Writing inane stuff to retain my sanity

It has been just that kind of week/month/quarter - I really cannot remember farther than that! 

I work for an organisation that has its fiscal year end on 31st October every year and the last couple of months typically are chaos - well, mildly organised chaos at least. And while wallowing in such chaos, one comes across very rare moments of sanity and does something that, on reflection, appears to be actually useful.

Here are some pics of what I was up to while trying to maintain my sanity.

Here, I believe a word about ASA Pens is in order. Run by Mr. L. Subramaniam of Chennai, these pens are like a breath of fresh air and for the quality you get, these easily tick the "extremely affordable" and "value for money" boxes.

As an aside, other notable pen manufacturers from India include Ranga pens (based in Thiruvallur in Tamil Nadu), Ratnam pens and Guider pens - both based in Rajamumdhry, Deccan pens based in Hyderabad and some others like Fosfor pens from Pune who make extremely beautiful custom pens.

In the past few weeks, I have found that there is always one ASA pen inked up and ready to use when I reach for something to write with. In the past couple of weeks, I have used the ASA Rainbow and the ASA Popsicle and they have me completely hooked by their fantastic balance in my hands.

If you are interested, there are links to purchase the ASA Rainbow and Popsicle below. Also here is a review of the ASA Rainbow by a fellow Fountain Pen enthusiast.

Hope you liked this.

Get an ASA Rainbow

Get an ASA Popsicle

Read a review of the ASA Rainbow

Currently Inked: "Customised Service"

Currently Inked: "Customised Service"

I have these two wonderful pens inked up and in service right now.

1. Ratnamson Supreme with custom 14K Gold nib and inked up with Kale Blue ink.

2. A custom pen created by Fosfor pens with a Broad Jowo nib unit and inked with Montblanc Leonardo Red Chalk ink.

Pens From Mumbai Shops - Inspired By Aurora 88

An old post from Fountain Pen Network.

I was going through the pen box and saw a few pens that I had picked up from many Mumbai stationery shops. These were from the mid-1990s to early 2000s when I had a field job and had to traverse through all parts of Mumbai. I popped into every pen shop as a habit and picked up whatever I liked.

While there are many pens, I want to start with these three which were clearly inspired by the Aurora 88 contemporary pen. I have a couple of Senator pens and another Flair pen that were inspired by the Pelikan M200 and M400. I will post those pictures too.

I got these in local stationary shops in Mumbai for prices in the $8 to $12 range in local currency. I have tried very hard, but have not been able to get any more of these - even at the same shops. Most shops these days carry chinese pens like Baoer and Jinhao.

All of these are piston-fillers with nib & feed units that screw out. All of these have steel nibs that are uncalibrated, but write a Fine to Medium-Fine line. The age clearly shows on these pens as for a long time, these pens were ignored and kept in "less than perfect" conditions.

From Left to Right: Orchid Black with Gold accents, Orchid Blue with Steel Cap and Gold accents, Flair President Black with Gold Accents.

I have another Flair President, but the nib-feed section is broken as is the piston.

The Orchid pens came as sets of Fountain pens and ballpoint pens.

The Flair President

Orchid with Blue Body

The Black Orchid

Hope you liked this. 

Currently Inked: Black and Blacker - The Dark Side of the Pen

Currently Inked: Black and Blacker - The Dark Side of the Pen

This time, we feature a couple of Black pens - both with Black ink and (incidentally), both are customized with my name on them.

1. Italix Churchman's Prescriptor - with a Broad Stub nib and the ink is Mont Blanc Mystery Black.

2. ASA Sinper - with a Broad German nib and filled with Noodler's Anti-Feather (X-Feather) Ink.

Currently Inked: A mix of brown, blue-black, and transparent blue

Currently Inked: A mix of brown, blue-black, and transparent blue

Back again after a hiatus due to (what else?) work pressure and here are our pens.

1. Danitrio cum-Laude in a beautiful brown-marbled finish and the ink is Hero Blue-Black - another ink that I picked up from Dalian.

A funny thing was that I got blue-blacks and reds, but no blues and blacks in the shop. I believe they exist, though.

2. ASA Galactic - with a Broad German nib and filled with the ubiquitous Kale Blue Ink. I like to call this combination blue-smoke.

Currently Inked: Black on Black and Transparent Blue

Currently Inked: Black on Black and Transparent Blue

Back again after a hiatus due to work pressure and here are our pens.

1. Franklin-Christoph No. 19 with a Broad nib and Parker Quink Black ink.
2. Click Demonstrator pen with a Kim Broad Stub nib and Kale Blue ink.

Finally - A proper wax seal

Finally got a wax seal that does not look ugly or burnt or in any way distorted. Photos below of both my wax seal and the output.