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Hi, Are there active members here from Bangalore? I live in whitefield, and would not mind connecting with others in the vicinity and bangalore city. I think we might gain from each others' knowledge and also look at ordering stuff collectively from abroad to save costs. Sanjay

Before I embarked on my trip to Avenue Road, I had two places in mind - the highly suggested Meenakshi Pen Mart, and R. V Nadam and Co, which I had read an article about. I tried to start my trip by finding Meenakshi Pen Mart but it proved too difficult to find. Google Maps showed an incorrect location, and when I asked other shopkeepers, they were unable to direct me either. After about thirty minutes of searching, I decided to abandon, and hunt for R.V Nadam and Co. This shop was ten minutes away, and it was quite easy to find. The nearby landmark is Vijayalakshmi Theatre. It’s also easy to miss since it’s a small shop. The store owner, whose name I unfortunately did not get, was extremely helpful in showing us his collection. The store has a wide array of pens, ranging from ball points to gel pens to of course, fountain pens. They sell the Lamy Safari and the Lamy 2000 for lesser than the actual price. Their collection is remarkable, they sold a lot of beautiful Indian ebonites, as well as foreign brands. The pictures shown don’t do justice to how the actual pens looked. The owner was kind enough to let me handle the Lamy 2000. It was surreal, since I consider it my dream pen (yes, I’m a nerd). They also stocked inks, from bril, to quinks to waterman. I bought the Bril Laurel Rose, Green and Red. I will post my review of these inks when I get around to using them. Unfortunately, the reason I went there was for second hand pens, and specifically flex nibs, and they had neither, but it’s definitely a shop that every Bangalorean FP enthusiast should go to.

Hi all, I stay in Bangalore, and I might end up going to avenue road over the weekend. I'm specifically looking for colourful fountain pen ink, and maybe cheap second hand pens. I know Meenakshi Pen Mart is a favorite but can anyone confirm they sell different coloured ink as well? Smruthi

Hi Everyone, I'm Arun from Bangalore, India. As to why I am here, its kind of a funny story. I was introduced to fountain pens back when I was in school almost more than a decade ago. At that time, although I loved the experience of using a fountain pen, I was kind of frustrated with the ink spilling here and there (mainly due to running around), and the low quality paper which caused bleeding. I reduced using fountain pens just so I could avoid all this hassle. Last week, all of a sudden I woke up one morning, felt like writing something using a fountain pen and when I realized I didn't have any, I decided to buy one immediately, placed an order for a Parker Vector CT and since that day I have been watching several videos and reading several articles about fountain pens in this forum, about inks, which pen to get next and things like that. Today I placed an order for a Kaweco Perkeo and I'm quite sure I'll be collecting a lot more fountain pens in the future and once again enjoy the experience of using a fountain pen. Cheers!

Hi FPN'ers, I went through a few posts written by hari a few years ago about FP shops in Bangalore. I have had very little luck finding places from where I can buy FP's - esp vintage ones (plato, wilson,parker etc) I did visit Meenakshi Pen Store on Avenue Road a couple of times and grabbed a whole bunch of FP's, but he does not seem to add any new pens to his collection apart from the same old Click ebonites, Wality demos and a whole bunch of Jinhao and Baoer pens. I keep asking him to reach out to Hyderabad, Chennai and Kerala and stock Deccan's, Guiders, Gamas, Rangas and Kims, but no luck so far Do you know of places in Bangalore where I can buy some vintage Fp's? Oh, what would I give to get my hands on a few parker vacumatic and 51 clones....

Hello fellow FPN'ers, I have been browsing FPN for around a year and this is my first post. I have been an avid FP user for the last 15 years. I used FP's exclusively through school and university and only recently since last year, started a collection. Here is an initial set from my humble collection: http://i.imgur.com/uRMXxKc.jpg http://i.imgur.com/CssrPnS.jpg From top to bottom: Parker 45 flighter - Good deal on eBay. Wonderful writer Pilot Vortex - Good nib, but very disappointed with the pen quality overall Sheaffer No Nonsense - Smooth wet medium nib. hate the color My first "foreign" FP - Lamy Safari M. Should have got an F or an EF. Reynolds Grippy (in blue and red) - tiny little school pen that punches far above its weight Flair Inky - Indian version of Pilot Varsity. Nice. Surprisingly good build quality. converted to ED Maped free writer - French? school pen with an interesting design. Smooth M nib Another Flair inky Maped 'Click' reload - Interesting cartridge load mechanism and feels very good in the hand. Kudos to Maped for trying something different Pilot Varsity? - older gen Varsity I guess. Very smooth wet nib. Should have got an F Pilot Preppy - excellent build and smooth nib. Used as EDC for a month. Enjoyed every bit of it Also have a ton of chinese pens in my collection - Another post maybe....

Most stationary stores or pen stores in Bangalore do not seem to stock "Indian" FPs (they seem to sell a fair amount of Jinhao, Baoer, Pilot, Hero, etc.), I decided to check a few stores in Avenue Road today. It was quite unfortunate, as the stores that I was pointed to were shut today (I hope they were only having a really long lunch break and hadn't closed the stores!). When I did press a few storekeepers (only those which were manned by the gray haired men), they pulled out a few dusty boxes of the Click Ebonites and the Click demonstrators. My aim was to pick up a few ebonites or acrylics from one of the few older Indian manufacturers, I was quite surprised by my inability to find any of the other lovely pens discussed here on FPN. I guess I didn't ask the right questions or find the right stores today. However, I did stumple on this store called Meenakshi Stores run by one Mr. Krishna Murthy, who had a few Airmails. Unable to return empty handed, I succumbed and ended up paying Rs. 840 for the following for plastic, metal and acryclic Airmails. All of them seem to have the same Fine Airmail steel nibs with finned ebonite feed. I have just dipped them and used them so far, nothing more. Will review them soon. Given, this was a first time FP shopping attempt, can the more knowledgeable folk here chip in and let me know if I paid a premium for them? Does Airmail still manufacture these pens? Or are these new pens manufactured by a new entity under the Airmail brand? Or Are these pens just new old stock?

Hello everyone, I've just got serious about fountain pens and after buying a couple (a Gama and a Jinhao) and reading a little bit, I've discovered I like the following in an ink pen: - a fine nib which has a little bit of cushion, since my handwriting is small - slightly wet flow, say 2-3 seconds - a narrow gripping section, since I have small, girly hands (although the barrel could taper out and become larger) - well-balanced without posting - preferably ED or piston-filled Now I guess it all comes down to my budget. And that's the real challenge. I'm a student, and I cannot go beyond 11 dollars (around 800 rupees). Am I being delusional or is there any hope? Also, I was wondering if anyone has ideas on where I could source good-quality journals - again, not above 11 dollars - in India?