The 100 year old Ink Well.

I enjoy writing on fancy stationary. In-fact it sometimes seems to be the only thing that truly inspires me to pen down my thoughts at all. The feel and smell of a nice leather bound Moleskine notebook can never compare to M.S Word. The monotony of typing on a computer just doesn't have the same appeal as writing on a piece of fine stationary, and especially with an ink pen.

In retrospect, I am truly grateful to the primary school I attended, which enforced the use of ink pens. It was probably one of the main reasons I could improve my handwriting and have it be, somewhat discernible. I vividly recall all my "Natraj" pencil boxes, all smeared and caked up with multi-colored ink which came oozing out from every seam in the pens they resided in.. Opening the cap on a sealed ink pen, especially after running to school, with the pencil box jostling around in the backpack, felt like  diffusing a bomb! I had to be very gentle, lest I have all this ink running down my arm. I used to have the pen turned upside down before opening it. I washed the caps off later during break.I wasn't fortunate enough to have one of those "Parker" ink pens with pre-loaded ink cartridges. I had to stick with Rs.15 fountain pens.. you know, the ones with the transparent ink wells that held close to a "Litre" of ink in them, and would leak profusely at the slightest instigation!  So understandably, back then, I hated it with a fervor! What bugged me most was, I think, the rituals involved before any exam - of filling up ink, and making sure the nibs were not bent and checking the pens were in good shape (and not forgetting to take them out from the Pooja room). It all felt so inconvenient, so backward. I often wondered what that point of it all was, and now its all so clear. It actually helps you write better.Seriously! When you have dealt with an old leaky ink pen with inky fingers and an impatient class teacher who is hell-bent on cleaning the blackboard every 23 seconds! you learn to write discernibly with pretty much anything.

Recently my dad gave me something very special. It was given to him by his father and his father before. It was an old English glass cube brass topped ink well (quite a mouthful) . The stuff you use to hold ink and dip you're qill pens in.

It had been an eternity since I wrote with an ink pen. Life had moved on. It went from the humble ink pen to the ballpoint pen to the then popular "micro-tip" pens and finally to no pens at all. I was excited and honored to get this from my great grandfather. Then my dad gave me something else. A real nice pewter quill pen, with a flamboyant feather and everything.

I spent over an hour polishing and scrubbing out all those years of  tarnish and neglect.
Handy Tip: When you don't have Brasso at home, just use a cocktail of vinegar, sea salt and lime juice. Then its just soak and shine.  I picked this handy little trick from my numismatic days (life before the computer..sigh)  for cleaning old copper and brass coins :) 

Writing with it feels like taking a trip back in time. Everything in this fast paced world we inhabit seems to slow down. When writing with a quill pen, you learn to be patient and start worrying about what you need to write. I often pause and think about what I am writing (especially when I am whispering back to my secret whisperer), for there is really no clean way of correcting a mistake. I compose the words in my head, play them back a few times and then pen them down delicately. I also have to periodically dip the quill in the the brass ink well. And finally, I  carefully clean the nib, so that the ink doesn't dry and cake up. All these actions are slow and deliberate. Like some ancient ritual, I follow it without thought and enjoy the process immensely, occasionally more so than the final result.

   

I cleared out my desk - made more space for the ink well :) 

So the 100 year old ink well helps me enjoy the rituals involved in the act of writing and this blog helps me revel the joy of writing about it.

-M.Monk