The Lost Art of Fountain Pens
October 26, 2006
Being away from Pakistan for over a decade and now living in rural Missouri, I have missed many small things which I always used to take for granted. One such trivial thing was the joy of writing with a fountain pen.
A Fountain pen was first patented in US in the year 1884 but since then writing with it has become a lost art. I have shopped around for fountain pens in US and the cheapest ones I have found cost around $15 and they writes so bad that Pakistani 'Eagle' brand can beat then anytime and anyplace.
Eagle is an international brand but their product in Pakistan was one of the best or at least it feels like it after all these years of nostalgic memories. Twenty years ago a Pakistani 'Eagle' used to cost around rupees four. I preferred to write Urdu with Eagle because its nib was not that fine. For writing English, I had a 'Made in China, 'HERO' brand pen which was priced around rupees eleven. Then there were some really cheap fountain pens which gave wonderful Urdu writing. One of them was 'RAJA' (The Prince) fountain pen which cost around a princely sum of rupees 2 only. Another cheap fountain pen was ‘Dollar’ which also cost around rupees three.I had my Raja pen’s nib cut at an angle (Z-nib) to write the 'Nastaleeq Urdu’ script. I never mastered the art of writing 'Nastaleeq Urdu' or calligraphy but it was fun to at least try writing it.We used a 'z-nib' fountain pen to write Sindhi also. I remember that some of my class fellows used 'z-nib' to write complete exam papers of Sindhi. They however, always struggled to finish the paper in time too.For those of us who graduated high school from Sindh Board may remember that one question in Sindhi ‘salees’ (easy) board exam was about writing a Sindhi poem in 'khush-khat' (good hand-writing). This question was repeated every year and everyone practiced very hard in it to score some sure-shot marks. I used a 'z-nib' fountain pen to writethat poem.
Somehow improving hand-writing has always been a big deal in Pakistan’s school system. The generation before mine used to write on a washable wooden board (takhti) and used ink-dip calligraphic pens for Urdu. We didn’t use ‘takhti’ but up to grade X we were not allowed to use ball-point pens as it was supposed to destroy our hand-writings. This strict rule relaxed a bit in Grade XI and XII but I remember a certain teacher in Grade XII used to throw ball-points out of the class window if he saw anyone writing with it.
Writing with ball-points and markers for the past many years made me crave for fountain pens so much so that on a trip to Taiwan in 2003, fountain pens were the first and the last shopping I did. I now proudly own a collection of fountain pens and I write with them whenever I crave. 
Hopefully on my next trip to Pakistan I'll buy a few more fountain pens
Labels: Owais Mughal
posted by Shirazi @ 9:22 AM,
10 Comments:
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At 12:06 PM PKT,
Shirazi said...
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My dear Owais Mughal
Thanks for taking me back a few decades when I was in Government Middle School Mong and Master Ghulam Muhammad (a great teacher) used to ensure that we write English with very flat G nib (a nib fixed in a wooden holder I don’t see anymore). And writing Urdu was only with Kalam (made by straw), on takhti (wodden tablet).
Using ball point or lead pencil was a ‘crime.’ That is what made the basis of my handwriting I still have. Great post. -
At 3:02 PM PKT,
Sidhusaaheb said...
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I used to have a Wing Seng (made in China), among others, while at school.
I wrote using lead pencils up to class V and started using fountain pens from class VI onwards.
My hand-writing has never been something to be proud of though!
I learnt Urdu from the Maulvi saaheb of a neighbourhood mosque for a couple of months or so and can mostly manage to read the language. However, I am not able to write much as I tend to confuse a lot of spellings (especially where more than one letters of the alphabet is used to denote the same syllable).
The language was never a part of the curriculum at school or college, but I wanted to learn as I love to read poetry. -
At 4:21 PM PKT,
Alina said...
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I've always loved fountain pens. I think they make anyone's handwriting better. In highschool i used to spend lots of money on expensive brands. However, I haven't used one in a very long time...In primary school I used to have Chinese made fountain pens and they were the best to write with!
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At 12:26 AM PKT,
said...
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I used to collect fountain pens when I was a child. Many of them came from my grandparents. Thank you for the memories. :-)
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At 5:28 AM PKT,
Owais Mughal said...
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Chinese 'Wing Sung' was (is?) very common in Pakistan too. I used to own one for a while.
We also wrote with a lead pencil until grade V and then we switched to fountain pen. Ball-pints were a big no no upto Grade Xii. -
At 10:09 AM PKT,
Syed Sibgatullah said...
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I still use the "Hero" fountain pen I got for myself when I was preparing for my final exams in 2001 in college.
Yes, someone should say that I should replace it now as it's become too old. But why? it still works great and never fails me even now whn I'm finishing off with the graduate school :) . -
At 12:48 PM PKT,
said...
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Best offer like 'Save 15% on any fountain pen' are available at Paradise Pen store.....!
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At 1:09 AM PKT,
Fountain Pens said...
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Bring back the loss art of handwriting.
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At 2:19 AM PKST,
Customized Pens said...
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The last time we tried to write a letter by hand we had to re-read it to make sure it actually made sense, and only looked like the work of a first-grader. Sometime in the last few keyboard-dominated years our handwriting skills took a nosedive. For Project 007 Ralph Abercrombie sent us this photo essay on the lost art of penmanship and the equipment it's best practiced with: the fountain pen.
He writes:
"The fountain pen is to paper as brush is to canvas—its use is an art form; the result can be artwork. The ballpoint is a mechanical device born of soulless expediency, wherein grace finds itself sacrificed to convenience and productivity. The force required to propel it across paper precludes finesse and inhibits style. It conveys thought to paper in a precise and mechanical manner, leaving little room for individuality. A fountain pen imbues the written word with the unique character and flair of its writer." -
At 7:25 AM PKT,
jinghao said...
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