Battala – printing, publication, pornography … and penmanship. The “Gora Sahibs” were concentrated in their White Town around Fort William – down Chowringhee, all the way to Park Street. The natives were huddled in the squalor, as the river flowed, both up and down, in what was variously, contemptuously called
Mizanur Rahman bhai is a well-known name in the fountain pen and ink user groups in Bangladesh. He runs a very successful shop in Dhaka and can easily be considered among the handful of opinion-makers in the country. As a fountain pen and ink importer, his knowledge about the quality,
Kolkata has often been called the Cultural Capital of the Nation – killing fields for the Tagores and the Rays (and innumerable others) that have, and continue to dominate our perceptions. While the creative history of the city is mostly well-documented, what is less known is the story of the
Swadeshi, Swaraj and Swadhin – three new lines of ink from Sulekha are now ready. During the peak of Corona-infused-lockdown, fountain pen lovers from different parts of India had contacted me to help them organise a “group buy” of Sulekha Inks. To cut a long story short, despite my best
Fountain pen & Ink – the story of Calcutta’s intricate connection with their development, especially in the first half of the twentieth century, is a fascinating one that demands to be told, again, to the lovers of fountain pens. Nearly a hundred years on, most sources are as dry as
Luxmi Stylo Pen Works, Varanasi, was the first to make the “Swadeshi” pen in India. Legend has it that the first “Swadeshi” Fountain pen in India was made by Kosuri Venkata Ratnam to honour the desire expressed by none other than the Mahatma – who wanted an inexpensive pen, made
