My Love For Fountain Pens

I love to use my fountain pen like a child would love to play with his new toys. I ‘am not a collector type of enthusiast, but I am a user of these fine writing instruments. It is a mindfulness exercise of sorts for me.

This is what I use these days for writing.

As far back as I can remember, I never had good handwriting, in fact, it was not that bad either. This phase lasted till I got on to using a fountain pen. Ever since my father presented me with his Sheaffer fountain pen way back in the early 1980s I got hooked on writing with fountain pens. My writing started to get appreciated. I love the strokes of the fountain pen as much as I love the sound of the nib rubbing against the paper. The strokes seem to have their own unique character be it the trailing sharply pointed ones or the thicker abrupt ending ones, each one is unique to itself. 

I am not sure if people really love to write with anything other than a fountain pen or for that matter a lead pencil, which does not slip and allows the creation of those strokes. They continue to write using anything just because it needs to be done and done with. As regards me, I feel that using a fountain pen is far better than using anything else – be it a ballpoint pen, a roller pen or any of the numerous disposable types of pens. Maybe, because when I started to use ink, it was using a good fountain pen. Consequently, very early in life, I developed a taste for fountain pens. I have ever since used numerous types of fountain pens, both cheap ones and expensive ones. There have been cheap Chinese fountain pens and exclusive imported pens from various parts of the world – some presented to me and some bought by me. I have equally enjoyed writing with all of them. There have been numerous exams and tests since 1983 that I have written and all have been with my fountain pens.

In the present times of digital everything, I still love to use a fountain pen, though the amount of writing that I do now has considerably reduced. Quite a bit of writing has been taken away by the digital notes and the digital pen which I find convenient at times to use when making notes on the iPad. But I continue to use a fountain pen for nearly everything which involves writing on paper. My love for the fountain pen has not diminished over the years and even when I have started using digital methods of note-taking. I always have possessed a fountain pen which moves me wherever I go. Carrying a fountain pen full of ink in an aircraft can be pretty messy – fortunately, I have never been in that mess.  But with time the chore of emptying the fountain pen and carrying the ink separately has just become another routine now. Come what may I prefer to use my fountain pen every time I can.

Many people will have many reasons to use the fountain pen. Following are my reasons, which I feel, are the cause of the joy that writing with a  fountain pen brings: –

• Comfort – This is something that the fountain pen teaches you. If you use a fountain pen then you don’t use pressure like that required for writing with a ballpoint. Your strokes are light, like that of an artist. Thus, you get less tired of writing. It is thus great for lengthy writing like in exams!

• Personalisation – Well, it is true that a fountain pen does become personalised over a period of time. Pressure, strokes and the way you hold your pen make the nib rub the paper in a way peculiar to you. You cannot be as comfortable with somebody else’s fountain pen as your own in spite of it being exactly like yours. This is because a fountain pen is a personalised thing.
• Legibility – Legibility with a fountain pen is far better than that with any other type of pen. This is merely because of the fact that the strokes of a fountain pen are not uniform. The way the strokes change with the twists and turns of the nib makes your writing more legible.
• Cost – The use of a fountain pen is far more cost-effective than all other pens. Even if you decide to use a costly one the cost remains low over a long period. In fact, the value of your writing instruments will become more with time.

The above not considering the charm of using a fountain pen is always there. These days if I see someone using a fountain pen I immediately establish a connection with that person. It is something like having a common hobby.

I have yet to meet somebody who uses a fountain pen and is shy of using a pen and paper, for they all love to write like me. 🙂