made in india

of late, indian made pens have been my focus.

especially when they are well made and very reasonably priced.

the pens i ordered, made in india, finally arrived!

all in different ebonite colours.

(l to r: asa nauka, gama forever, wality/airmail, asa athelete and asa i will)

and below are all my current indian pens together.

pens capped.

(l to r: wality/airmail, asa athelete, skt, gama forever, asa nauka, asa i will, ranga model 5) 

pens uncapped:

(l to r: skt, wality/airmail, asa nauka, gama forever, asa athelete, asa i will, ranga model 5) 

only the asa i will and ranga model 5 are fitted with jowo nib unit.

the rest have stock indian nibs.

"the pen"

i got this no brand ebonite eyedropper fountain pen from e-bay for USD14. i believe it was made in india. at that price point, it was meant to be the pen i would tinker with and not worry about. after all, the pen's dimensions were much smaller than what i would normally prefer.

when i started writing with it, i couldn't help but admire everything that didn't fit my specifications. yes, admire. the nib was small (i was told it was #5.5 but i have no way of knowing this) and was scratchy. but it was comfortable and balanced in my hands even though the girth is less than what i'm used to.

weeks passed and i finally mustered courage to tweak the nib. i've never done that to any of my fountain pens. after applying my limited knowledge of just aligning the tines (it was misaligned to start with), i was amazed at how smoothly the nib writes now!  

i have to admit, this has become my favourite pen and it's always in my pen wrap. and it's the pen i reach out for most of the time. i did have some 'burping' action going on when my ink supply was low, but hey, i enjoy having inky fingers anyway. 

just goes to show to never underestimate anything in life. 

it might just turn out to be something you'll fall in love with... 

(size comparison shot: L to R - Lamy Safari and "the pen").