Fountain Pen No Longer Mightier…

Tarun Goswami

Before the computer’s keyboard had not overtaken all and sundry, fountain pen was the true companion of every cerebral man. Thought to be the perfect symbol of the intellectual man, during the rice eating ceremony of a newborn, he or she would be given a choice between a fountain pen and a gold or silver coin denoting riches. Filling ink in fountain pens was another task deserving great attention every morning along with winding the watch before one left for work. Louis Waterman patented the first practical fountain pen in 1884 but the oldest pen was designed by a Frenchman named M Boir in 1702. One of the costliest pens was manufactured by Mont Blanc. The famous Meisterstuck (Masterpiece) with lifetime guarantee was introduced way back in 1924. After the First World War, there was hatred for Germans, globally yet many could not abandon their habit of using two German products – Mercedes-Benz cars and Mont Blanc pens. Lenin and Mao Zedong who hated the Imperialists used Mont Blanc pens. In this edition of Calcutta Chronicle, we remember the good old days with a sense of nostalgia.

Once a local sculptor had made a full length wax statue of Jyoti Basu way back in 1994 and when his close comrade, Subhas Chakraborty showed him the statue the veteran Communist leader was impressed by the likeness. “It is brilliant,” he said but then paused to wonder aloud: “But one thing is missing. Where is my fountain pen?” And with a smile playing on his lips the normally reticent Chief Minister took out his fountain pen and placed it on the pocket of the Punjabi draping the statue. “Whenever I venture out I carry my fountain pen. It is a habit from my college days,” Basu reminisced in front of the media persons who had assembled on that day to witness the waxwork.

Well-known Bengali litterateur, Saramesh Basu was also very fussy about his fountain pens. He had a beautiful handwriting and preferred good quality German made paper for writing. He had a couple of Eversharp and Mont Blanc fountain pens in his possessions which he maintained meticulously. Sanjib Chattopadhyay, another litterateur is a true connoisseur of fountain pens. He has several cupboards full of fountain pens at his Baranagore residence. In fact, BBC had even covered his collection, once. His rich collection includes the American pens like Eversharp, Sheaffer and Parker. He is also quite fond of Pelican and of course, Mont Blanc. “You cannot create a good piece of literature without a good pen. I prefer fine nibs, preferably gold ones because they are dependable,” he said. “Since I am growing old it has become difficult for me to maintain fountain pens which require regular cleaning. Nowadays, I find gel pens to be good. Indian ball pens are really good,” he said adding “ I had visited the pen market in US and Europe and have used US made gel pens including Cross and Parker but believe me Linc gel pens are far superior. Gel pens have the feel of fountain pens yet can be used for hours without developing writer’s cramp.” He also uses a variety of colourful inks like purple, turquoise blue and black though his favourite is Mont Blac ink.

Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, however, prefers to write with fountain pens with medium quality nib. “I do not like ball point pens at all. They are hard and difficult to grip. Writing with a good fountain pen is a real pleasure,” he maintained.

Swami Lokeswarananda had once observed, “Ball point pens are excellent to sign cheques but I find it difficult to write without fine tipped fountain pens,” he often said. He had friends, admirers and followers all over the world who often presented him expensive fountain pens.

It was a custom to present a fountain pen to those who did well in public examinations. Debendranath Tagore had presented a gold watch and a fountain pen to Rabindranath when he got the first glimpse of his son’s talent at the age of 12. Once Netaji Subhas Chandra had gone to Pabna, now in Bangladesh, in 1922 and was to address a public rally with Gandhiji. Gandhiji along with some Congress leaders were waiting for Subhas Chandra anxiously and finally when he did not come down Gandhiji asked them to go and fetch him. Two young Congress Seva Dal workers went upstairs and found Netaji walking up and down the room with a fountain pen in his hand. A visibly nervous Netaji asked them whether they can fill up his pen with ink since he was unaccustomed to doing it on his own. However, fountain pens often embarrassed its users, too. In schools it was a common sight to see students with ink stained pockets caused by leaky pens.  There is a famous saying in Bengali “Hate kali, mukhe kali, baba amar likhe eli!”

A senior manager at the Linc shop on Theatre Road said the craze for fountain pen is growing among school children, nowadays. Many schools ban the use of ball point pens as these are not good for developing a legible hand. There was a time when students were not allowed to write with ball point pens and even the banks did not entertain cheques written with ball point pens. But from the 1980s this ban was lifted and students were allowed to use ball point pens to write answer scripts in public as well as internal examinations.

Dr Subrata Basu, a well known orthopedic surgeon said young kids who use ball point pens often develop writers’ cramp early in life and suffer from pain in the thumb and index. “It is always good to use fountain pens instead of ball point pens,” he maintained. So it might be a little too premature to sing the dirge for the fountain pen at the moment.