A BRIEF HISTORY OF PEN

After a long time, I am free to write, for which I was dying when my exams were going on. But it is common fact that when we get opportunity we have no desire for it. I think writing is very important in context to enhance our ability in logic and philosophy. Logic and philosophy both is essential tool of mathematics. Whenever a man has tried to think, tried to ponder over the existence of universe, for a moment he forgets everything except his self and tried to realize the harmony of object and its reason in naïve and unrestrained manner.
Today I have a small (virtually but not apparently) topic of something which existence is not a function of location, language and people. Its inevitability is accepted by all and sundry in every age. The mightiest in the mightiest, this leads revolution, turn down the throne without a drop of blood. Nothing else could be better to flow the Ganga of knowledge, purity and love than this. It lights and eliminates the darkness of fear, hatred, agony and lust. In spite of being so tiny, it can shake the world. Think! What could it be? It is nothing much bigger but your pocket slave ‘pen’.
Let’s start the story of the ‘Pen’. For myself this thing is just like an addiction for me. I was so obsessed with pen that a large amount of my pocket money is invested in buying pen. About 4 days in a week any one could notice me with a new stylish pen. A new pen in my hand simulated and hence activated my energy. In fact it was the pen which makes me so vigorous reader. Whenever I took a new pen its brightness, its smoothness, its exquisite look made me its lover. I began to write and write until it demanded for new refill. Being so passionate about pen I had seen the successive evolution of pen in a more descriptive manner. I would like to classify the advent of pen in different ages.
Age of chalk and slate-
The first weapon by which I was trained in my family before entering in the battle of education was chalk and slate. For writing chalk is complement of slate. Without slate chalk is not of use. It was very cheap and easier to use. You can write with chalk on slate and clear it as many times as you wish. We use wetted cotton cloth to clear the slate. Easy to write and easy to make it reuse eventually leaded its popularity among primary schools. But the major problem associated with is storage problem. One can not stores, whatever one has written. Finally it got limited to few students. It can’t preserve its fame by dints of its undesirable dust and storage problem among the students of modern generation.

Wooden age
As I was enrolled in 1st standard in the school, I was introduced with a wooden pen which was shaped sharp with blade and wrote with the ink. It was available on shops also. But for me it was just like an adventurous and entertaining mission to find the plant. It was supposed that wooden pen enhances writing skill. So we used to write it with both for having a good grade and for improving writing skill. But this wooden pen was only for writing Hindi. For writing English we used a special pen which was combination of a wooden stick and a nib (made of metal). When it was sinked in the ink and moved on the paper it lightened the whole paper with spectacular writing. In spite of its qualities this pen could not make its existence in the fast evolving environment.
Age of ink-pen
When there was unspoken demand of the new trend of pen, Ink pen came into the hands of student and within a month it became the permanent substitution of wooden pen. Initially we rubbed the nib of pen and shaped it with angular cut. This angle was depended upon the thickness of letters. Usually I made it an angle of 45 degrees. When we wrote with it, its writing just seems as written with wooden pen. This pen could be used to write both English and Hindi and this seemed to the reason of its popularity. This pen became popular with a new distinguish name “fountain pen” and still can be seen in some shops. Albeit it popularity remained steady for a longer time than wooden pen nevertheless it decayed its fame due to its slow writing speed and undesirable flow of ink.
Age of Ball-pen-
The emergence of ball-pen revolutionized the market of pen industry. It was cheaper, smoother and was available in a stylish look. You could complete one page note in half time as you could with fountain pen. What else, more one need. But I remember the restriction that was put against the use of ball pen while making notes. It was told that for a beautiful writing ball pens were poisonous. But after a tedious struggle, ball pen conquered and accepted throughout the country. With successive advent of pen I had also registered in 5th standard. The first ball pen that had come into my hands was Reynolds’s pen. It cost of 6.00rs. We had bought it especially for examination. Apparently it had nourished my confidence. In this way my confidence had attached with the pen and it lived until I got selected in JEE exam. Many companies had launched their pen at that time. Some of them are Rotomac, Montex, Luxor, and Disney. But no one could touch the level of Reynolds. The classic look, smooth writing and long life epitome of Reynolds had born in the heart of everyone. After that Reynolds introduced many varieties ranging from 6.00rs to 35.00rs and its every experiment came out in flying colors. Jetter, a product of Reynolds also gained much name and fame. Initially jetter was seen in only one color but soon its diverse colors enthralled the customers. So it will not be hyperbole to say it as a Reynolds age. In between the open battle and competition of the companies of ball pen, some companies revealed a new variety to attract customers. It was pen with aroma. This pen had pleasant smell when it writes. This had also liked but unfortunately not for a long time. It proved for nothing. Time followed time but the craze of Reynolds almost was at the peak for a decade. Along with Reynolds a new variety of pen with paying heed to the preferences of special type of customer who wanted new pen in place of new refill, LIKHO AND FAKON (write and throw) was introduced by Linc Company. However different companies are manufacturing this pen, yet this can be seen even today in the pockets of students.
Sketch pens -
In a breathtaking atmosphere of ball pen there was a pen which was not a ball pen yet it made its existence. This was modified form of sketch pen, made by Luxor. This company use to make sketch pens for drawing and after some modification introduced a sketch pen which starting prize was 10.00rs. I had been the customer of this pen during my studies. When I was in high school, fortunately I was witnessed with more modified form of sketch pen for 25.00rs. This was the pen I liked most and even today I use it. I can not classify it as a different age since it was not so popular and limited to only few people like teachers, principal and other professionals.
Age of gel pen When customer had fed up with monotonous writing of Ball-pen and made their demand for brighter, luxurious writing, Gel-pens took birth. Actually gel pen can be understood as harmony of the qualities of both ball-pen and ink-pen