Our hands write no more. In our age of laptops and tablet PCs, the keyboard functions as the evil-doer. Furthermore, it is believed that A. I. or Artificial Intelligence will also make the human brain and its functions all but redundant. We tend to read more than we write. Or if the reverse had been true and applicable, then the world would have been brimming over with writers. But that sadly, is not the way it is.
Cursive writing – writing in longhand – is slowly being done away with. Good handwriting was an asset of an individual when we were young – in the decade of late eighties and early nineties of the past century. Although the first electronic digital computer was built in India on January 21, 1969, commissioned by Vikram Sarabhai at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, the use of this electronic device began its journey roughly in the beginning years of the present century. As soon as keyboards replaced the use of pens and emails replaced hand-written letters, we knew that we must get prepared for a jet-set present and an electronically navigated future.
But the use of pens – especially fountain pens are making a comeback. These are called Jharna pens in the Bengali dialect. ‘Jharna’, in Bengali, means ‘fountain’. Handwriting, we were told in school, gets from bad to worse with the constant use of ballpoint pens. These pens dominate like kings in the category of cheap stationery products. The ease with which these fountain pens adorned the pockets of yesteryear ‘babus’, reminds us of the machinations of a slowly -moving piston. The best modern equivalent to these, are the gel variety of pens. They offer some difference to one’s handwriting; at least they stand apart from the cheapest ballpoints.
Today, fountain pens are in demand in a new arena altogether: Corporate Gifting. Expensive, designer fountain pens, whose prices range from a few hundred rupees to a few lacs, are being gifted away sealing business deals of corporate houses. In our days, getting a Parker or a Sheaffer Pen as a birthday gift item, was a big hit. The ball point variety of pens are purchased by the dozen. But these fountain pens were bought in single units. The uniqueness lay in the refillable ink holder of the pen. Among the reputed ink manufacturers, Sulekha Works did big business until the ink industry dried up or closed shop.
This year, in the third week of January, when the Kolkata International Book Fair was organized, Sulekha’s stall drew big crowds. The manufacturers of Sulekha ink had relived the nostalgia of yesterday once more. The nib of these fountain pens – often golden – when dipped in the ink bottle, blue or black, sucked up the requisite amount and the pen was ready for use till the amount of ink dried! Calligraphy is an intrinsic part of visual arts. And it can only be done with the help of good fountain pens. Satyajit Ray, the auteur film-maker and Oscar winner for Lifetime Achievement, had invented two typefaces in Indian calligraphy. They were named after him – Ray Roman and Ray Bizarre. The oldest known font was used in the Gutenberg Bible.
Fountain pens, thankfully, are making a comeback now-a-days. When I was a school student, I had written and sent a letter to Ray at his 2, Bishop Lefroy Road residence in Calcutta. The filmmaker-cum-author-cum- music director -cum illustrator had given me a prompt reply in an envelope in his own letterhead – yes, with the help of a good fountain pen. That was in 1991. Thirty two years have passed by; these letters (yes, I had replied and was rewarded by another) have remained intact, including the paper and the ink used. Ray, so far as I know, never used blue ink. At that time, those who had the virtue of possessing a good handwriting, always used black ink. In fact, it was fashionable to do so. In the past, only fountain pens were used. Honore De Balzac said,
“I am a galley slave to pen and ink.”
But the Nobel-Prize-winning Turkish writer, Orhan Pamuk says, “I am a highly disciplined person. I get up at seven every morning and, still in my pajamas, sit down at my desk where my checkered ring binders and my fountain pen are ready for use. I try to write two pages everyday.” He also says, “I get used to my fountain pens and my clothes, and I can never throw them away. I replace them only when I see that they are broken or embarrassing to wear.” Writers mostly write in longhand -yes, even now – and then upload the manuscript in their computers with the keyboard. But how many Orhan Pamuks are there in the literary circle, I do not have the vaguest idea. There may not be many. After all, Nobel Laureates are given only once a year to writers of exceptional merit!!
In the age previous to that of ours – when the idiot box and later mobile smartphones were only just preparing themselves to make grand entries into human lives – carrying a pen in the chest pocket of ‘punjabis’ ( a traditional Bengali male garment) was a norm. Slowly the practice began petering out. But it had remained in rudimentary form in the way that only intellectuals carried such pens in such a manner. Much hullabaloo had occurred, many storms in teacups had swirled on the chairs of the famous Indian Coffee House on College Street in Calcutta – the meeting place of intellectual minds of yore. As the writer and favourite read for teenagers, Mark Twain said, “None of us have as many virtues as the fountain pen, or half its cussedness, but we can try.” We are – currently – bringing that try back into our lives.
Fountain pens are being preferred by the student community as well as by the elderly-like octogenarians. I heard from my mother today, that judges of the High Courts of law and justice always use special, large and round fountain pens for declaring judgements in documents. She had even read it somewhere that when a judge declares the death sentence of a criminal serving penal servitude, he usually does it by signing the final document and breaking the nib of that particular fountain pen. Kokuyo Camlin has been producing and marketing fountain pens and inks for a long time. Post-pandemic, the use of fountain pens has seen a surge to improve handwriting as well as in the field of calligraphy.
Yesteryear fountain pens – those which I used in school life – belonged to two categories. There were the ones which were popular at the time, called ‘Chinese pens’. These usually came with golden nib tips and thus paved the way for some good handwriting. And there were the ones which were locally manufactured. Sulekha inks could be filled in the holders of both these two kinds of pens. The cap of these pens were usually – the Chinese ones – golden. They fitted to the body of the pen with a clip lock. Youngsters of today, won’t be able to conjure up the use of fountain pens in their minds.
Think about those days for a few minutes please! Suppose you’d written a piece of prose – maybe an inland letter – and, while sipping on a cup of tea kept beside you on the table, you accidentally allow a few drops to fall over the piece of fountain pen writing. The words get irrevocably erased!! People used blotters for this purpose in those days. It was a joy to write with fountain pens. Those days have gone with the gush of technological whirlwind. Given any day, I would like to exchange thousands of ball points from my stock for a good fountain pen.