SOME OLD INDIAN FOUNTAIN PEN BRANDS - 5 - DUTY

The next in this series is a pen called DUTY…I found two similar looking pens, but only one was sort of named…I have clubbed them together here…as the photos would reveal, both are ebonite ED fillers…one looks ‘mono’ brown and the other is mottled brown in colour…I liked the arrow clips…very nicely done I thought…the nibs too are similar with ‘alloy steel fine’ pressed on them…the section on one is black in colour and the other is natural ebonite mottled brown… the feeders are dissimilar though, can’t say which is the one which belongs to the model… could be taken from some spare parts’ tub…I liked the feeder on the black section (I don’t know the technical name for this kind of feeder)… both pens look solid…again, can’t say anything about the origin of these pens…could have come from anywhere in India…well, here are some photos…


Both pens capped


The nice arrow clips


Nibs with sections


Feeders

SOME OLD INDIAN FOUNTAIN PEN BRANDS - 4 - OLYMPIC

Hi...I'm back again with another FP in this series on Old Indian Fountain Pen brands...it has taken me longer to get back to this topic...so, here is the next FP in this series...

It is called OLYMPIC...a simple straightforward ED filler with a plastic body and a metal slip cap...I found the two pieces in two colours...blue (teal?) and dark grey...the brand name can be seen on the barrels as well as on the nibs...the nib is kind of semi-hooded with 'olympic tipped fine' pressed on them...the nib was one thing I liked about this pen...[in fact, when I complete this topic (soon, I hope), I want to have a group photo of the all the nibs and feeders...]

Here are some pictures of these pens...

Day out at the Numaish

My fellow blogger Vinod says in his latest post: "Only a true Hyderabadi can understand the fuss behind the tamasha that is the Numaish. And only a true Hyderabadi and no one else can come out smiling after spending hours gawking inside the Numaish." That is so absolutely true and I have been a regular visitor to this annual Hyderabadi 'exhibition' ever since I had some money in my pocket and ever since Shruti came into my life...and the early numaish visits were in the nature of being a committed follower and gawker...and of late I have been making small purchases of my own...(great maan!!)...of course, there are no books or pens or music shops there, so for me there is very little choice, unless one wants to buy clothes...and I have bought a hand-sewing machine, which looks like a stapler...a muffler from a Kashmiri stall...very ingenious metal candle stands...and one my favourite stalls is the 'pachak and churan' stall...where you get a variety of tangy preserves which presumably aid in digestion...gooseberry, mango, ginger, tamarind... sometimes as pieces dipped and dried in sugar and spice and sometimes powdered and pelleted...very nice to chew on and do a 'tack' with your tongue and screw your face at the tangy taste...very nice... and of course, Shruti buys a lot of household stuff and something for herself every year...

This time, my parents are here and Shruti was planning to visit with my mother...my mother has visited the numaish previously and has become a great fan...but somehow things didn't work out for Shruti and so, it fell upon me to take my mother and father and to the numaish...

Even if you don't want to buy anything, just going there is bound to bring a smile to your face...that familiar path leading to the gate with snacks stalls on both sides selling fried snacks (god knows fried in what oil)...small hawkers selling unusual toys...and the counter where tickets are sold...and then you enter the gates...and because I am a 'leftist' by orientation, I always turn left...and there would always be a line of endless stalls selling Kashmiri clothes...but this time, they were replaced with Bengali sarees stalls...and then after the Bengali stalls came the Kashmiri stalls...so they were there after all...

What did we buy at the numaish?...I was looking for the 'pachak and churan' stalls... and mother was generally gazing lovingly at the Kashmiri sarees...I bought mother a Kashmiri saree, and bought one for Shruti and one more for mother...ha ha ha...then mother wanted to buy some kitchen items...a large sieve and an oil container...and then I spied a 'p & c' stall...somehow, I didn't like the look of the items kept there and moved away disappointed...and decided the explore the nearby pickles stall...ummmmmm...good only...nice smelling north Indian pickles...I bought three varieties of pickles...stuffed red chillies, green chillies, and big slice raw mango...these are the kind of pickles that Shruti would bring back from Gaya and Patna and thought she'd like them...and after we came home, she just gobbled up one big raw mango slice heavily spiced...I did something right after all...ha ha ha...

We were moving around the central stalls and I saw a stall selling something which I have been hunting around in Hyderabad for months...it was a numismatics and philately stall...wow...I have been looking for an album to store and display my modest coins collection and here they had around 5 kinds of albums (of all things, this was a Hyderabad-based stall and their 'permanent' shop is right there in the vicinity of Secunderabad railway station...what a dud I am!!!) ... this is wonderful...honestly, I never felt so elated in a long long time...I don't know why...after all, it is only a plastic thingy...but these things happen...they were also selling coins, notes, and stamps...but I wanted only the coins album and after inspecting the various models, I bought one which would hold around 300 coins...seeing and buying this instantly gave me a boost...and then we went around hoping to buy a suitable toy for my little one...after visiting a number of toy stalls and debating the pros and cons of various toys, bought a rather tame 'oil tanker' for her...a big one...she is happy, of course...and that is what counts...

Small haul @ Best Books sale...

I think this has become a kind of pattern with me...I write my posts in spells...it is not that I don't have anything to write...I have lots actually, but some kind of mental thing acts as a block...and not that I don't do anything during these lean spells...and during this current lean 'blog' spell, I was translating from Kannada to English... three essays, a short story, two poems...and all this is due to appear in an anthology sometime later this year...hopefully...so I was excited about this...and somehow my blog didn't get updated...and then this Best Books sale came up at YMCA, Secunderabad and I didn't find time for that too...my fellow blogger Vinod had two posts on his two visits and I was getting nervous...he he he...and he also had a warning at the end of one of second post for all of us who are regular BB sale visitors and who hadn't yet visited that he intended to visit one more time and if we didn't make haste, we wouldn't find anything worthwhile to buy...and I thought about it and looked at my imaginary schedule mentally and saw that there was no slot anywhere...despite the extension of the sale date...and all of a sudden I found a little speck of an opportunity in between two stops in Secunderabad and Hyderabad, and dropped in at YMCA...

As usual I went around looking for Robert Parker books...I have become an addict, you see...and this time I had the list of Parkers that I had with me...and there was not a single Parker book...I checked at the counter...no, sir...any Dave Barrys? (I asked without much enthusiasm)...you might find a couple of them, sir (he replied without much enthusiasm)...I went in search of Dave...wandered around and was about to give up...and then I spied a copy of Yes, Prime Minister...I must have watched the TV Series episodes of Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister many many times, and have become a great fan of this Series...and always wanted to read the books...so, here was an opportunity...I brought it down from the top rack...was this the only book that I was going to take back?...unless you have a haul, however small, you haven't really visited a books sale...it is better to return empty handed...

With dogged determination (and catted conviction!!)...I resumed my search...is that a Milan Kundera book?...yes...and non-fiction too...great...The Curtain: An Essay in Seven Parts...there was blurb on the cover which said..."Not since Henry James, perhaps, has a fiction writer examined the process of writing with such insight, authority, and range" (Russell Banks, NYTBR)...[that should get Vinod interested]...I have always enjoyed non-fiction by novelists and had earlier read and enjoyed Kundera's The Art of the Novel and Testaments Betrayed...and The Curtain was a welcome addition...two books now...feeling slightly elated...went back to the crime fiction section hoping to get at least one good CF book...aahaa...and wow...I found a book that I was looking for but could not find it during the previous BB sale...John Le Carre's The Spy who Came in From the Cold...and there's Graham Greene's appreciation on the cover..."The best spy story I have ever read"...this has to be good...I was also looking for Le Carre's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (made into an acclaimed movie recently)...but can't expect too much luck when the going is slow...I was happy with this...but still not satisfied...went around again hoping to find Dave...and happily found around 5 books in the humour section...picked up two...Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States and Dave Barry's Guide to Life...Guide to Life looked interesting with lots of illustrations and a different kind of page format...



Finally, some kind of round figure...five books...but it burnt a big hole in my pocket...I was reluctant to leave out any of these five books from my small haul and took them home...