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The urge to splurge on pens was swelling up. My family was travelling to India for a short trip. An opportunity for me to order some pens and get her to carry them back to me in Abu Dhabi. International shipping costs to the UAE and entry VAT saved means I could buy at least two or three pens more than I can if ordered online and shipped from India. Thanks to @K Singh and @arun.upb PLP was stuck in my mind. Contacted them on Whatsapp as most pens I wanted were seen as "Out of Stock" on their portal. What I ultimately purchased are here I could not see anyone review PLP's Vivriti. Vivriti in the Indian language Sanskrit means manifestation, explanation, gloss etc. The pen seems to be the manifestation of the new age design by the younger generation who runs PLP Pens now. What I bought is made of blue, transparent acrylic and rounded ends. It comes as a ED pen and with Ambitious M nib. Shall I call it the classic cigar shaped? The finish is top notch. The cap and barrel meet seamlessly. Once can barely feel the joint when running the hand across. Hand made precision is commendable. I like the play of light through the blue acrylic. (see first photos) As seen above it is about 140mm long capped. The diameter pen is uniform through the length except the ends and is 16.14mm. Has a screw cap and clipless design. This is my first clipless pen. Opening is a ceremony by itself. 6.5 turns!! The cap does not post. The length of the pen in use is about 127mm. Nice to hold in my medium to largish hand. I did think I might feel like holding a teeny-weeny mini pen. But no, it is quite fine holding it even at the top end of the section. The threads does not irritate the fingers nor the step of the barrel. Holding at the lower end is comfortable as well but can feel the weight on the web of the hand. Holding at the threads seemed better balanced. The section is something like a ski-slope, 25mm long from the threads and flares out a little from about half way down. It is 12.25mm in diameter at the lower end 12.235mm at the thread. I found the pen as a whole comfortable to hold. Being transparent blue, I chose Syahi (means ink in Hindi) Sky-blue ink for the first fill. Takes in a good amount of ink about 4.5ml. Put a bit of silicone grease and primed the pen. I had done a dip test on the pen earlier and was not scratchy though on examining under a loupe, I had to adjust the tines that were misaligned. It writes wet and medium lines with an audible feedback. Did not write for a long session but the overall writing is fine and comfortable. For an Indian pen it is a bit towards the expensive side at INR 2700/- (USD 32) but for a pen collector it is fine to buy once in a while.

PLP are the initials of Mr. Poona Lakshmi Pathi, An age old name in the handmade pen business from Hyderabad India. He has been OEM for various pen manufacturers across the Indian subcontinent. Currently him along with his son Mr. Satish Kumar has entered into the Indian pen market with their own brand ‘PLP Pens’. My Introduction to the Brand It was during one of my casual surfing in the “Fountain Pen Club India” group in Facebook, I bumped across this pen and the brand. A few user reviews and the pictures posted in the group were enough to convince me to go for this pen. I contacted Mr. Satish Kumar via WhatsApp and received the pictures. After ogling at the selection of pens made by the father Son duo, I decided on procuring a couple of eyedropper pens both with size #35 friction fit Ambitious nibs on ebonite feeders. One was a yellow capsule shaped acrylic and the other was a green bi-flat Indian ebonite costing INR 2200/- and INR 1400/- respectively. The pens were shipped on the promised date and the shipping details were shared on WhatsApp. Overall a hassle free buying experience. First Impressions The pens arrived in a couple of PLP plastic boxes. Though I am a die hard fan of the ebonite eye droppers, it was the acrylic pen that won my heart. The pen was solid built and was perfectly balanced with an impeccable finish. Both the pens came with chrome finish clips with “PLP” engraved at the top. During the side by side comparison of the two pens, the acrylic pen was short by few millimetres compared to its ebonite counterpart. On trying to clip both the pens in the shirt pocket the acrylic pen sat sung compared to the ebonite. Both the pens sported a tapered section with the acrylic pen sporting an additional step up at the end of the section. Overall both the pens were well crafted and were ready to be inked. First Write After drooling over these well crafted beauties, it was zero hour. Time to fill the tank and take the first baby steps on the paper. Though both the pens had a slim variation with regards to the dimensions, both had a barrel capacity of 2.5 ML approx. The choice of ink was a concoction of epitome royal blue and aqua blue which I call “Brilliant” (Named after the brilliance in the hue of the final product). A “juicy imprint” is the apt word to describe these pens first letters on the paper. Both the pens were flawless, wet and well-balanced writers. The acrylic pen was the heavier among the two with a marginal yet significant difference in terms of balance. Both the pens fared well on long writing sessions with the cap posted and unposted. Among the two, my pick was the acrylic pen. The pens did not dry up on overnight storage nor burped on long writing sessions. Final Word At this price point both the pens are in my opinion a true VFM. The finish on these pens are in par with the pen offerings from major players in the Indian pen market for half the price. Though both are excellent writers my pick was the acrylic pen over the ebonite pen for its weight, built and the step up at the nib section providing a sturdy and enjoyable writing experience. Though Mr.PLP has been manufacturing pens and served as an OEM for various pen brands across the Indian subcontinent, it is only in recent times he has started selling his creation under his own banner. We Indians root for the underdog too! The Ebonite pen specifications: Total pen size is 150mm Un-Capped: 135mm Body size: 14mm Cap size: 15.5mm Section size: 12.5mm The Acrylic pen specifications: Total Length: 145mm Uncapped: 130mm Section Dia: 12.5mm Body Dia: 14.5mm Rating Ebonite Pen INR 1400/- Looks - 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Build - 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Nib - 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Value for Money - 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ As an EDC - 👍 Acrylic Pen INR 2200/- Looks - 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Build - 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Nib - 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Value for Money - 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐️ As an EDC - 👍 PLP pens Contact Mr. Satish Kumar +91 96522 76914