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I think it was sometime in mid-late 2007 that I and M.P. Kandan of Ranga came into contact with each other. We have interacted a lot over the last eight years. Ranga are based in a town called Thiruvallur, a suburb some 60 kms away from Chennai. I am an annual visitor (sometimes more frequently) to Chennai, but we never got a chance to meet. This October I was again visiting Chennai and this time we decided that we must surely meet. Kandan invited me over to his place, so that I could also meet his family and specially his father, the master pen maker Thiru M.S Pandurangan who has been hand crafting pens for more than the last 45years. I hired a cab from Chennai and rented it out to take me to Thiruvallur for around 5 hours. However as it happens when pen people meet, time simply flew and I ended up spending more than 7 hours at Ranga. I received a very warm welcome and was treated like a family member and I even had wonderful homemade lunch prepared by Kandan's mother. I am really grateful and touched. I was able to see all the models and materials that they had made and I also got a chance to closely observe the making of a fountain pen from scratch. I was humbled to see the amount of craftsmanship and manual work that Kandan's father puts into making each pen. It was wonderful and at the same time humbling to realise that perhaps Ranga is the only pen maker in India still keeping alive and employing the traditional long forgotten, skill intensive art of hand chasing the threads on the pen. No taps/dies/thread cutting lathes are used. The pens are shaped free hand. The Ranga technique of hand chasing is different from the Japanese technique. Ranga's technique involves moving/advancing the hand chaser by hand in tandem and in rhythm with the thread pitch since the pen is rotated in the turning centre. From the videos available of the Japanese technique, their chasing tool is held stationary while the pen moves back and forth in tandem with the thread pitch. Ranga (Thiru. M.S Pandurangan) also make their own tools for pen making and this is the reason they can cut threads on their pens for almost any nib unit/section. I was able to make a small video using my hand held camera, I hope the readers will find the video interesting and informative. Some pics that I took during the visit: Foot operated pen making treadle: http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/Ranga/DSC_7115_812x540.jpg Special handmade tools: http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/Ranga/DSC_7118_812x540.jpg http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/Ranga/DSC_7120_812x540.jpg http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/af39/hari3171/Ranga/DSC_7113_812x540.jpg Thiru. M.S. Pandurangan buffing the pen, with his son M.P. Kandan facing the camera. I hope you enjoyed reading about my visit to Ranga. Cheers! Hari