It was in the latter half of 2007 that I got introduced to handmade Indian ebonite fountain pens and gradually
learnt about the various handmade fountain pen brands and manufacturers in Andhra
Pradesh. All of a sudden I was afflicted
with fountainpenitis and after that for the next couple of years I was in a
kind of frenzy. I learnt about fountain
pens made in places like Rajahmundry, Warangal, Tenali, Vijayawada, Guntur,
Machilipatnam, and around two or three in Hyderabad. Then on I made it my mission to track down and
own at least a couple of samples of each of these brands. Hyderabad and Rajahmundry were easy, mainly
because the brands were still in existence…Deccan, Ratnam, Ratnamson, & Guider. What proved to be very difficult was the
brands from places like Tenali, Guntur, Vijayawada, Warangal, etc. I used to hound and harass my friends and
colleagues for information. Through this
process of cajoling and my own stubbornness, I managed to track down and find
and finally own brands like Prasad, Merlin, Swarna, Brahmam, & Sandeep. Asoka from Tenali was eluding me and through
a colleague I managed to gain a foothold in Tenali … and I got within sniffing
distance of owning an Asoka fountain pen, but alas …
Here
is the initial part of my post on Prasad Pens (written in November 2008) which
narrates my initial foray into the world of fountain pens from Tenali …
(I
thought the name was spelt ‘Ashoka,’ but realized recently that it is ‘Asoka’)
--- FLASHBACK ALERT --- FLASHBACK ALERT ---
It was a PM by Hari in my mail box on
Fountain Pen Network that sent me on this hunt. In the PM, he sent me a URL
which mentioned the name of a pen brand in Andhra Pradesh called Ashoka Pens
based in a town called Tenali. I enquired at the pen shops in Hyderabad and
none of them had this pen and most of them hadn’t even heard of this brand. I
then decided to take another route. I teach in a college in Hyderabad and a
fair number of my colleagues are from other small and large towns in Andhra
Pradesh who have gravitated to the capital city. After numerous enquiries, I
discovered that a member of our library staff is from Tenali. When I asked her
if she knew anything about Ashoka Pens, she gave me a blank look and then told
me that she had left Tenali long years ago and had settled in Hyderabad and
that she’d call up and ask her uncle, who lives in Tenali.
After a couple of days, she gave a phone
number and told me that her uncle had managed to get in touch with the
proprietor of Ashoka Pens and asked me to call the number and speak to the
proprietor. I spoke to him the same day and the news was not so good. He told
me that he had closed down his pen manufacturing unit almost 6 years back and
had sold away all his machinery and stock. He said his pen manufacturing unit
couldn’t withstand the ballpoint pen revolution and since it was a small scale
industry, almost like a cottage industry, it couldn’t sustain prolonged
sluggishness in business. I felt very sad and asked him if he had at least a
couple of FPs for my collection and for posterity. He said that even he doesn’t
have a sample of the pens manufactured by him and that his friend had taken
away the lone FP he had. I continued the talk for a little while more, prodding
his memory in the hope that he’d remember some forgotten cache where he had
stowed away some pens. No such luck.
---
FLASHBACK OVER ---
--- BACK TO THE PRESENT ---
But I must say that though I did not get any Asoka pens at
that time, the once-owner of Asoka pens put me in touch with the owner of Prasad
pens and that’s how I managed to get hold of Prasad fountain pens … it is all in
there in my 3-part post on Prasad pens (November 2008) … go on…take a look…here
are the links …
After
this touch and go, I kind of gave up hope of owning an Asoka pen … but I didn’t
stop talking or thinking about it … Hari and I would discuss this on and off
and of course, whenever I used to speak with Mr Lakshmana Rao of Guider Pens,
Rajahmundry, other Andhra Pradesh-based fountain pen brands and their current
state would invariably feature in our conversations. I used to tell him about the different brands
that I managed to find and those that I was still searching for and Asoka was
one of the brands that I told him about.
I lamented that I got as far as meeting the owner, but could not get any
pens. And when I met Mr Lakshmana Rao
again last year in May, he sprang a delightful surprise … after all the
discussions about the new Guider models that he had showed me…all those new
acrylic Jumbos and Kids… and as I was leaving, he gave me two ebonite pens and
told me that these were for my collection … I saw the pens and was kind of
became speechless for some time … these two were Asoka fountain pens … pens
that I had been hunting for since 2008 … Mr Lakshmana Rao told me that he had
them in his random collection of pens, but since he felt that I was so passionate
about fountain pens from Andhra Pradesh and valued them more and moreover,
would document them, he thought these pens deserved to be in my collection … it
was such a spontaneous and magnanimous gesture from Mr Lakshmana Rao that I could
only offer him my heartfelt gratitude …
At
long last, here are the two Asoka fountain pens …
These
are simple ED filler fountain pens, but for me the historical value of these
pens is much more significant … let’s look at the pens …
I liked these pens at first sight … they had my favourite ball clip and flat top and end … these were enough for me to get going with …
Both Asokas posted ...
The branding on the clips ... in fact, the branding is seen almost everywhere on the pen ... here, it is on the clips ...
Branding on the barrel with the name of the place of origin ...
The nibs ... it says Asoka Executive Tipped ... maybe there is Fine below Tipped ... I haven't taken out the nibs yet ...
The feeders ... looks like the feeder maker didn't get the spelling right ...
So, finally, I managed to get Asoka pens into my collection and it is all thanks to Mr Lakshmana Rao ... thank you, sir ...
I do hope you liked what you saw and read ...
Regards,
Jai
