19 April 2015

“None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try”

… thus said Mark Twain.

Of the various things that have made Sharmila call me “quirky”, my fascination towards fountain pens has to be one of the top ones. Even today, I write with fountain pens almost always – including office matters. Two fountain pens in my office bag are my constant companions (because I often have ink accidents – especially due to low pressure in flights). And a special pad that does not bleed or blot (it is very difficult to find fountain-pen-friendly pads in this country).

Over the years, I also have collected fountain pens. One of the best times of the year for me – and perhaps the only personal “retail therapy” time – is when the Pen Show comes to Atlanta!! (Yes, there is such a thing – about five thousand pens are on display and about two hundred “quirky” pen collectors gather to buy and sell pens, re-tune the nibs or otherwise repair their pens).

And today I added a few more to my collection. This is the full collection – each one of these is a fountain pen with a fine tip nib. Some are made from tree wood, some from rocks, some from rare stones and some from bird feathers!!

Ah! till next April again!!!!

Fountain Pens

11 December 2013

An inspiring meeting!

Had a brilliant time over a drink with Milind last evening after a full day’s worth of work. I had the opportunity to work together with him – nearly ten years younger to me – in i2 many many moons ago. There were some 10,000 employees that had worked at some point of time in i2. By my experience – and feedback from those thousands of i2ers who went and joined a lot of other companies – it certainly was an exceptional place in terms of an unbelievable number of really really smart people coming together under one tent with an incredible “whatever it takes” attitude.

Most all of them have moved on to other companies following great careers. However, I have always wondered whether we created enough entrepreneurs who would go on to start their own companies. For such an entrepreneurial environment, it strikes me as though we might not have had our fair share.

Milind is certainly the most successful entrepreneur I know of from i2.

Having created a company which, in its short history of seven years (last five have generated revenue) has reached an annual revenue generation of nearly $200M, he probably produces more revenue than all entrepreneurs from i2 put together.

What a great success story at such an early age.

We talked a lot about the challenges of growing and sustaining a company. The challenges of building coherent teams and a deliberate culture. Great discussions. Very inspiring.

Hope to see many more young men and women from my past create value in this world like Milind has.

Then he floored me with something.
I did not know this but early in his career, apparently he worked for a Swiss gentleman named Mr. Hertig who had moved to Mumbai and had created an eponymous company to make fine writing instruments and sell there. Milind has a few fountain pens saved from those days.
He had read about my fascination for fountain pens in a previous post and guess what? Since that day, he had saved a pen set for me waiting to meet me some day. That day happened yesterday!

Here’s to many more successes to you, Milind. So much so, that none of my fountain pens can ever finish writing about them!!!

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12 April 2013

Fountain Pens!

When asked to describe me in one word, my wife once had said “Quirky”. If you know me, you know that is as close a word as it gets to describe me as any. If you know me even more, you probably also know that one of my quirks is that I do not use any pen other than fountain pens. (I have modest collection of them too).
Today, I finally realized how my wife feels in those clothes and dress stores she seems to go to all the time 🙂 Went to the Atlanta Pen Show that opened today. I am easily distracted by a nice fountain pen (especially with fine nibs). They had hundreds and hundreds of them!! Some were of unbelievable vintage. And I met a couple of guys who hand made some of those pens. I was like a kid in a candy store. Really really did not want to come back.
Ah! well!!!