There are broadly four kinds of people who buy fountain pens. I know that I am about to commit an unpardonable sin by writing what I have set out to write in this piece, for I will be generalising things to a point where it will be rankling at the
Did Sulekha ever make pens? No, we are not talking about molded pens, but ebonite pens of a certain vintage, that can transport us back to those glory days of the freedom struggle, of Swaraj? At the least, to a time when Sulekha was the premier ink maker in the
There are many interesting fountain pens that may not have been the movers and shakers of the industry, but had made contributions worth recognising in the annals of fountain pen development. As a matter of fact, most of them come replete with histories that make fascinating reading, just as their
Diptanshu, diehard aficionado of all things fountain pen, ink and stationery – talks about his passion, underscoring the need to use, as opposed to just collect. Morning creative strategy meeting between client and the advertising agency. The Client, one of India’s largest manufacturers of ball point pens, is naturally led
Waldmann fountain pens – the purest precious metals, the height of craftsmanship and a search for excellence that is eternal! Dear friends of the fountain pen fraternity, obsessed with precious resins and ebonites as you are, allow me to take you on a trip down sterling silver lane – the
Click Pens – a million smiles and counting. I was contacted by a certain Management School that wanted to take up the story of Click Fountain Pens as a Case Study for their graduate class. The expert (no, he does not want to be named) who contacted me is
At its peak the Quartz Crisis reduced the number of Swiss watchmakers from 1600 to 600, and enabled Japan take over the lead in watchmaking – Clayton Christenson’s “The Innovator’s Dilemma” was playing out a full 20 years before its publication. Both in the crisis and their subsequent recovery, there
Beena Pens. Naam to suna hi hoga! This is a remarkable story – of yesterday, today and tomorrow – of growth, decay and renewal that typifies the Indian fountain pen in the larger context, hopefully. It began more than five decades back in 1965 when Satramdas Motwani went into
Sanjeev Narula, R P Traders and the elusive “Kalkatta” Fountain Pens! The local trains, that ferry daily passengers to and from their workplaces in Kolkata have always fascinated me, among many things for the vendors – who carry trinkets of every conceivable variety, ware, that they peddle with some of
Fountain Pen Culture – ushering-in a new dawn in Bangladesh The Genesis As a Facebook community group, Fountain Pen Culture is fairly new, having started just a few months back. But our ideological fight is at least two decades old – having started the day the fountain pen started losing
Bibek Debroy is an economist and was educated in Ramakrishna Mission School, Narendrapur; Presidency College, Kolkata; Delhi School of Economics and Trinity College, Cambridge. Presently, he is Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) and President, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI). He has worked in Presidency College, Kolkata (1979-83),
The year was 1978. Kapil Dev Nikhanj was making his debut against Pakistan. Virender Sehwag was seeing the first lights of the day. The Government led by Morarji Desai, the then Prime Minister, was demonetising high denomination bank notes. Indira Gandhi was on the comeback trail. Kishore Kumar’s soulful rendition
