Inks to celebrate independence, to revere the Mother Saint, to salute the language martyrs launched
The “Samapran” range of inks – dedicated to thoughts, ideas, and causes was launched in a simple yet emotionally charged event at the Sulekha Factory on Saturday, March 20th.
“Gorber 50” a deep green ink matching the colour of the flag of Bangladesh was unveiled to commemorate the 50th Independence of the Nation which will be celebrated on the 26th of March. The packaging, replete with “Alpana” – the sacred motifs of Bengal that are hand panted with rice paste on auspicious occasions – with is understated elegance still conveying the warmth of hearts that are divided by destiny but are united in fraternity and is in keeping with the solemnity of the occasion.
Sulekha’s proprietary blue-black shade, once the first, and often, the only choice of ink lovers, was relaunched to honour the demand of pen and ink connoisseurs. The ink bottle is aptly ensconced in a white pack with the stylised image of Mother Teressa, who lived her miracle not far from where Sulekha was once located. The homage ink, it goes without saying, could not have enriched its legacy by honouring anyone else. As a matter fact, it will not be an exaggeration to state that Sulekha could neither have anyone closer to the consciousness of the people than the universal Mother to dedicate itself, nor have a better offering than its most cherished creation, the blue-black ink, to find a place at the divine feet in the truest sense of the term “Samarpan”.
Sulekha Selam – 21 numbered bottles of which were created as a gift to the fountain pen and ink lovers of Bangladesh to commemorate the International Mother Tongue Day has been extremely well received by the aficionados and the company has been inundated with requests to make the unique blood red hued ink available commercially. In keeping with the requests from the fraternity, the company also launched the specially created ink in a new pack. Apart from the “21” mnemonic that was specially created for the occasion, the new pack also features the names of the martyrs who had laid down their lives for their mother tongue, both in Dhaka (then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh) and the Barak Valley in India.
The Sulekha event was organised to coincide with the launch of the East India Limited Edition 2020 which was planned by the East India Fountain Pen Lover’s Forum later in the day. A delegation of members, visited the factory along with luminaries from the fountain pen fraternity – Yusuf Mansoor who needs no introduction to fountain pen lovers around the world; Arun Singhi of Lotus Pens, undoubtedly India’s most celebrated turner of pens; Subramaniam Laxminarayan of ASA pens who has painstakingly created an enviable reputation for himself as a turner of exceptional consistency; Dilip Basak the last master of the lost art of fountain pen mending; Samit Dutta pen and ink expert and Sukla Roy, collector of fountain pens, but more importantly, the glue that holds the fountain pen community together.
Hiren Kanakhara, owner of Magna Carta pens who was slated to join the proceedings could not make it in time as his flight from Mumbai was diverted due to pandemic induced compulsions. Harsh Makkar, one on India’s leading collectors of high-end writing instruments, who too had made plans to attend the event, was forced to cancel in the nth hour due to connectivity problems from Bangalore.
Mahua Dutta, life long Sulekha user, braved her physical afflictions to make it to the event and delivered a moving speech on behalf of innumerable ink users in general and Sulekha ink lovers in particular, wherein she outlined the demands of the end-users and their expectations from the brand, even as she swore undying allegiance as an ink aficionado.
The formal presentations and the official felicitations were followed by a lively interactive session in which the queries of the guests were addressed by Kaushik Maitra, the Managing Director of Sulekha. The guests were then taken around the factory and were shown the various stages of ink making. Intricate details, as well as vignettes of Sulekha’s proprietary processes, were explained and the guests were amazed not only at the lengths to which the company goes to ensure that its quality is maintained but also the sheer amount of time, not to mention the effort that is needed to ensure that we get the bottle of ink that our pens (and hearts) crave for.
The event was conducted by Ahona Maitra, the fourth generation from the Maitra family who is now being groomed to take over the reins of the brand.
For more information contact: https://www.sulekhaink.co.in/
These edition inks commemorating events are okay, to say the least, but I would request Sulekha to concentrate on some good quality inks that do not damage fountain pens. Please see the international companies, Waterman, Pilot, Pelikan, and so on who are not creating those “limited edition” inks every 2-3 months. They are not celebrating the French Revolution, siege of Bastille prison, sad events of atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and so on!
Please concentrate on creating excellent inks, market them properly, and create awareness how ball points and gel pens create enormous environment damage, and how writing with fountain pens helps good handwriting. The efforts should start with school children.
Your plans to create and launch good fountain pens are awaited. Please go ahead with those plans and I suggest some kind of tie up with a reputed international fountain pen manufacturer. Of course, Sulekha can independently manufacture them too.
Please make Sulekha inks available widely in at least reputed stationery shops across Calcutta. I live outside Calcutta, and when I go home on a limited vacation to Cal, it wastes me half a day to go all the way to Sulekha Mor from North Calcutta. Inks should be available online on major marketing sites like Amazon and Flipkart.
The Royal Blue, Black, and Blue-Black inks should be available all the time. Now, work on another at least dozen new shades that attract and encourage fountain pen artists and calligraphers.
Please stop this “limited edition” and business. I think you’re overdoing it and just concentrate on very good quality inks.
Also, please think of an attractive modern package for the ink bottle while retaining elements of the traditional design of the Sulekha ink cardboard box.
i am forwarding your comments to the management of Sulekha for their attention.
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your valuable observations.
Here, only the Gorber 50 is a limited edition, others are not.
Now, in Kolkata, the inks are available at GC Laha, Bharati and Pen Hospital. These will also be available in Amazon and Flipkart within a short time.
You can also order directly to us by email: ink.sulekha@gmail.com or at: order@sulekhaink.co.in. Items are delivered through India Post.
The Swadhin Range of Inks comprising of Blue, Black, Red and Green is meant for general use.
The Hate-Khori edition we have launched is meant for students/starters. Unfortunately, the schools are still closed.
We aim to create awareness about use of FPI . We are open to suggestions from all quarters.
You are most welcome, Sir. Sulekha ink lovers are keenly awaiting quality fountain pens from Sulekha. These should be eye- droppers and piston fillers that take in a large volume of ink. You would want us to fill these pens with Sulekha ink from bottles, right?
The pens should have a good design (would love to proudly carry those pens into corporate offices during meetings and take notes where colleagues would want to touch and take a look)! The pens should be collectors items as well as have a good utility value where we can write pages after pages. The pens should attract attention and be priced not very cheap, but not very expensive either.
Other than royal blue, black, and blue black, a dozen other colored inks are awaited that target fountain pen artists as well as calligraphers, both amateur and professional.
Very well written practical steps. I attended the program and hold the same view. Surprisingly the store don’t even a specific gallery for all varient to choose from.
Thanks very much indeed Indranil Banerjee!
Congratulations to Sulekha team and inked happiness for the efforts to bring back sulekha in a new avatar.
Kudos “Sulekha ” for the long awaited blue-black ink. My favourite. Currently I’m using “Sheaffer” brand which is alsi good. I can now switch over to “Sulekha “. Good work,keep it up.
Glad to see Sulekha is back again!
Does Sulekha has its own store in Kolkata where we can drop in and buy the ink. It’s good to have some ‘limited editions’ for different occasions mostly to raise awareness, but it needs day to day ink available in reasonable no of stores both physical and online.
Is there any plan from Sulekha to bring back some fountain pens?
I am interested to make a bussiness relationship with your organization.
Please give me the corporate adress of your organization at Kolkata.
please contact Kaushik Maitra the MD of Sulekha directly. His number is 9830220000.