Friday, October 9, 2009

எழுதுகோல்

The dream of every individual who started using Pencil is to switch over to Pen as it is viewed as prestige and to show one as "பெரிய ம‌னிதர்க‌ள்”. பென்சிலில் அழுத்தி எழுதிய‌ கைக‌ளுக்கு, பேனாவால் எழுதுவ‌து easy ஆக‌ இருக்கும். Before getting an original pen for my use, as started earlier, I inserted a small pencil inside an old unusable pen and just started a show-off to my friends that I am having a pen.

When I got my first pen, along with it, I got a lot of advice also on how to use it like, it should be used very lightly, should not apply heavy pressure on it, should not keep upside down and above all, should keep it safely and should not be lost! As I am always obedient, I started following the instructions and soon become familiar to use it freely and with good hand writing (?) !!

In my early school days, we were allowed to use only Royal Blue colour ink. I was very much fond of using Black ink but not granted. Later during my 10th, I started using Blue-Black coloured ink which will look like both blue and Black. Lastly when I was in 11th, I got chance to use Black ink in my Record notes. எழுதுவ‌த‌ற்கே "ம‌ஜா" வாக‌ இருந்த‌து. Note book also looked very bright. Till now I don’t have the reason why blue ink was preferred over Black. As teachers only use Red ink for correction, I manage to get one pen with red ink with justification that I need it for underlining Highlighted points ! So Red was my forth colour pen. One more important colour was Green. Only Gazetted officers of Government services can use this. The great desire and in-depth willingness to use this colour came true when I was promoted as Gazetted officer in 1996. I think now-a-days pens are available in almost all colours and everyone uses it.

If anyone wants to give a gift, pen is the most common choice. I also got a pen as First prize for a competition when I was in 6th standard.

The next type of pen I used is Highlighters. It is also a pen but can be used only to highlight important texts with different colours.

Latest introduction is Gel Pen, Glister pens apart from Ball Pen.

There are two types of marker pens also available, Board marker and Permanent marker. Board marker can also be used on hand substitute to “ம‌ருதாணி”

I found some round space in my school desk which was used for keeping ink bottle. My seniors might have used such pen that does not have any self container for ink and they have to take ink separately. Those days, pen will have only nib inserted in a wooden frame. ( I am having some light remembrance that தாத்தா used to write with one of such pen). You have to dip the Nib in ink and can write a line.

Filling ink in the pen is an art. One should be expert to fill it without using a filler. Ink should come slowly from the ink bottle and it has to go inside the container half way and other half should be left for air flow. You should be careful that ink should not over flow and drop out. After filling about 80% of the container, it should be screwed with Nib “Barrel” with one twist and the pen should be made upside down and keeping it in that position you have to tighten the Barrel. By doing so, the excess ink will come out through the nib and can be poured back into the ink pot.

You should have blotting paper with you whenever you fill ink or when you anticipate ink will over flow. We also use chalk dust to observe such excess ink if we do not have blotting paper.

To fill the ink, you can use ink Filler also which contains a rubber cap and a plastic tube. There are four simple steps to fill using filler. 1) Keep fillers tip inside ink and press the rubber cap. 2) Release the cap. 3) Keep the filler inside the pen ink container and press the cap. 4) Takeout the filler and release the cap.

There were different variety of ink containers of a pen like solid one, slit window to know ink level, fully visible container and container with filler. I used all these types in my life.

Cleaning the ink pen will be handled like a big project. I used to clean my pen before exams (3 times in a year). We have to separate every part of the pen and have to put it in warm water. It has to be dried with the help of dry cloth and a thin stick (தென்னை துட‌ப்ப‌ குச்சி). After drying the container and barrel, we further dry it by blowing air from our mouth (விசில் ச‌த்த‌ம் also will come). The feeder (நாக்கு) has to be cleaned with the help of safety pin and all dust deposited on the path has to be removed. Then everything has to be assembled and ink has to be filled. You have to try to write and have to satisfy yourself that pen is writing very well. The tip of the nib has to be twisted upside or downside till we get desired sharpness. If the nib scratches the paper, you can easily correct it by scratching it continuously on a plain glass.

If the refill of a ball pen stops writing, you have to light a match stick and make the refill a little hot. Then rub it fast by placing it in between your palms and you can make it to write.

The culture of getting / giving loan started in my early days itself once I started using pen. I used to give 2 drops of ink to my friend who left out without ink in his pen. We remember the loan and get back the 2 drops from him the next day itself !!

Brill ink is the famous brand of ink in the market. Whenever I purchase a bottle of Brill ink, I used to get 10 or so Label that I can use it on Note books.

At times we find the pen is leaking and making out shirts dirty. We use soap or grease to control the leakage of ink.

Next most important use of a pen is to make impression on other’s shirt to make them April Fool and splashing ink over others shirt on last working day of school.

Even though I had written the information known to all, thanks to Sudhakar, who triggered me to write something about pen and to refresh my memory.