Memories of my fountain Pen

I was cleaning my closet the other day, I found a fountain pen from the 90s. It reminded me of all those old stories from school days. All the naughty things I did to steal it, blue hands and dirty cloths, post cards and my first hand written letter. All those memories made me realise it was a very interesting part of my childhood growing up. Welcome back to a new podcast from stories for the ears. This is the story i have to tell you about my favorite fountain pen.

Love at first sight

It was the great 1980s and 90s, when ball pens and gel pens were still fairly new in the market. Everyone used fountain pens for writing back in those days. I was in my 4th grade, when i saw it for the first time. My principal, She had a fat and shiny Mont Blanc. She used a green ink in it, and it looked very colorful on the paper. We were only allowed to write with a pencil until then and now in 4th grade, we were going to use a pen for the first time ever. We were all very excited. My parents however, thought I was not ready yet. They would say it is messy on the paper when it leaks, your hands will get dirty and make many more excuses. I was not allowed when all my friends were slowly graduating to a pen.

There was a guy in my class. he studied well, his handwriting was very nice and all the teachers would openly appreciate him for it. One day he was showing off a gift from his parents. He would say his good hand writing is all because he his wonderful fountain pen. With his taunts, he would make me want that pen even more. I told him "my parents think I am still young to have it". He laughed at me and told all my friends around about this conversation. Calling me a child, He teased and embarrassed me in front of the whole class. We were not really friends. He would never entertain a dumb kid like me around him but, his bad luck, my teacher tagged me with him. I was the naughty one and he was going to find out very soon.

One day I found his pen on the desk while he was playing with others classmates. I stole his pen and hid it inside the classroom where no one could see it. He soon found out it was missing. There was a ruckus in the classroom when he blamed me for steeling it but, he couldn't prove anything. I played a victim of false accusations. I was too confident that no one can find out I was the thief. 

I argued to have him prove his claims. All the teachers and even the principal showed up to search me and my belongings to see if I had it. No one could find out the pen was hidden between my class teacher's notebooks kept in the shelves. I was smiling within when they gave up the search. They told him to look somewhere else where he could have lost. I was the smart one that day. I got away with stealing and managed to teach the smart kid some dumb lessons.

3 days after that incident, I was asked by my teacher to stay back for a while to complete my pending class work and everyone had left. I was alone in the classroom that evening. I took the opportunity to quietly retrieve the hidden pen and put it in my bag. My teacher entered the classroom to check my notes while I was shivering in fear. I had the stolen pen in my bag now. She did see me acting weird but, too busy to figure out why. She sent me home and asked me to complete left over notes at home. 

I packed by bag as soon as I could, ran back home with excitement and fear at the same time. I rushed to my room and immediately opened the bag. I see a terrible thing had happened. The fountain pen couldn't take all that shaking and excitement, and it had leaked blue ink inside the bag. I was terrified of being caught. Now I had to cook up some convincing stories before my parents come home.

The pen was brand new and shiny. I was not going to let it go no matter what. My mother arrived from work and noticed the blue patch of ink on the bag. She was furious and let out all her frustration at work on me. I told her my fake story on how I found it on the road. I was not really confident in my story delivery but, I stuck to it. She knew I wanted a fountain pen so badly that I could do anything to get it but, maybe she was convinced with my story. She let me keep it and just like that i had my first fountain pen.

My mother sat with me that night while I was writing my homework. I wrote all my incomplete class works and homework with that pen. I had never written so much before this time. It was as if I had become a smart kid all of a sudden. She must have felt guilty on how she reacted and felt happy to see me write on my own. She told me about how to improve my handwriting. I had practised a few new writing styles on my homework.

The next day I had to present the homework to the class teacher. I was proud of my handwriting experiments and wanted to see what her reaction will be. What she asked was shocking. 

"Where did you find the fountain pen?" she asked. My heart sank and I froze solid for a moment. "Yesterday my father bought me a new fountain pen" I replied. "Show me the pen I want to see it" she yelled. "My father did not allow me to carry it to school as I would make a mess. I spilled ink in the bag last night." I replied, showing her my bag with ink stains. 

She went on with checking the homework and then let me go. It was only then my heart came back to where it was supposed to be. I had the stolen pen in my bag that day. I still wonder what would have happened to me if they checked my bag again. Since then I never took it back to school but, I used it every day for my homework. It was special.

Letter to uncle

It was December holidays the same year and my cousin had come home to spend her vacation. She was very elder to me and bullied me all the time. She came to know about my new obsession. That day I had ink all over me as I was making string art with the ink. 

She stole the pen from me and refused to return it. My parents joined in to make fun of me. I wanted to complain to my uncle about his daughter. It was back in the days when telephones were still rare, and people exchanged handwritten letters. My cousin challenged me to write a letter to my uncle and just like that I was about to write my first letter.

There was a post office near my house and the post man was a good friend of my grandfather. With their help I purchased an inland letter and a 10 paise stamp. They help me to write the address and stick the stamp on to the letter. 

In the letter I wrote "Dear Uncle, please come and take back your daughter. Me and her are not friends any more. Please come soon. Yours lovingly... Rakesh". With the help of the post man I even managed to drop it in the red post box. He then explained, it will be delivered tomorrow, and my uncle would write back or come to pick her up. 

He came but towards the end of our vacation. He brought with him the letter I wrote and joined the group to make fun of me. They all had a good laugh. By the end of the day, he appreciated me for being able to write a letter. "You are a smart boy. Your sister doesn't even know how to write a letter. You are much better than her." He said. I was cheered up as I sent her away for the season.

Best days of school

My father worked in a manufacturing unit that belonged to Mysore sandal soaps and detergent company. He would bring me a Diary book every new year day (1st of January). It had one page for every day and half a page for every Sunday. 

He told me that I could write anything in this diary about what happened on a day to day basis. Anything that I could not tell anyone about. No one would read it as it is a personal diary. He also brought me a calligraphy set. It had 3 fountain pens with a flat tip of different gradients. I had never seen anything like it before. It came with a guide on how to write with it. I read that and started writing it with different styles. My handwriting improved and I had more artistic sense of writing.

I took it to school the next day. It was my time to show off. No one had ever seen a fountain pen with a flat tip. They were mesmerised when I showed them what it can do. I gave a chance to all my friends to try it on their own. Even the smart kid I was tagged to wanted to give it a try. 

The teachers found out about it. It was new to them as well. They could see that I was passionate about calligraphy. They asked me to take a class on what i had learnt about calligraphy and made me write something on the black board. It was creative enough to use the Chalk piece to make a flat tip and show them all the tricks on writing. That was the best day of school. For once i was the smart kid. Everyone respected me and no one called me a child ever again.

Years went by and gel pens had taken over. I was in my 10th grade now but, I still used by fountain pens. It was not in fashion but, I continued to show off. I had a collection of pens by now, a pen dedicated for each color of ink like Red, Green, Blue and Black. I used it for more creative works. Archies was a new brand in town to sell greeting cards. I was making handwritten greeting cards for all occasions. For self and for others in exchange of money or kind.

It was farewell season, the last day of school. Everyone was emotional and they shared their best experience at school. We were together for 10 years every day and so many memories to share and cherish. It was my turn to make my farewell speech. 

I told them the story about the stolen pen. Everyone burst into laughter when I told them about the episode. My principal came to me and twisted my ears and made me do sit-ups in front of everyone. It was a laughter riot. The day ended with all of us writing out goodbye wishes on our slam book. I made sure to use all my writing skills to make the best impression when I wrote my wishes.

Conclusion

Dear Listener,

It has been ages since I wrote anything on a paper. Everything now has now turned into tapping on a keyword and clicking on a mouse. I'm sure it is the same case with most of us now but, do you every miss writing a letter? Yes Sir, I do. 

The last time I wrote anything quantitative on a paper was during my exams, may be 14 years ago. Now I wrote this story with that same pen from the 90's just to get a feel of writing. It still feels great.

Do you still have your fountain pen lying around somewhere? Go get messy now. Send a handwritten letter to your loved one and post it. Your nearest Post office is still delivering mails.

Thank you for listening
This is Rakesh kumar