When I re-started my encounter with fountain
pens, this time more seriously, both as a collector and user, the Montblanc 149
was my grail pen …
I checked out the pen at the Montblanc showroom
in Hyderabad and the price was forbidding…my god, I thought…then I felt that I
should put aside some money every month and then make this purchase…funny idea,
actually…the next time I visited Bangalore, around six months later, I went to
William Penn and saw that the price had increased by Rs.5000… wow!
And this went on… now when I look back I
realise that every six months or so, the price would increase by Rs.5000 … and
more I tried to reach it, it would move higher…wonderfully funny actually… and
my obsession to own the MB149 grew obsessively obsessive … I was obsessed … it
was obsessing … then I finally asked Hari, who already had a couple of MBs …
bhai, any solution that might obviate this obsession … (wow!) … ever pragmatic,
Hari suggested going for a pre-owned MB … (second-hand, re …) … I had to bring
this to a close, and so I agreed … (story is becoming too long now… going
telegrammatic …) Hari contacted a seller
in the US … told me the price … I didn’t have money … I took up a collection among relatives
(mainly wife, her father, her brother, and sister … nice people … really…)… raised money … pen came by mail … transferred money to Hari … I too
happy …
Was I?
What?
What?
Were you what?
What do you mean?
You said, ‘Was I?’ I’m asking ‘what?’
Oh, that … I was merely ruminating …
What about?
Was I really happy?
Weren’t you?
I think I was … I am, aksherlly… proud owner of
an MB 149 and all that … but somewhere, I feel, amidst this obsession to own
the 149, I actually went after something that I mightn’t have wanted to …
(haen …?) …
Whats with you, maan? Mad or what?
You chewed up everybody’s brains talking about this 149 all the time …
you shamelessly asked around for money to buy this pen … poor Hari ran around
arranging this pen for you … and now you say you actually didn’t want this pen
at all…? Dhamag karab aayindara, haule …
Arre, aisa nahi hai re, bhai … kaiku naraz hora
… I wanted this pen badly … no doubt about that … and I bought it … but there
is this other pen that I realized later I wanted too … it was always at the
back of the my mind … under the surface … subconscious … only that I didn’t
know it …
Arre, tu phir se sabku haula banara? Ye kya re
bhai tu ‘peeche’ ‘neeche’ bolra …
Na, na … vaisa nahin … tereku kaisa boloon … achcha
theekh hai, listen, mein tereku pen ka photo dikhaata hoon … it is a big
orangeish-red coloured pen with a ball clip … flat top … flat end …
Kaisa hai?
Zabardast hai na, yaaro? See how beautiful the pen is … my heart is set on getting
one …
Then, whose pen is this?
This is Hari bhai’s pen … photo bhi usi ka liya
hua hai … he bought it two years ago and wrote a review about the pen on
fountain pen network … dekho, jaake dekho, aur bhi photos hai is link pe …
Pen ka naam kya hai yaaro …
Arre, yeh Parker Duofold hai … pyaar se pen
haule isku Big Red bolte … yeh ispeshal pen hai maloom … kitta bhi khojo
dukaanon mein nahin milti … baahir se mangaana padta … bohot meinga hai …
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI was looking for information on a fountain pen my father mentioned in a story to me, but I'm having some trouble. He says the brand name was Pratap and then pens were a dark brown color. He was located in Petlad, GJ at the time (in the 1960s). Would you happen to know this brand or if they are still selling these pens? I live in the US and I'm not very familiar with these things.
I greatly appreciate your help.
Kind regards,
Riddhi
Dear Riddhi,
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog. I haven't yet encountered this pen you mention. I will check with my 'pen' friend who lives in Mumbai and see if he has any information. If you have any pictures of this pen it would help.
Regards,
Jai