ECO-FRIENDLY WRITING WITH FOUNTAIN PENS

We may not realize it but some of our seemingly mundane activities actually cause harm to the environment. Take for instance, writing with a plastic ballpoint pen. No one would believe that writing with it actually damages the environment. If you are writing with a plastic ballpoint pen then you maybe doing more harm to the environment than you imagine. So, exactly how does your using a ballpoint to write with affect the environment?

To begin with, lets take a look at the commonly used plastic ballpoint pen. Everything about it, from top to bottom, is plastic. Only the tiny point at the end of the refill is metal. We all know plastic is bad for the environment because it is not biodegradable, cannot be recycled and remains in the environment for several years or maybe, forever. Besides being an environmental hazard, plastic also poses enormous risk to our health. When plastic is burnt it releases toxic fumes into the air that can cause cancer.

The magnitude of the threat to the environment these plastic ballpoint pens pose will be clear once we look at some figures. Almost every one who needs to write either at the office or in school uses a ballpoint pen. India's population is more than a billion and out of these millions, about 150 million are students at any given point of time, as per government estimates.

Assuming that an average student changes the refill in his ballpoint pen once a month it means twelve refills (or say ten refills) a year, all made of plastic. No student uses the same ballpoint pen all year- being made of plastic they break easily and are also easily misplaced or lost. We have to account for these breakages and losses, and the replacements.

Even if we assume that a student buys a new ballpoint pen every three months to replace those lost or broken, then it comes to four plastic ballpoint pens every year. It means a total of twelve plastic refills, four plastic ballpoint pens a year per student. Of course, the plastic packaging these refills and pens come in is a separate component itself. The wrapping may not weigh much but it is plastic nevertheless. This also gets added to the total plastic generated by just one student per year.


Even if we assume about 100 million out of the 150 million students use plastic ballpoint pens then we have something like a billion plastic ballpoint pens, ten billion refills and their plastic wrappers. Now imagine how much plastic that could be? A veritable sea of tons and tons of plastic which probably will remain in the soil for years and years causing serious and incalculable damage to our environment.

But all is not lost. There is an alternative to the plastic ballpoint pen. It is an alternative that has passed out of fashion long ago. It is the good old fountain pen. A fountain pen (made of ebonite or celluloid) generates zero plastic because it doesn’t use plastic at all. One good quality fountain pen lasts years so one can forget about a plastic fountain pen polluting the environment.

A common fountain pen uses only ink and not refills hence its other name- ink pen. Which means no plastic refills. The ink used to fill the fountain pen comes in glass bottles. The glass bottle comes in cardboard packing that can be recycled. The glass bottle itself can be recycled. However, some fountain pens use cartridge refills made of plastic. These are expensive anyway and students cannot afford them.

So using a fountain pen to write means no plastic ballpoint pen bodies, no plastic refills and no plastic wrappers either. These advantages make the good old fountain pen the perfect eco-friendly writing instrument of choice. Another advantages is that not only writing with a fountain pen is elegant, it is also cheap and convenient to use. A fountain pen needs little care and a few simple precautions are to be followed when using a fountain pen.

Clean the pen and nib assembly with tepid water once a month. Screw the cap tightly to prevent leakage of ink and accidental damage to the nib. Check the ink level regularly and carry a spare pen during examination time. Do not lend your fountain pens to others as nibs adapt to your writing angle and may get damaged if others write with it at a different angle. If possible, keep a piece of cloth in your desk or bag to wipe off any ink.

So, if you are really concerned about saving the environment, throw away your plastic ballpoint pen and go for a fountain pen today. It is the perfect zero-plastic solution for guilt-free writing.

My First Article- Penchant for Pens

Exactly eleven years ago, my first article was published in a local newspaper marking my beginning as a writer. Not surprisingly, the article was about fountain pens and was titled ‘Penchant for Pens’ and Andhra Pradesh Times published it as a middle on October 12, 1996. I rang up everyone I knew when I saw it in the paper and also remember buying nearly half a dozen copies of the paper which had the paper vendor giving me a puzzled look. Regrettably, the paper folded up a few years later.

Since there were no online editions of newspapers at that time I am typing down the article here as it was published.

" Penchant for Pens by Vinod Ekbote

(Published in Andhra Pradesh Times dt 12-10-2006)

I belong to that blessed tribe of people who have an irrational desire to acquire pens. I became aware of this trait in my personality when I was at school. I harbored some vague ambitions of becoming a writer of sorts and thought it perfectly natural to acquire the requisite tools to fulfill the lofty ambition. So while my friends bought kites, marbles and other such playthings I spent all my pocket money on pens.

It was in the mid-seventies. Ballpoint pens were not yet within the reach of school children and fountain pens were the order of the day. I retained a special fondness for my first fountain pen that still lingers. Later on, when ballpoint pens flooded the market I was also carried away in the wave and for some time was under the mesmerizing spell of those neat little things. Since they were considerably cheaper I could afford to buy as many of them as my pocket money permitted. Later on I rediscovered the good old fountain pen.

As the years passed by, my obsession acquired considerable seriousness and I graduated from being an impulsive buyer of pens to a habitual buyer. I couldn’t pass a shop without darting in a buying a couple of pens. I still cannot pass a pen shop without being tempted to buy one or two pens. I buy them at the rate of two or three per week to the discomfiture of my family members who are exasperated at the sight of so many pens that my house resembles a mini pen store.

I’m attracted to pen stores like iron filings to a magnet and I calm down only after I’ve bought at least one pen. I’m a regular at the pen stores and the shopkeepers recognize me the moment I step in and eagerly rush to show me the latest arrivals. One went to the extent of calling me up to tell me that he had just received the most stunning collection of pens and I would rush to have a look. It’s an obsession my family is resigned to and they can tell from the dreamy look on my face that I had just bought a new pen.

The funny thing is that I haven’t yet begun to fulfill the noble ambition of mine to write, though I have collected enough pens to write something like an Encyclopedia Indiana. All the pens I bought remain unused until some passing relatives pick one or two to give them to their kids. Strangely enough, so far no one has presented me with a pen though my fascination for pens is a running joke among my family and friends.

I never leave home without a couple of them in my pockets. Like a cop who feels insecure without his gun I feel almost naked without a pen on my person. Also, I haven’t come across anyone with a similar obsession for buying pens though I have come across a few bureaucratic types who line their front pockets with a row of pens of all colors, and I suspect it has got more to do with impressing people than with the real intention of using them.

I have only one ambition in life and that is to buy a Parker Duofold fountain pen whose ad I came across in some magazine in the British Library about a year ago and I dream of it almost every night. It haunts me and in one of my dreams I’m taken to a psychiatrist by my family and he tells them that the only cure for my obsession is to buy me a Parker Duofold fountain pen. Alas, that drastic treatment is beyond my family’s reach and so I’ve made a rather grim decision. I’m going to write this sort of stuff and earn enough to buy that Parker and be forever cured of my obsession. And that, I leave to the mercy of editors. "

I’ve used some of the lines I wrote in this article in another article that was published in an in-flight magazine in February this year. It is here at this link. I suppose I have improved a lot after I wrote my first article. However, I have written about thirty articles since then and a couple of them were about fountain pens.

Feelings- One Hundred Years of Mont Blanc Part I

In 2006, that is, last year, Mont Blanc completed one hundred years and I wasn’t even aware of it. I learnt about it only recently, last Sunday to be precise, at Abids, when I picked up another Mont Blanc Catalog, this one titled- Feelings- One Hundred Years of Mont Blanc.

I got this 92-page, magazine sized catalog for only ten rupees but it had a wealth of information, photographs, illustrations and statements from prominent writers that make this issue a collector’s item. Though I love fountain pens I hadn’t taken much trouble learning about the history of famous brands. But now I have decided to educate myself about the famous brands. But for now, to the Mont Blanc Catalog.

The beautiful catalog is divided into four parts- Part I, Part II, Part III and Part IV.

Part I is ‘I like to Write’ which contains 149 statements by prominent personalities that start with ‘I like to Write…’. Some of the famous names who’ve contributed to this section include the French actress Jeanne Moreau, Angelic Houston and the writer Candace Bushnell who says, ‘ I like to write because I always want to show people a new way to think about life’.

Part I also has a beautiful picture of the classic Meisterstuck 149 for which three designers developed a packing. The final section in this Part is by the Italian author Claudio Magris who declares his love for the Café San Marco in Trieste. There’s a beautiful full page picture of the author in the café with a notebook scribbling something on a paper.

Part II again contains three sections. The first section contains pictures of the various designs for the Mont Blanc logo that several designers developed.

The second section of Part II is an article by Prof. Robert Levine, author of ‘A Geography of Time’, on time and the need to strike a balance and knowing when to hurry and when to slow down.

The final section is about the Mont Blanc diamond and a bit of Mont Blanc’s history which is very history. It would require a separate post to write about the history. Until now I too did not know it but it seems the white Mont Blanc star represents the six glaciers found at the peak of the mountain and was first designed in 1913. There are stunning photographs of the diamonds and the cutting process involved in the creation of the Mont Blanc diamond that adorns the cap of the Meisterstuck Solitaire 100 and also some of Mont Blanc watches. It appears that the Mont Blanc diamond is the world’s first to be cut on the shape of a company logo.

More about the next two parts, Part III and Part IV in a subsequent post.

The Weekly Local Kichdi

Adieu Rains

After a prolonged stay and after making life miserable for Hyderabadis the rains seems to have finally bid adieu to Hyderabad with the cloudy skies making way for a clear sky and brilliant sunshine. The changed weather heralds the arrival of the festive season with Ramzan just around the corner followed by Dasera. It is that sort of weather that comes between the rainy season and the winter.

It is pleasant weather just right to be out shopping or just basking in the glow of the perfect sun-filled days. The shops are thronging with shoppers struggling with huge shopping bags filled with goodies for the coming festivals. Also, with Ramzan just three days away the foodies seem to be having as much of haleem as possible before the ovens are shut until the next Ramzan. I too plan to have one more round of haleem sometime in the next two days.

A Shower of Millingtonias

It is that time of the year when the majestic Millingtonia trees burst into bloom showering the ground with the fragrant, slender and white Millingtonia flowers. The flowers with a long stem and a wide mouth like some kind of a trumpet form a carpet of white on the ground under older trees. There are a couple of really tall Millingtonias on the Tank Bund and one gets a whiff of the fragrance while passing by those trees.

There is one Miilingtonia tree just outside my room in the compound of our office. The flowers fall on the steps leading to the room and in the morning their fragrance pervades the air until afternoon.

The two Millingtonias in front of our house that I planted two years ago have just started putting out their first hesitant blooms. It is a delight to watch the flowers within hand’s reach from our balcony. Next year there will be more flowers and more fragrance.

No Interest IN THE WORLD MILITARY GAMES

With the Military Games a couple of days away not many Hyderabadis seem to be interested in them. Only the army people seem to be enthusiastic about the event and one sees a lot of army trucks going around the city preparing for the big event.

Maybe because it isn’t cricket, the Hyderabadis do not seem to be very interested in the fauji games. That is Hyderabad for you.

A BOOK FILLED SUNDAY

Yesterday was packed with books and book related stuff- ‘The Literary Review of The Hindu’ in the morning and the visit to Abids later in the day, and then in the evening it was ‘Just Books’ on television.

‘The Literary Review’ in ‘The Hindu’

Sunday began with a minor drama.

When I opened the door I saw that the newspaper had delivered the wrong newspaper instead of ‘The Hindu’ for which I was eagerly awaiting. An hour later when I finished reading the paper he had wrongly delivered (a bonus), he came back with ‘The Hindu’.

Literary Review featured Vaiju Naravane’s interview with Indra Sinha on the front page. Also on the front page was Hasan Suroor’s analysis of the short-listed authors and their books and his prediction of the likely winner of the Booker Prize.

There was more inside including a review of Sree Vatsan’s ‘A Countryside Album’ that I too had read after buying it at its launch here in Hyderabad a couple of month's back.

More about this month’s Literary Review of The Hindu in subsequent posts but now to the books I found at Abids yesterday.

AT ABIDS: TWO BOOKS AND A CATALOG

The first book I found was Peter Taylor’s ‘A Summons to Memphis’. This was the third copy of the book I was buying and today’s copy was a hardcover edition ( A Borzoi Book of Alfred A Knopf) where as the earlier two copies were paperbacks that I had bought last year. I got this hardcover for only twenty rupees in the lane that houses the Bommana Brothers store. I pick up extra copies of such good books to give away to friends. But I haven’t read it since it is one of the books on the list of books I plan to read someday in solitude somewhere on a secluded beach. Ha Ha.

The second find of the day was Alan Judd’s ‘The Devil’s Own Work’ which I got for only twenty rupees. It is a slim book not more than 91 pages. I haven’t read about this writer but I had a hunch it would be a good book so I bought it. It was also on the cover page that it was the ‘Winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize’ so that probably influenced my decision to pick this book up.

The final and the most interesting find of the day was yet another beautiful Mont Blanc catalog. It was titled ‘Feelings’- One Hundred Years of Mont Blanc. It was in a different format like a magazine, unlike the other catalogs I have with me. Inside was some truly inspiring stuff especially the pictures of a fountain pen being lovingly crafted. More about the catalog in another post this week.

‘Just Books’ on NDTV Profit

Another book related event I await on Sundays is the program on books, perhaps the only program on books on television in India. It is ‘Just Books’ on NDTV Profit hosted by Sunil Sethi. It is telecast sometime during the week but I prefer watching it at half past six on a Sunday evening.

In yesterday’s show there was an interview of Namita Devidayal who has written ‘The Music Room’. Then there was some news about India’s first literary agency- The Red Ink Literary Agency. Anuj Bahri is the CEO of this agency which must be exciting news for Indian writers. Sometime back I had read ‘Osian’ is also into this business. How they fare only time will tell.

Waiting for 'Literary Review' of 'The Hindu'

It is one Sunday I wait with the more than the normal level of eagerness- the first of every month. The paper I read, The Hindu, carries ‘Literary Review’ supplement on the first Sunday of every month.

Tomorrow happens to be the first Sunday of the month and I am all excited for it to be night so I can go to sleep and when I wake up ‘The Hindu’, with the ‘Literary Review’ tucked inside, will be at the doorstep.

The Literary Review of 'The Hindu' is all about what the title says- literature. It is one of the most intelligent monthly capsule of the literary events, book launches, reviews, writers in the news. It also carries regular columns on books by some of the best literary minds in the country like Ravi Vyas. It is a supplement no book lover can afford to miss. I cannot imagine the first Sunday of the month without it.

Last month’s Literary Review carried a lot of interesting stuff. The front page had an interview with David Davidar of Penguin. In it he talked about his second book- The Solitude of Emperors which comes after his first book- The House of Blue Mangoes. Also on the front page was a write up on Qurratulain Hyder by Rakhsanda Jalil. Hari Kunzru’s ‘My Revolutions’ was reviewed on the front page by Maitreyee S. Ganapathy.

Inside there were more book reviews both brief and detailed. Advaita Kala’s ‘Almost Single’ was one such brief review in the ‘First Impressions’ by Suchitra Behal column.

One column that I find very informative and interesting is ‘Endpaper’ by Pradeep Sebastian who writes knowledgeably about books, book collecting, bookstores and bibliophiles. In this issue he wrote a highly informative article on book search engines like ‘Alibris’, ‘Abebooks’, ‘Addall’ and other websites which help one locate rare and first editions of books that are out of print.

This six page supplement contains enough stuff to keep me occupied with literary matters for the entire month because I keep reading it again and again all through the month until it is time for the next issue.

COMING ACROSS ARNOLD BENNETT

For the second time in three days I found myself in yet another second hand bookstore. Yesterday afternoon I was in Best Book Centre at Lakdi-ka-pul searching the racks eagerly for a good book. It is in this place that I’ve found most of the books I have in my collection. This store has a large collection of books spread over two floors. In my opinion it is the best maintained second hand bookstore in Hyderabad.

Here I came upon a title that seemed vaguely familiar. It was Arnold Bennett’s ‘How to Live on 24 Hours a Day’. I hadn’t come across this book earlier and so I picked it up paying sixty rupees for it. Back home in the evening, I checked the reviews on Amazon.com and they were all highly appreciative of it. Then I flipped through the slim volume previously owned by ‘NV Wickramasinghe;’ as inscribed in two places. It was only 126 pages long. Here is what it says on the blurb:

‘This is one of the greatest, most treasured books of all time. The reason? It tells the secret of successful living- how to make the most of every hour of life.’

About the author, Arnold Bennett it seems he wrote 4,00,000 words a year in fiction, plays and articles and also found time to enjoy cycling, yachting, billiards, painting and music. He had written the bestseller- The Old Wive’s Tale. I am embarrassed to admit I haven’t read a single book written by Arnold Bennett. But I plan to make up by looking for his books and reading them.

In the author’s preface someone had underlined these lines- ‘It is always the man who has tasted life who demands more of it. And it is always the man who never gets out of bed who is the most difficult to rouse.’

More about this book after I read it which I plan to do soon.

FINDING DAVE BARRY AT NAMPALLY

I left for Unique Booksellers in Nampally after finishing off some work at my office on Tuesday which was a holiday because it was Gandhi Jayanti. The bookstore is a short drive from my office. It had been a long time since I had visited this second hand book store near Hotel Harsha. Two guys were sitting there and they didn’t appear the usual persons who man the store. They began dusting the books as soon as I entered, following me wherever I went.

There were lots of books on the racks but I was looking for something good and for a while it looked like I may not find anything. After looking at the books displayed in wooden racks lining the corridor of the old building, I asked the guys to let me see the books inside the rooms adjoining the corridor. The building had been some kind of a lodge but now it is not in use. It has about five small rooms on the ground floor. There were more books inside the rooms.

I saw nothing of interest in the first room but in the next room I found the book I was not looking for- Dave Barry's 'Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway'! I had not heard of this title though I have almost all of Dave Barry’s books. It was almost a brand new copy and the price was only 100/-. It was worth more than a hundred rupees and needless to say I bought it. I was glad I had made the decision to drop in at this bookstore on a whim. It yielded a book most Dave Barry fans like me would die for.

FINDING MORE GOOD BOOKS AT ABIDS ON SUNDAY

The festivals of Ramzan and Dasera are only a couple of weeks away and Hyderabadis are busy shopping whenever there is time. This Sunday too, anticipating a shopping rush the regular shopkeeper kept their shops open forcing off the second hand booksellers from the pavements in front of their shops. There wasn’t a single bookseller in Metro estate this Sunday but elsewhere there were enough of them to yield a small haul for me.

The first find of the day was Walter Mosley’s ‘Black Betty’ that I got for twenty five rupees. ‘Black Betty’ is an Easy Rawlins mystery much like his other book- ‘Red Death’ that I have already read. The ex-US President, Bill Clinton is a fan of Walter Mosley.

The next book I found was an old book by an Indian author published by an Indian publishing firm. The book was ‘Light Luggage’ by VV John and published by Pearl Publishers. I got this collection of witty essays for only ten rupees. Prof.VV John was the Director of Education in Rajasthan in the sixties according to the blurb. What was interesting to note was that there were Indian publishing houses earlier in the sixties and there is no trace of them now. I leafed through the books sipping tea in the Irani hotel- Light of India and I found that VV John's style was truly funny. I was glad I found the book. I am planning to pick up more such books by Indian writers in the coming days.

The next find was a double bonanza. I saw a Penguin imprint in a heap of books near the twin theatre complex beside the Irani hotel. The book was Stuart Mclean’s ‘Welcome Home’- Travels in Small Town Canada. I got this 450+ pages book for only twenty rupees. I picked it up on a hunch that being a Penguin book it might be good. I will know it only after I read it. But the next find caught me by surprise. It was Elmore Leonard’s ‘City Primeval- High Noon in Detroit'. I had read about this book only recently and I got it for only twenty rupees!

I got only four books this Sunday but I was happy with them. Next Sunday I don’t think there will be as many sellers at Abids as there were this Sunday. But I will come nevertheless.

Haleem- the Great Unifier

It is one month of the year every foodie worth his salt in Hyderabad waits for eagerly- the month of Ramzan. And when it comes he is restless for it to be evening when the most delectable dish- Haleem- is available. Though half of the Ramzan month has passed, the hunger for Haleem has not faded among true blue Hyderabadis.

Almost every one in Hyderabad, the rich and the poor irrespective of religion and region has a taste of Haleem at least once during this month. More than the people who fast, it is the others who devour this supreme delicacy. Hotels offering Haleem are packed to capacity from evening till late into the night with haleem-lovers having a go at the dish. It is so popular that for a month Haleem replaces Biryani as the No.1 dish in Hyderabad.

Not to be left behind I too ventured out yesterday evening with a friend to Bahar Restaurant in Basheerbagh and ordered it. The scene in the hotel was like this: guys sat at tables with bowls of haleem before them. Eyes fixed on the bowl, they spooned it silently into their mouths not pausing, not looking elsewhere but on the disappearing haleem until it all was safely inside their stomachs. Only when they were sure the bowl was empty did they lift their heads their faces filled with just one expression- of having tasted the heavenliest food.