These two words are obsession for me. I hoard them, give them away, use them, see them, feel them, smell them (yes .. smell!!!).... the list is endless.
I have tried to figure out why and how and when this passion started, no answers till now.
Venus pencils (bottle green, hexagonal pencil with black stripes), in a carton is my first memory. My father got these for me from Thirumalai Stores in T Nagar. This shop used to be close to Nalli. I checked for these pencils two weeks ago and they are 14Rs each. I asked myself as to why did my father buy these for me. I know that he was very proud of my handwriting.
Then came the pen days - camlin pens - these had a transparent part just below the place where the cap ends. You could check how much ink was in the pen through this. It is so funny that my cousin and I, will get these from my mother and immediately - dont be shocked - press the nib on a hard surface and make the nibs get crooked. Since both of us had taken a fancy for a particular kind of handwriting, the deformed nib could only produce the best form. If it is a blue pen, my cousin will smear manja podi/vermillion on the pen and produce a dirty green color - I used to be thrilled with it.
Then came Hero pens. Dark maroon and black were my favorites. These nibs were small and a much smaller part of it will only be visible. These wrote really well, smooth flow .... they had a gold cap.
These days my passion is with paper mate, schwann, Bic etc. I do look at monte blanc, cross etc, but these dont give the same high as the plastic pens. Dont know why.
It is a ritual everyday to choose a pen to bring to work and by the end of the day give it away to someone who says it's a nice pen and then I buy some more. I am not sure if I buy to give or give to buy more.
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10 comments:
I am the same way!!
We lived near the T.Nagar club and hence bought all the stationery from Tirumalai Stores. Used to love that place and the smell of books and stationery. Last time I was around there,it was gone. have fond memories of the place.
used to be very fond of fountain pens too when I could not afford to have more than one at a time. I still love writing with a pencil.Another fascination was the smell of scented rubbers (as erasers used to be called in my time)
Nice to see someone share an interest similar to mine. Like Usha said, the scent of the eraser is a fascination I carry on from childhood. See how the humble pencil survives inspite of all the technology.
Hero pens and Brill Ink were my favourites as well :)
Btwn you have a got a nice pen. :P
Your writing about Camlin pens brought back fond memories of school days. I miss fountain pens, these days ballpoints have become ubiquitous - and anyways, we use computers for the most part.
Thanks for visiting my blogsite!
Priya.
Hi,
I'm here via your comment on Usha's blog. Will be sending you an email.
Cheers,
Ravi
I like plastic ball pens!!
Ink pens never liked, cos I had to fill it every morning to school :-(
Another favourite memory was to shave the pencil and see who gets the longest unbroken shave :-)
smell of scented erasers - that too erasers with white and transparent green strip - takes me back to school days.. i never used to keep the eraser in the pencil box.. wanted it to look always new.. and these erasers used have printed flowers, animals etc. Now we have miniature brick like erasers, dustless erasers etc.. but my vote is always for the scented erasers.
posy press - looks like I am not alone
usha - i seem to like writing instruments pens, pencils, notebooks, writing pads more than erasers -
pradeep - i need to buy a scented eraser after all of you have mentioned the virtues of it
dubukku - I did buy a hero pen last week :)- wish i could give it away to you
priamvada - strangely my handwriting changes when I use a fountain pen (for the better though)
ravi - got your email and responded as well
vinesh - the pencil box used to be full of pencil shavings and they use to turn dirty with time - still never had the heart to clear the box - i am still fond of the aluminium sharpener - some teachers used to refer to this as menders - ah so many nice memories of school
daydreamer - yes these scented erasers were a rage at one point - need to get one
Best regards from NY! » »
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