So...I have touched 50...anyway...out with all the cliches like when I started blogging, I never thought I'd survive so long and write 50 posts and it seems incredible and all that...
Cliches or not, blogging has really helped me...in the sense that I have never written so much in such a short span of time...and I never thought that I'd be able to write on all the things that I have written so far...then there is this enthusiasm, which of course waxes and wanes, depending on the workload and mood, but overall, I have ridden this enthusiasm well enough...and of course, keeping a close watch on events to capture blog-moments...events and incidents which one would normally ignore after a brief while assume a different kind of significance now, now that I am blogging...
I don't know who my readers are...I don't know whether there are regular readers of my blog...but I do suspect that some of my friends do visit from time to time...when I started out, I thought I'd write a lot about books and music...but early 2008 was also the time when I was slowly getting infected with the FP virus and now it has become a full blown disorder...and most of the posts are about FPs...and from whatever responses that I have received, the most is for FP-related posts...so far so good...
I am fairly comfortable writing about books, but I start shivering when I venture to write about music...but I am happy that I was finally able to write about Shakti and Mynta...two indian classical-jazz fusion groups...my absolute favourites...and I was also pleased with what I wrote...but I need to write more about music...not only that, I want to write more posts on music, rather than, say FPs...I feel I have so much to share, but somehow I don't want my listening experience to get translated into adjectives or flowery nothings...which is what I read most of the times in the guise of music reviews...
I also feel that I have become a little more patient and am willing to wait for things to become clearer before I write...
Thanks everyone...whoever visits this blog...I didn't set targets when I set out, I thought one post a week would be the maximum that I can afford to spare time for...but I see that I had underestimated myself...I have 4 months till December...and it will be one year since I started blogging... should I go for 100...?
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Books bought so far in 2008...
Sometimes I feel that my blog has become a fountain pen blog because of the time and attention I devote to these beautiful creatures in searching, researching, photographing, discussing and writing about them with such devotion and love... sometimes I feel I am moving away from my core areas of reading and music...and I tell myself that this is not true...jai...you do read a lot...
I had wanted to do this exercise at the end of June, but things kept happening, and here I am now with a list of books that I purchased, received as gifts, and acquired so far this year… I have also written the fate of these books after they reached me (in brackets)…I have also written about some of these books in my earlier posts… I think it is a good enough collection so far…I might have missed mentioning a couple of books…I am not sure…henceforth, I will keep a record of books bought…
Novels:
1. Hocus Pocus – Kurt Vonnegut (yet to read)
2. Ragtime – E. L. Doctorow (read earlier; but this was a better looking copy!)
3. Red Dragon – Thomas Harris (read – scary)
4. Hannibal – Thomas Harris (read – same as above!)
5. The Music of the Spheres – Elizabeth Redfern (read – interesting; novel theme)
6. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz – Mordechai Richler (read library copy as part of MA syllabus; finally found a copy to own)
7. The Bourne Ultimatum – Robert Ludlum (read – good read)
8. The Sea of Poppies – Amitav Ghosh (read – want to read it again and again; that good!!!)
9. Baudolino – Umberto Eco (read – lost my earlier copy; a new one)
10. Pronto – Elmore Leonard (read – good one; nice plot)
11. Killshot – Elmore Leonard (read – my first Elmore Leonard novel; found it a bit sluggish)
12. Rum Punch – Elmore Leonard (yet to read)
13. Mandra (Kannada) – S. L. Bhyrappa (yet to read – read rave reviews about it; bought recently on a trip to Bangalore)
Others:
1. The Music Room – Namita Devidayal (read – super; check out earlier post on this book)
2. Early Novels in India – Meenakshi Mukherjee (ed.) (reading in parts – a reference book for my research)
3. The Last Mughal – William Dalrymple (started reading – given as a puja gift to Shruti’s mom, a teacher (retd.) of history; she re-gifted it back to me after reading)
4. Hobson-Jobson – Yule & Burnell (reference book – bought while reading ‘Sea of Poppies’ as a accompaniment)
5. Vasahatushahi mattu Bhashantara (Kannada–Colonialism and Translation) – V. B. Tharakeshwar (started reading…)
6. Lear Maharaja (Kannada) – Tr. of King Lear by Masti Venkatesha Iyengar (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada – yet to read)
7. Laughter is the Best Medicine – Reader’s Digest jumbo compilation (hilarious – dip into it regularly…too good) (got this through a circuitous route; not intended for me initially, but will now not let it go…)
8. Roald Dahl Treasury (Shruti’s book actually…one of her favourites…)
9. Tipu Sultan – B. Sheik Ali (father’s gift…yet to start)
10. The Holy Quran (got it as a gift at City Centre, Chennai)
11. King Lear (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada)
12. Twelfth Night (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada)
13. Macbeth (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada)
14. The Tempest (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada)
15. The Merchant of Venice (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada)
16. Dave Barry is not making this up – Dave Barry (must have read at least 4-5 times starting from anywhere…hilarious…a gift from Vinod Ekbote… Thanks, Vinod…)
I had wanted to do this exercise at the end of June, but things kept happening, and here I am now with a list of books that I purchased, received as gifts, and acquired so far this year… I have also written the fate of these books after they reached me (in brackets)…I have also written about some of these books in my earlier posts… I think it is a good enough collection so far…I might have missed mentioning a couple of books…I am not sure…henceforth, I will keep a record of books bought…
Novels:
1. Hocus Pocus – Kurt Vonnegut (yet to read)
2. Ragtime – E. L. Doctorow (read earlier; but this was a better looking copy!)
3. Red Dragon – Thomas Harris (read – scary)
4. Hannibal – Thomas Harris (read – same as above!)
5. The Music of the Spheres – Elizabeth Redfern (read – interesting; novel theme)
6. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz – Mordechai Richler (read library copy as part of MA syllabus; finally found a copy to own)
7. The Bourne Ultimatum – Robert Ludlum (read – good read)
8. The Sea of Poppies – Amitav Ghosh (read – want to read it again and again; that good!!!)
9. Baudolino – Umberto Eco (read – lost my earlier copy; a new one)
10. Pronto – Elmore Leonard (read – good one; nice plot)
11. Killshot – Elmore Leonard (read – my first Elmore Leonard novel; found it a bit sluggish)
12. Rum Punch – Elmore Leonard (yet to read)
13. Mandra (Kannada) – S. L. Bhyrappa (yet to read – read rave reviews about it; bought recently on a trip to Bangalore)
Others:
1. The Music Room – Namita Devidayal (read – super; check out earlier post on this book)
2. Early Novels in India – Meenakshi Mukherjee (ed.) (reading in parts – a reference book for my research)
3. The Last Mughal – William Dalrymple (started reading – given as a puja gift to Shruti’s mom, a teacher (retd.) of history; she re-gifted it back to me after reading)
4. Hobson-Jobson – Yule & Burnell (reference book – bought while reading ‘Sea of Poppies’ as a accompaniment)
5. Vasahatushahi mattu Bhashantara (Kannada–Colonialism and Translation) – V. B. Tharakeshwar (started reading…)
6. Lear Maharaja (Kannada) – Tr. of King Lear by Masti Venkatesha Iyengar (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada – yet to read)
7. Laughter is the Best Medicine – Reader’s Digest jumbo compilation (hilarious – dip into it regularly…too good) (got this through a circuitous route; not intended for me initially, but will now not let it go…)
8. Roald Dahl Treasury (Shruti’s book actually…one of her favourites…)
9. Tipu Sultan – B. Sheik Ali (father’s gift…yet to start)
10. The Holy Quran (got it as a gift at City Centre, Chennai)
11. King Lear (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada)
12. Twelfth Night (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada)
13. Macbeth (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada)
14. The Tempest (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada)
15. The Merchant of Venice (bought this for my research on translation in Kannada)
16. Dave Barry is not making this up – Dave Barry (must have read at least 4-5 times starting from anywhere…hilarious…a gift from Vinod Ekbote… Thanks, Vinod…)
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Looking for Sultan Pens in Charminar area, Hyderabad and discovering them and other treasures-II
Once inside, I asked him if he had any ebonite pens…he said he had and opened the glass topped case and pulled out a mottled brown medium size ebonite pen with the name ‘Sultan’ in white on the cap and the barrel…I then told him I was searching for ‘Sultan Pen Stores’ to buy their brand of ebonite pens and I was pleased that I found this brand here…he said Hilal Pen Stores were the manufacturers of Sultan Pens and that there is no such shop called Sultan Pen Stores…I asked him whether he had any more Sultan Pen models or more specimens of the same model…unfortunately, no, he said, but promised that he’d make or get a thicker FP in a week’s time…so far so good…
He took out a red coloured Waterman’s India FP and told me that this was a rare piece and that he’d sell it to me…I inspected the pen and it was an Waterman’s India 65…all plastic body with a pump filler (aerometric filling system- as in Parker 51 and a lot of Hero imitations 616, 330, 329)…I have a Waterman’s India 63 with gold nib that Hari got for me and I felt that WI 65 was worth the effort…I kept it aside…I then spied a similar WI model and asked him to take it out…the pen looked good, but the sac inside the pump filler was missing…he then took out some dusty boxes from a cupboard inside and brought out 3 more WI 65 pens…and there was some problem with each, but he managed to put together 3 pens out of the 5…not bad…I took all three and then there was another WI pen, and this pen had a plastic body and steel cap with hooded nib and aerometric filling system…this model was named WI 71…this one was unexpected actually…as he was piling up the boxes searching for good pens…I started my own searches and happened to locate 3 Sultan pens…2 of them with ebonite body and steel caps and another with full plastic body with hooded nib…all are ED fillers…I managed to put together 8 pens by now…
I thought this was a good haul…and then came the surprise, at least for me…he showed me those old handle pens where you inserted nibs and dipped them frequently in inkpots to write…I don’t know who uses them these days, but I feel that Urdu and Arabic scholars still use them, because one of the two that he showed me initially was a calligraphic nib…he then proceeded to demonstrate the smoothness of the nib by writing in Urdu…looked fabulous…I was totally hooked…sensing my enthusiasm, he took out small rectangular boxes and showed me different kinds of nibs…nibs made in India, England, and USA…names like Resterbrook and Waverly and GC Law…he called them ‘patta’ (leaf)…he then showed me a nib with its tip curved slightly upward…According to Richard Binder, “the nib presents to the paper what appears to be a lower angle of elevation. This design, introduced by the Waverley Pen Company (British), results in smoother performance. It also offers more usable surface toward the end of the tip so that the nib works better for users who hold the pen at a high angle of elevation, and it is consequently well adapted to many left-handed writers”…I couldn’t resist and bought two sets of whatever was available with him…
I don’t know whether or when I am going to use them…but for a collector, these are antique pieces and moreover these handles are made of ebonite…I have taken a photo of these nibs in their holders with my laptop webcam… just for kicks…I need to take a more elaborate photo with writing samples… Shruti had taken the camera with her to Delhi and so I couldn’t take photos of the shop and its interiors and the genial owner Mr Nawaz (I hope I am right about the name)… I think he was pleased that someone came asking for fountain pens and that he was able to show the kind of pens that his shop used to manufacture and stock during the heydays of FP use…he sensed that I was a collector and that I was visibly excited on seeing those old Waterman’s India FPs and holders and nibs, but didn’t try to take advantage by quoting exorbitantly…I was happy with the prices that he quoted… he told me that he’s selling the pens at cost price and was happy that I didn’t bargain with him…
All handle pens with nibs
I must say he was a gregarious person with a booming laughter and proud of his pen-making heritage and happy that I was pleased with what he could offer me…he also showed me photos of his visit to Canada recently as a member of an Indian business delegation…
He pointed out to the photographs mounted on the wall of his father and grandfather, who started this business and said that they would have told me more about the holder nibs…sometimes I feel that an entire past generation is slowly leaving taking away its collective wisdom and practices with it…we come across some such evidence of past practices now and then and these holders and nibs are good examples…
jayasrinivasa rao
He took out a red coloured Waterman’s India FP and told me that this was a rare piece and that he’d sell it to me…I inspected the pen and it was an Waterman’s India 65…all plastic body with a pump filler (aerometric filling system- as in Parker 51 and a lot of Hero imitations 616, 330, 329)…I have a Waterman’s India 63 with gold nib that Hari got for me and I felt that WI 65 was worth the effort…I kept it aside…I then spied a similar WI model and asked him to take it out…the pen looked good, but the sac inside the pump filler was missing…he then took out some dusty boxes from a cupboard inside and brought out 3 more WI 65 pens…and there was some problem with each, but he managed to put together 3 pens out of the 5…not bad…I took all three and then there was another WI pen, and this pen had a plastic body and steel cap with hooded nib and aerometric filling system…this model was named WI 71…this one was unexpected actually…as he was piling up the boxes searching for good pens…I started my own searches and happened to locate 3 Sultan pens…2 of them with ebonite body and steel caps and another with full plastic body with hooded nib…all are ED fillers…I managed to put together 8 pens by now…
I thought this was a good haul…and then came the surprise, at least for me…he showed me those old handle pens where you inserted nibs and dipped them frequently in inkpots to write…I don’t know who uses them these days, but I feel that Urdu and Arabic scholars still use them, because one of the two that he showed me initially was a calligraphic nib…he then proceeded to demonstrate the smoothness of the nib by writing in Urdu…looked fabulous…I was totally hooked…sensing my enthusiasm, he took out small rectangular boxes and showed me different kinds of nibs…nibs made in India, England, and USA…names like Resterbrook and Waverly and GC Law…he called them ‘patta’ (leaf)…he then showed me a nib with its tip curved slightly upward…According to Richard Binder, “the nib presents to the paper what appears to be a lower angle of elevation. This design, introduced by the Waverley Pen Company (British), results in smoother performance. It also offers more usable surface toward the end of the tip so that the nib works better for users who hold the pen at a high angle of elevation, and it is consequently well adapted to many left-handed writers”…I couldn’t resist and bought two sets of whatever was available with him…
I don’t know whether or when I am going to use them…but for a collector, these are antique pieces and moreover these handles are made of ebonite…I have taken a photo of these nibs in their holders with my laptop webcam… just for kicks…I need to take a more elaborate photo with writing samples… Shruti had taken the camera with her to Delhi and so I couldn’t take photos of the shop and its interiors and the genial owner Mr Nawaz (I hope I am right about the name)… I think he was pleased that someone came asking for fountain pens and that he was able to show the kind of pens that his shop used to manufacture and stock during the heydays of FP use…he sensed that I was a collector and that I was visibly excited on seeing those old Waterman’s India FPs and holders and nibs, but didn’t try to take advantage by quoting exorbitantly…I was happy with the prices that he quoted… he told me that he’s selling the pens at cost price and was happy that I didn’t bargain with him…
All handle pens with nibs
I must say he was a gregarious person with a booming laughter and proud of his pen-making heritage and happy that I was pleased with what he could offer me…he also showed me photos of his visit to Canada recently as a member of an Indian business delegation…
He pointed out to the photographs mounted on the wall of his father and grandfather, who started this business and said that they would have told me more about the holder nibs…sometimes I feel that an entire past generation is slowly leaving taking away its collective wisdom and practices with it…we come across some such evidence of past practices now and then and these holders and nibs are good examples…
jayasrinivasa rao
Monday, August 18, 2008
Looking for Sultan Pens in Charminar area, Hyderabad - I
Finally...I was able to make it to old city yesterday (Aug 17th)...this urge to go to Charminar was partly fuelled by the desire for fountain pens...and partly to have the delicious biriyani at Shadab...and this urge actually started after I started collecting fountain pens and saw this stall put up by Sultan Pens at the annual exhibition at Hyderabad... I did not know where Sultan Pens was located in Hyderabad...I searched all the yellow pages and telephone directories, but still no luck...I then felt I could try my luck in th
Finally...I was able to make it to old city yesterday...this urge to go to Charminar was partly fuelled by the desire for fountain pens...and partly to have the delicious biriyani at Shadab...and this urge actually started after I started collecting fountain pens and saw this stall put up by Sultan Pens at the annual exhibition at Hyderabad... I went to this stall and asked for ebonite pens and I was shown a mottled brown ebonite FP with ‘Sultan’ in white paint on the barrel…I would have bought it, but the clip looked rusty and as this was the only piece they had, I had to leave it unbought by me…after I seriously started collecting Indian ebonite/celluloid pens, I thought I should find out more about this ‘Sultan’ pen…I did not know where Sultan Pens was located in Hyderabad...I searched all the yellow pages and telephone directories, but still no luck...I then felt I could try my luck in the area in and around Charminar...I asked a couple of people and one of them said that the shop is in Lad Bazaar, the famous street of Bangles shops near Charminar...I had a clue now…
So I set out, heart full of hope and a reasonable amount of money…I reached Charminar and it was only around 11.30 in the morning and the famous Lad Bazaar which would be overcrowded in the evenings was so wistfully empty…people were just about opening the shutters of their shops and only a couple of bangle shops were open… I wandered down the street looking at all the shop signs…and decided to ask a gentleman standing near a bangle shop…he told me that the shop is at the junction further down…I reached the junction and I couldn’t locate the shop…I wandered further down and again decided to ask a gentleman sitting in his perfumes shop…he told me that I should go back and search as I had come beyond the Lad Bazaar area…I went back to the junction and asked a bookshop owner…he told me that no such shop exists in this area and asked me what I was looking for…I told him ‘ink pens’…he asked me to try my luck at Hilal Pen Stores near the arch…I was not convinced…
I was not going back without finding out where this shop was located, whether they had pens or not…I asked an elderly bearded gentleman sitting in front of his ‘old newspapers’ shop…he told me that he remembered a shop of this kind, but it is no longer there, and could well be relocated elsewhere, and asked me to enquire with another gentleman sitting in the shop opposite selling Islamic books…this man told me that there is no shop called ‘Sultan Pen Stores’ in this area and asked me to check out ‘Hilal Pen stores’…the name again…so I walked my way back and tried to locate ‘Hilal Pen Stores’ near the ‘kamaan’ (arch)…as the day was a Sunday, the pavements in front of the shops located in the ‘kamaan’ area were full of temporary shops selling anything from clothes to books to iron scrap…while negotiating my way through this crowd of shops, I finally happened to see an old fashioned shop with the board ‘Hilal Pen Stores’… a man (whom I subsequently discovered was the owner) was sitting on the steps and selling Islamic books…I wondered whether the owners had changed their business…then I looked inside and saw a forward tilted showcase with pens…I felt relieved…but the shop was full of plastic decorative items, toys, books and other items…then the owner saw me standing in front of his shop and asked me what I wanted…I told him ‘ink pens’… he took a few more seconds to negotiate the sale of the book and stood up and said ‘aayiye saab’ and went inside the shop…I followed him inside…
Finally...I was able to make it to old city yesterday...this urge to go to Charminar was partly fuelled by the desire for fountain pens...and partly to have the delicious biriyani at Shadab...and this urge actually started after I started collecting fountain pens and saw this stall put up by Sultan Pens at the annual exhibition at Hyderabad... I went to this stall and asked for ebonite pens and I was shown a mottled brown ebonite FP with ‘Sultan’ in white paint on the barrel…I would have bought it, but the clip looked rusty and as this was the only piece they had, I had to leave it unbought by me…after I seriously started collecting Indian ebonite/celluloid pens, I thought I should find out more about this ‘Sultan’ pen…I did not know where Sultan Pens was located in Hyderabad...I searched all the yellow pages and telephone directories, but still no luck...I then felt I could try my luck in the area in and around Charminar...I asked a couple of people and one of them said that the shop is in Lad Bazaar, the famous street of Bangles shops near Charminar...I had a clue now…
So I set out, heart full of hope and a reasonable amount of money…I reached Charminar and it was only around 11.30 in the morning and the famous Lad Bazaar which would be overcrowded in the evenings was so wistfully empty…people were just about opening the shutters of their shops and only a couple of bangle shops were open… I wandered down the street looking at all the shop signs…and decided to ask a gentleman standing near a bangle shop…he told me that the shop is at the junction further down…I reached the junction and I couldn’t locate the shop…I wandered further down and again decided to ask a gentleman sitting in his perfumes shop…he told me that I should go back and search as I had come beyond the Lad Bazaar area…I went back to the junction and asked a bookshop owner…he told me that no such shop exists in this area and asked me what I was looking for…I told him ‘ink pens’…he asked me to try my luck at Hilal Pen Stores near the arch…I was not convinced…
I was not going back without finding out where this shop was located, whether they had pens or not…I asked an elderly bearded gentleman sitting in front of his ‘old newspapers’ shop…he told me that he remembered a shop of this kind, but it is no longer there, and could well be relocated elsewhere, and asked me to enquire with another gentleman sitting in the shop opposite selling Islamic books…this man told me that there is no shop called ‘Sultan Pen Stores’ in this area and asked me to check out ‘Hilal Pen stores’…the name again…so I walked my way back and tried to locate ‘Hilal Pen Stores’ near the ‘kamaan’ (arch)…as the day was a Sunday, the pavements in front of the shops located in the ‘kamaan’ area were full of temporary shops selling anything from clothes to books to iron scrap…while negotiating my way through this crowd of shops, I finally happened to see an old fashioned shop with the board ‘Hilal Pen Stores’… a man (whom I subsequently discovered was the owner) was sitting on the steps and selling Islamic books…I wondered whether the owners had changed their business…then I looked inside and saw a forward tilted showcase with pens…I felt relieved…but the shop was full of plastic decorative items, toys, books and other items…then the owner saw me standing in front of his shop and asked me what I wanted…I told him ‘ink pens’… he took a few more seconds to negotiate the sale of the book and stood up and said ‘aayiye saab’ and went inside the shop…I followed him inside…
Saturday, August 16, 2008
I was once a poet...
I was once a poet...sounds surprising to me too...but then at some point of time in our growing up years most of us try writing poems...I used to write a lot of poems... in Kannada and in English...I prided myself on being able to write poems in two languages...those were heady times...sigh!
My BA years were especially fruitful in terms of poetry...love, heartbreak, again love...and so on..and sometimes idealism...a couple of poems got published in the Fergusson College student magazine and I was ecastatic...then the muse stopped visiting...
Then in early 1995, when I was in CIEFL, Hyderabad, my friend and fellow participant there, Srinivas Prasad (now Princiopal of a Government College in Kakinada), out of the blue asked me write a poem and give him...I told him I had stopped writing poems...he persisted and told me that I could and forced me to write one...I didn't know what to write...I thought for a whole week...the muse eluded me...then I sat down to write and managed 2 stanzas and gave it to Srinivas Prasad...I then asked him the reason for his asking me to pen a poem...he said it was a surprise...after a while, I forgot about it...then suddenly one day there was this small impromptu gathering that was arranged in the hostel mess and Srinivas Prasad, along with three other participants - John Varghese, K. Jayashree and Rita Ghosh, announced the launch of the Participants' Newsletter...managed and written wholly by the participants for the participants...we were all surprised and happy... then the copies of the newsletter were distributed to all present...it was an 8-page newelstter and I opened the pages and was stunned to see my poem printed in page 5 of the newsletter...I thought Prasad had asked me to write this poem only to egg me on to re-start my 'literary passion'...I was happy and embarassed at the same time... I definitely did not intend my poem to become public property...now it was before my fellow participants...
I was going through my old files and was happy to see the old issues of the newsletter (it ran for 2 years continuously and thereafter intermittently and closed down after 3 years)...I thought, why not put this poem in my blog and whoever my readers are can 'enjoy' it...I haven't written any poem after this...this is my last poem...so, all you readers...enjoy...
Smoky Thoughts
The whirring fan stirring up stale cigarette smoke
re-igniting the desire for the half-cigarette,
now lying brutally mutilated.
Now, again pining for it, and chiding myself
for being so thoughtless in disgust.
Does the muse come riding so, on smoky thoughts?
Why doesn't sleep come similarly?
Oh, it has already gone to sleep, tired.
Use the muse as a ruse.
Write poetry and lure sleep.
But poetry must be made of sterner stuff, no?
_______________________________________________________________________
So friends...
My BA years were especially fruitful in terms of poetry...love, heartbreak, again love...and so on..and sometimes idealism...a couple of poems got published in the Fergusson College student magazine and I was ecastatic...then the muse stopped visiting...
Then in early 1995, when I was in CIEFL, Hyderabad, my friend and fellow participant there, Srinivas Prasad (now Princiopal of a Government College in Kakinada), out of the blue asked me write a poem and give him...I told him I had stopped writing poems...he persisted and told me that I could and forced me to write one...I didn't know what to write...I thought for a whole week...the muse eluded me...then I sat down to write and managed 2 stanzas and gave it to Srinivas Prasad...I then asked him the reason for his asking me to pen a poem...he said it was a surprise...after a while, I forgot about it...then suddenly one day there was this small impromptu gathering that was arranged in the hostel mess and Srinivas Prasad, along with three other participants - John Varghese, K. Jayashree and Rita Ghosh, announced the launch of the Participants' Newsletter...managed and written wholly by the participants for the participants...we were all surprised and happy... then the copies of the newsletter were distributed to all present...it was an 8-page newelstter and I opened the pages and was stunned to see my poem printed in page 5 of the newsletter...I thought Prasad had asked me to write this poem only to egg me on to re-start my 'literary passion'...I was happy and embarassed at the same time... I definitely did not intend my poem to become public property...now it was before my fellow participants...
I was going through my old files and was happy to see the old issues of the newsletter (it ran for 2 years continuously and thereafter intermittently and closed down after 3 years)...I thought, why not put this poem in my blog and whoever my readers are can 'enjoy' it...I haven't written any poem after this...this is my last poem...so, all you readers...enjoy...
Smoky Thoughts
The whirring fan stirring up stale cigarette smoke
re-igniting the desire for the half-cigarette,
now lying brutally mutilated.
Now, again pining for it, and chiding myself
for being so thoughtless in disgust.
Does the muse come riding so, on smoky thoughts?
Why doesn't sleep come similarly?
Oh, it has already gone to sleep, tired.
Use the muse as a ruse.
Write poetry and lure sleep.
But poetry must be made of sterner stuff, no?
_______________________________________________________________________
So friends...
Saturday, August 9, 2008
The Longest Pen?
Hello friends...
This is a unique pen from the range of pens made by Deccan Pen Stores, Hyderabad. It is called the 2-in-1 Ruler Pen (I do not know whether it has any other specific brand name) and it must have served as a great utility tool at one point of time. As you can see, this ebonite rod contains two pens – one at each end. This is designed to be a desk pen. One pen was supposed to contain blue ink and the other red. And this 2-in-1 pen also doubles as a ruler to help users draw straight lines for margins, etc. It served people like lawyers, bureaucrats, etc., (at one point of time) who needed to use both colour inks to make notes, make corrections, etc. This must have been a common pen in colonial and early post independent government offices in India. The pen is about 14 inches in length – both pens capped, 10 inches with one pen capped, and either pen is 6 ½ inches uncapped. As this is a desk pen, it doesn’t have a pocket clip. If at all anyone wants to carry it along, they would have to carry it in a long enough bag or a flute case! The one displayed here has 2 fountain pens, but this model also comes with an FP at one end, to be filled with blue ink usually, and a ball pen at the other, with a red ink refill. Guider also produces a similar pen, with a FP at one end and a BP at the other, and the ends are helpfully marked in red (FP) and blue (BP).
I had seen this pen at DPS many times before and Hari had bought a mottled brown one with an FP and a BP at either ends on his last visit to Hyderabad and had shown it to me. I was not too keen as I didn’t know what I’d do with this pen. And then when I visited the Secunderbad Branch of DPS around 5 days back to buy Advocates for my brothers, I also bought a Pelkan (Hari has also posted on this) and 2 Onyx-es, and then out of the blue, the salesman there took out this pen and offered it to me. The pen looked good and I liked the mottled design on this pen, which is not streaky, but kind of loopy. I then inspected the FPs and thought ‘why not’ and bought it. I have written with both pens and I must say they write very well. The nibs are called ‘Preema.’
I feel that if both pens can be made as BPs, then this pen can also be used as a pointer. Unless one is a regular pen user with lots of paper work to do and has a large enough desk, this pen can only be an ornamental piece. But, if one is crazy enough about FPs, one can always find excuses to buy this pen…like I did. This is not an antique pen (only the style is) and can be manufactured by any good pen-maker with ebonite stock. But, this pen’s value lies in its unique usefulness and the ingenuity of the first pen manufacturer or user who thought of something like this. This particular pen does not have the usual ‘D’ logo that one normally finds in DPS pens, which kind of makes the pen look bland.
Jai
This is a unique pen from the range of pens made by Deccan Pen Stores, Hyderabad. It is called the 2-in-1 Ruler Pen (I do not know whether it has any other specific brand name) and it must have served as a great utility tool at one point of time. As you can see, this ebonite rod contains two pens – one at each end. This is designed to be a desk pen. One pen was supposed to contain blue ink and the other red. And this 2-in-1 pen also doubles as a ruler to help users draw straight lines for margins, etc. It served people like lawyers, bureaucrats, etc., (at one point of time) who needed to use both colour inks to make notes, make corrections, etc. This must have been a common pen in colonial and early post independent government offices in India. The pen is about 14 inches in length – both pens capped, 10 inches with one pen capped, and either pen is 6 ½ inches uncapped. As this is a desk pen, it doesn’t have a pocket clip. If at all anyone wants to carry it along, they would have to carry it in a long enough bag or a flute case! The one displayed here has 2 fountain pens, but this model also comes with an FP at one end, to be filled with blue ink usually, and a ball pen at the other, with a red ink refill. Guider also produces a similar pen, with a FP at one end and a BP at the other, and the ends are helpfully marked in red (FP) and blue (BP).
I had seen this pen at DPS many times before and Hari had bought a mottled brown one with an FP and a BP at either ends on his last visit to Hyderabad and had shown it to me. I was not too keen as I didn’t know what I’d do with this pen. And then when I visited the Secunderbad Branch of DPS around 5 days back to buy Advocates for my brothers, I also bought a Pelkan (Hari has also posted on this) and 2 Onyx-es, and then out of the blue, the salesman there took out this pen and offered it to me. The pen looked good and I liked the mottled design on this pen, which is not streaky, but kind of loopy. I then inspected the FPs and thought ‘why not’ and bought it. I have written with both pens and I must say they write very well. The nibs are called ‘Preema.’
I feel that if both pens can be made as BPs, then this pen can also be used as a pointer. Unless one is a regular pen user with lots of paper work to do and has a large enough desk, this pen can only be an ornamental piece. But, if one is crazy enough about FPs, one can always find excuses to buy this pen…like I did. This is not an antique pen (only the style is) and can be manufactured by any good pen-maker with ebonite stock. But, this pen’s value lies in its unique usefulness and the ingenuity of the first pen manufacturer or user who thought of something like this. This particular pen does not have the usual ‘D’ logo that one normally finds in DPS pens, which kind of makes the pen look bland.
Jai
Saturday, August 2, 2008
My dazzling Jinhao FP
I never thought I’d own a Jinhao FP one day…I had read about and seen pictures of Jinhao FPs here on FPN and was wondering how on earth am I going to get one of these fab looking pens…I browsed around the net and saw that isellpens.com sold Jinhao FPs, but I was not sure about how I’d go about ordering them from India and whether the pen would reach safely…then this happened…a friend of mine, Anuradha, was posted to China…I have known her for the past 15 years… she had come home to Hyderabad for a brief holiday and was talking about her work in China and I asked her what had she got for me from China…she said she didn’t know what I wanted and if I specified what I wanted, she’d try and get it the next time she came to India…at that moment, I didn’t know what to ask for…I told her that I’d let her know…a couple of months after she’d left, I was again browsing the net and ogling at FPs…it suddenly struck me that I can ask Anu to get me a Jinhao FP…I immediately sent her a mail, thinking that Jinhao FPs would be available in all Chinese cities and it wouldn’t be difficult to buy one…there was no response for quite some time and I again asked her whether she’d been successful in bagging a Jinhao FP…she wrote back telling me that she had tried in her city and that the shops there didn’t know that such a thing called a Jinhao pen existed…that came as a surprise to me…I then scoured the net again and saw that Jinhao has a website…almost 90% of the information available there was in Chinese, but I found the address written in English and forwarded the URL and the address to Anu…she then sent both to her colleague working in that city and asked him to buy a pen for me…As I couldn’t specify what model I wanted, and Anu too didn’t know which model to buy, it was left to the discretion of her colleague to decide and buy what he thought would make me happy…Anu told me that her colleague called her up to find out which model he should buy and described some of them to her…and said that a particular model came in with a wooden box…Anu told him to buy the one with the wooden box…and that’s how I came to proudly own this Jinhao…after Anu returned to Hyderabad, I went to her house to collect the pen…and before this Anu had called me and told me that she’d come back and that she’d come home during the weekend and give me the pen… both Shruti and I had to go to our places of work on that Sunday for some reason and Anu couldn’t come to see us…it was not until another week that I finally could see this pen…and all the while I had this feeling that if I didn’t go soon and take possession of the pen, Anu would start using it…she said so to me, and also told me over the phone that the pen was so tempting that she had half a mind to keep it with her…I was scared…and I could breathe a sigh of relief only after I could hold the box in my hands…
Now about the pen…it is a beautiful pen, no doubt about it…it shines brightly…but I don’t know the name of the model…the website and the brochure that came along with it were of no help in identifying the name, because as usual, most of it was written in Chinese…I tried isellpens.com again…there were similar looking pens, but none like this one… the only thing I know for sure is that it has a 14 kt gold nib and it writes like a dream … I haven’t filled it with ink yet… and the pen looks so rich that I need to wear it with something suitably ostentatious, which I don’t have at the moment…and therefore, it stays in its velvet pouch in the box… the box is beautiful, with its Chinese inscriptions on the lid as well as the inside lid… there is also a scroll, which actually is like a mat, made of bamboo or wood flats linked with a thread…the inscriptions on the box lid, inside lid, and on the scroll are all in Chinese, I can’t make head or tail of what is written… there is an engraving of a Chinese lady on the lid and a Chinese man on the scroll…I don’t who they are…maybe the man is Confucius… the engraving on the clip and on the cap lip is again in Chinese… there are 2 characters on the cap lip, which might stand for ‘Jinhao’… and the clip has 4 characters… and they are engraved very clearly and look very good… the feeder looks plain without any striations…and the design engraved on the nib extends to its sides too… the nib too looks very good, not too broad… and the pen has a piston filling mechanism…
When I showed this pen to my colleagues, some of them told me that they are contemplating turning into pen thieves…
Friday, August 1, 2008
Ustad Amir Khan and me...
My relationship with Ustad Amir Khan's music is like my liking for Amitav Ghosh's works...Ustad Amir Khan is one of the most influential Hindustani classical vocalists in the 20th century...I just fell in love with his kind of singing at first hearing...not that I had heard other singers and in comparision, Ustadji sounded better or anything...it is something that I haven't been able to understand...I began looking out for cassettes, books, CDs, etc., to listen to his renderings, know more about this great singer...and all this without knowing even 5% of what constitutes Hindustani classical music...and its nuances... I was thrilled when a fellow music enthusiast sent me a copy of the documentary on Ustad Amir Khan made by the Films Division...I was able to see Ustadji actually singing and talking and moving around...I was ecstatic...and later Patrick Moutal hosted a couple of videos of Ustadji singing Malkauns and Rageshree...these videos can be downloaded from Patrick's website (http://homepage.mac.com/patrickmoutal/macmoutal/rag.html) and I must have watched these many many times... I like his Lalit, Malkauns, Bilaskhani Todi, and Hamsadhwani very much... and with great devotion to his immortal singing, I managed to host a webpage on Ustadji almosgt 6 years ago ... which I am proud to say is the first website on Ustadji... and whatever I felt about Ustadji and his music, I have written in the brief introduction to the site... and over the years, many admirers of Ustadji's music have written to me and everytime I feel embarassed, because I am not aware of the nuances of hindustani classical music and I tell everyone so... the webpage is only a labour of love, not an exposotion or analysis of Ustadji's music ... in case you are interested...please visit www.geocities.com/jaysrinivas and please leave your comments here...I will be happy...
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