My Beloved Relic: The Fountain Pen

 

Hope you are having a great day dear reader!

     What’s your weapon of choice when it comes to writing? It is a ballpoint pen? A gel pen? A pencil? Or like me, a fountain pen? Yes, it may seem old fashioned but for some reason I have this lovely relationship with fountain pens. The other day I spotted a classmate using a Parker fountain pen.  It was a great conversation starter since not many use them, at least not as much as ballpoint pens.

STORY TIME!

     Now since seventh grade our school made cursive compulsory, along with fountain pens, be it hero pens or the classic fountain pens. My dad gave me my first fountain pen. A bright blue plastic bodied Parker pen. It felt amazing in my hand, although I found it hard in the beginning trying to find the right balance. My clumsiness led to a sad death of my first pen and several others. On the bright side I had developed this unique kind of cursive handwriting that is complimented only by the few with exquisite taste. Lol.

        Although I have moved on to using Lamy at the moment, one can never forget the experience of using the fountain pen. If it is your first time you are bound to get messy hands for quite a bit until you get the hang of it. After that you will definitely get messy hands either way when you refill it every single time. It is usually heavier than a classic ballpoint pen. It is not necessarily faster than others. And more importantly its not a pen you vent your frustrations with since it’s pretty fragile. In other words, don’t drop, use too roughly and don’t lose it because it’s hard to replace.

     Oof! Why would you have one then? It is one of those experiences which you cannot really justify with logic. Its like having a cat, sure it is not as affectionate as a dog, it does not guard your home, it sleeps all day and comes to you when it is hungry and promptly disappears right after. But you still would have one. Now owning a fountain pen is not meant for everyone, but it is a whole character-building experience in my opinion. You need to have a lot patience; you need to be aware of the ink left, have a personal style while using it and clean up your messy hands every single time you refill. However, at the end it turns out to be one of the most rewarding experiences with time. And like all good things, there might come a time when it stops working altogether. Such is life, I guess…

      Now if you are yet to be motivated to go ahead and buy one, I would recommend it just for scribbling when you are stuck in a long class or in any similar situation. It is a nice change too if you are used to scribbling with ballpoints.

Hope you enjoyed reading…

Until next time.

Lan