My mother made me do it.
It was she who gave me the money during Pujas with the usual entreaty to buy something which I wanted. I spent part of that money on a shirt. Some of you who have visited the Shoppers Stop showroom in Metropolitan Mall , Gurgaon might have missed the Reynolds Shop next to it.
That is where I went and purchased my Silver Grey Reynolds Fountain pen. Having had innumerable one night stands with ball point pens, micro tips, roller balls etc; the Rs.250 price tag was intimidating. Clearly the price was steep for the average association time (< 24 hours) of my pens.
Could this be a start of a longer relationship? , I wondered. Within the first 24 hrs of being with my silver grey beauty, I realized that there were 3 things that I had missed for the last 2 decades.
1. The weight: The slightly weighty voluptuous feel of the fountain pen definitely scores over the anorexic ball pens which flood the market today. The fountain pen felt perfectly balanced and the weight seemed to lend a definite emphasis to my writing.
2. The right Friction with paper: In today’s quest for smoothness we sometimes forget the feel of what happens when the point meets paper. The closest analogy that I can think of is that of driving. I like to feel that I am driving. Too quiet engines, power windows, power steering, air conditioning, automatic transmission, super tech suspension sometimes insulate the driver from the driving experience. At times, we do long for some sounds, feel and to be more ‘involved ‘in the experience.
3. The Uninterrupted Flow: My heavy nibbed silver beauty delivered a broad uninterrupted flow of writing. The words and therefore the thoughts behind seemed more assured, in your face and strong. Quite a change from the ultrathin tentative lines made by my earlier partners.
My relationship with my silver beauty lasted 432 days; 18 times longer than my previous relationships till I lost her due to my carelessness in Chennai.
The void left by her was so huge that I spent 3 hours in Chennai to look for an exact replacement for my Silver beauty. Though I found the same make, I had to compromise with the colour (a deep blue). The deep blue guy has been with me for more than 150 days, till my wife succumbed to his charms and now Deep blue is with her for the last 7 days.
As for me I have moved to a Silver Waterman gifted to me by my client. Ah! I love her and hope that we have a very long relationship.
As to my first silver beauty, I thank her for not only bringing joy to my life but also for the fact that I could learn to understand my own handwriting after 2 decades. I do hope she is bringing joy to some other lucky person like me.
God Bless her.
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