to use pencils till the 4th Standard (Grade/Class). From the 5th Standard, we were expected to use pens. Fountain pens were recommended, but ball-point pens were allowed. Some of our older teachers made it a point to insist on us using fountain pens - sometimes with a rap on our knuckles - literally...

Our school had two buildings and they were creatively called the "Old Building" and the "New Building" – because one was old and the other was new - relatively speaking. Classes for the 5th through 7th standards were in the Old Building. The old building had large airy rooms and desks and benches that were single piece. Every desk-bench combination could seat four students.

These desks were made of wood and they had depressions to keep pens and ink-pots on top of the desk. While I have not really seen anyone place an ink-pot in one of the depressions, we could theoretically do so if we wanted to. Some desks also opened and we could store our school bags in them. I think these desks had character and each desk was unique in its own way - rather like some of our teachers.

The new building had new desk-bench combinations that could seat two students side-by-side. They were also made of wood with metal frames, but no place to keep pens or ink-pots on top of the desk. So in my opinion, they somewhat lacked the character of the old desks.

Anyway, to fountain pens and this is how I was introduced to them. Like everyone else at that time, I used both branded and unbranded locally available eye-dropper pens. Common brands were Doctor, Camel (now called Camlin), Chelpark, Armour, etc. Filling ink was a long and messy business and carrying 2 – 3 such pens in our pencil boxes was messier. Our white shirts were ink magnets and I wish we had recorded the art created by blue ink on white shirts for posterity.

Using a Hero aerometric filler pen (colloquially known as “China Pen”) was a rare treat as was using a Pilot Micro-tip Pen (I learned much later about the Pilot Hi-Tec Point) and we typically used these only for exams or other special occasions.

I will post photos of some of the pens I still own once I figure out how to do it.


Welcome to my Blog

Welcome to my Blog. If you have visited earlier, you may have seen some other posts. I have deleted these as they were not relevant any longer.

I hope to write about my passion - Fountain Pens - and maybe some other things. I have a modest collection of pens and I want to write about them and other assorted things.


There are a number of "Gurus" who are very authoritative and knowledgeable about fountain pens. But I want to write as someone who more as a lay person who loves fountain pens, inks and different types of paper.

Watch this space for more and thanks for reading.


Keep writing!