Search the Community

It was just a routine visit to Deccan Pens at Abids … whenever Hari comes to Hyderabad, we set out in the evening ... it is a long drive from where I live to Abids and that gives us enough time to catch up on events and happenings in the pen and watch worlds on FPN and elsewhere … we meet up with Wasim bhai, and the younger generation brothers and the sales people … and if Wasim bhai is free, the conversation can go on for a long long time … sometimes no pen is bought, but the visit to Deccan at Abids is part of our liking and passion for pens … it is like paying obeisance at the altar of superior pen-making … Yesterday, 19th February 2015, Hari and I visited Deccan and both of us were happy to see a new model under the glass … it is a shiny black ebonite number, suitably restrained with only the bright golden coloured clip for any visible embellishment … a classic cigar shaped fountain pen, it is an ED filler … the size is slightly smaller than the MB 146 … the flat clip is nice and quite springy, but not spring loaded … except for the dome at the cap jewel, the cap is cylindrical and forms a straight line and cuts smoothly at the cap lip and embraces the barrel gracefully when the pen is capped … Once the cap is unscrewed, you see the trademark Deccan lines and meticulous finishing … the section is so elegant and the lines form a beautiful and subtle hourglass, just about straightening out ever so slightly at both ends at the last millimeter … look at the place in the section where the nib & feeder meet the section and it is so shiny … this attention to detail is rarely seen … and that is what keeps Deccan at the top among Indian fountain pen makers … The pen came with a regular nib, but I didn’t like the shape and got it changed for a custom Deccan Medium nib … I had to pay extra for that, of course … and after the pen was inked, it just took off … Hari, who was overseeing the change of nibs, tested the smoothness and flow and said, ‘what need for any other pen …?’ I want to call it the Deccan Majaz … Here are some photos of the pen … http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/1-DecLittle_zps1ee2f3bb.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/2-DecLittle_zpseca41e78.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/3-DecLittle_zps64515aba.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/4-DecLittle_zps2f1f354a.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/5-DecLittle_zpsfbde8e03.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/6-DecLittle_zpsc3d28b48.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/7-DecLittle_zpsbb0935b2.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/8-DecLittle_zpsfa29b7c3.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/9-DecLittle_zpsf9670ed9.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/10-DecLittle_zps8c470eeb.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/11-DecLittle_zpsbbb7075e.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/12-DecLittle_zps5779cf47.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/13-DecLittle_zpsc43f73f2.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/14-DecLittle_zps09e3329f.jpg That’s all for now … thanks for visiting and reading and your comments and responses are welcome … Shrujaya

An unscheduled visit to Deccan Pens, Secunderabad branch, to buy some stationery items, yielded a big surprise on the last day of 2014 … and a new pen for the new year… I was visiting Deccan Pens after a long long time and Zubair was very effusive in his welcome and before I could ask for things I wanted to buy, he asked me if I had seen their latest model and if Wasimbhai at Abids branch had shown me their latest creation … I said no and told him that I had visited their Abids branch a couple of months ago and Wasimbhai hadn’t spoken about a new model … he then took out this fountain pen from inside the steel cupboard and showed it to me … it was their very sturdy and very popular Masterpiece model, and this one was with a steel cap … ‘pure’ stainless steel, Zubair said … the first thing I noticed was the clip … most of the times, the clips on Deccan pens are straightforward … I can remember only the clip on Author being slightly ornamental … the clip on this pen was ever so slightly ornamental at the top and also curves down ending in a kind of teardrop … I opened the pen and the cap felt very heavy … really heavy … I had my Deccan brushed Masterpiece in my pocket and when I compared the weights of the caps just by holding each cap in either palm, I could sense the heaviness … The pen is a green and black combination with steel on the cap adding the ‘steel’ … the pen looks sturdy and the cap is very well done … the green is actually military green and my personal opinion is that steel goes well with green … I had always admired the green steel capped Advocate more than the brown steel capped one, but somehow that Advocate is not in my collection … the black, military green, and steel makes a very pleasing combination for me … and as you can see, the nib is a regular large one found in Deccan Masterpiece fountain pens … Posting the cap makes it heavy at the barrel end and therefore one has to hold the section more firmly than usual while writing … it would be better to use the pen unposted … and since the pen was inked for testing, I tried writing and as expected, the flow is even and the nib smooth … and Zubair said he has taken the pen out after two weeks and I wrote with it and no starting trouble at all … I have seen this amazing feature myself with my Deccan pens and it is one of the outstanding features of Deccan pens and found in very few Indian ebonite pens … I am pleased that this quality continues in this pen too … Deccan has the Masterpiece model in shiny black ebonite, brushed black ebonite, white acrylic, blue-green acrylic, and I think also in brushed mottled brown ebonite ... and this, if I am not wrong, is the first time that the Masterpiece is made in green & black ebonite combination and also the first time that the Masterpiece model is made with a steel cap ... As of now, this is the only piece that was made … a sort of prototype model … and Zubair gave it to me for the time being … here are some pics of this new model circa 2014 … http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/1-Deccan-SteelcapMP_zps7e13f417.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/2-Deccan-SteelcapMP_zpscd0145b4.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/3-Deccan-SteelcapMP_zps42f7d6dc.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/4-Deccan-SteelcapMP_zpsd61dc762.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/5-Deccan-SteelcapMP_zps36f49cd7.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/6-Deccan-SteelcapMP_zps0a92c30c.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/7-Deccan-SteelcapMP_zps2e0ce947.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/8-Deccan-SteelcapMP_zps96f1d2c6.jpg Thanks for visiting and here's wishing you all a Happy New Year 2015 ... Regards, Shrujaya

I should have written about these two Deccan models long back … I think it was nearly four years ago, or maybe five years ago, that I found these two models at Deccan…I had gone there on one of those routine visits and found these...the reason I did not showcase these was maybe because there was another pen which had caught my fancy and I had written about that…maybe the Deccan Retro Series…I am not sure… So…what made me pick up these models was this feeling that they looked like smaller and slimmer versions of the Advocate…these were smaller than the Advocate Jr… and I had felt that if these models took off then those FP enthusiasts who found the Advocate too big, but liked the looks, might go for one of these… I still do not know whether this was the first and only batch of these models or whether there were some earlier…but, I haven’t seen these models since… They have the similar shape as the Advocate…the slimmest ones have the cap jewel almost halved…the cap band is still there…the original ball clip seen in the black Advocate and Advocate Junior in the group photo at the end, has given way to the tear-drop clip…I bought three, the bigger one in brown and the two smaller ones in green and black…the green one has a black cap jewel… all three pens have the Ambitious nibs and the feeders have that vertical groove on the middle, just like the earlier big Advocates… In the last photo, the group photo, one can see the Advocate, the Advocate Jr., the Advocate Minor Sr. and the Advocate Minor Jr.… http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/3-MinorAdvocates-capped_zps15ff13b9.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/4-MinorAdvocates-posted_zpsa45516e4.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/5-MinorAdvocates-capsampclips_zps25c68a77.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/6-MinorAdvocates-sectionampnibs_zps26b8ee36.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/7-MinorAdvocates-nibscloseup_zps198732d3.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/8-MinorAdvocates-feeders_zps2cedae1f.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/9-MinorAdvocates-capjewels_zpsd589cc0d.jpg http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/10-MinorAdvocates-all5_zps943fb1bf.jpg Thanks for looking and reading… Shrujaya