Meeting Mr Lakshmana Rao Of Guider Pens (Rajahmundry, India) Again…Part 1 - The New Acrylic Kid

[shrujaya]

Mr Lakshmana Rao, over the last few weeks, has been very active and busy, and has been sending me photographs of the new models that he had designed and created…I could see that this time he was concentrating on acrylic and the pens in various swirling hues were indeed eye-catching…

Apart from the spinning and whirling colours…blue…red…amber…gray… yellow…I could also see that he had made a huge pen in all-white acrylic and another, slightly smaller, in all-red acrylic…I was fascinated by the big white and the big red and called Mr Lakshmana Rao in Rajahmundry and asked him how much they cost and if he could send them across…then he told me he’d be visiting Hyderabad shortly and that he’d be bringing his new models along with him and that I could see then, try them, and then decide…and I got a call from him on Saturday, 25 May 2013, asking me when I’d be free, so that we could meet…he could’ve just informed me that he is in Hyderabad and that I can meet him during this time period on this particular day…such is the humility of Mr Lakshmana Rao…I was feeling a bit sheepish…and told him that I’d be glad to meet him on Monday, 27 May, in the evening…

I had spent a memorable evening with Mr Lakshmana Rao more than a year back listening to pen tales and I had also written about it here…this time too we planned to meet at his son’s house, which is a short distance away from my house…

Mr Lakshmana Rao was staying with his daughter in another part of Hyderabad and he had to come from there to his son’s house…it took some time for him to reach and I was waiting in front of the apartment block. Again, I was amazed to see how this “one of a kind of man” (especially for fountain pen enthusiasts), is without any airs…he was carrying a big bag with pen boxes and folders inside, as he got down from the city bus…the same simple dress…and on top of that he apologized for being late…!!!

We went up to his son’s flat…it was locked and he opened it and the flat was bare…the last time I was there with him, the flat was furnished…now there were only a couple of plastic chairs and we sat on them and started talking and slowly he started taking out the boxes and showing me the recent models…this time he talked mostly about the new models…

He took out a box and showed me a colourful array of short pens…he said he had made this model for a particular customer who had seen the acrylic ‘Baby’ models on the Guider website and wanted something similar, but longer than the ‘Baby’…since there was no existing model of the intermediate size, the customer himself suggested the name ‘Kid’ for the new proposed model…so, Mr Lakshmana Rao says he set down to work…he says he tried using existing acrylic material and cutting them to the new required size, but somehow it wouldn’t work and he was not able to get the barrel and cap to synchronize…and he didn’t want to abandon the attempt because, he said, the customer has come to me because I have advertised that I make customized pens, and he has asked me to make a particular kind of model…I am a pen maker and I will not disappoint my customer…whatever the cost, I will make this model…

Mr Lakshmana Rao then decided to get a new die made to cast for this new model, though this meant unforeseen expenditure…he was finally able to get the size and shape right…but there was another problem…he had some beautiful acrylic in wonderful swirling colours and shades, but some of them were not sufficient for even one full ‘Kid’ pen…and as you can see in these two photographs below, only three pens were possible in full acrylic, i.e., both cap & body…amber…dark blue…and light blue…the rest of the ‘Kids’ have black ebonite caps, though the cap jewel and clip are of the same design…and if you look closely, the colours are delicious…the dark blue…the lovely golden amber…the veined marble light gray…the lovely swirly brown…and that ‘wow’ yellow…that gray veined black…the gorgeous red…that chaotic marbled gray at the extreme end…that deep darkish amber…I fell in love with the colours…maybe, only acrylic can lend itself to giving out so many tints and tones…and those swirls and whorls…like twirling ballerinas and whirling dervishes…colourfully chaotic…

 

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/Guider-Kid1_zps556b15ef.jpg

 

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/Guider-Kid2_zps540f33d8.jpg

 

And Mr Lakshmana Rao was finally pleased with what he was able to achieve…he told me, “Customer satisfaction is what I aim for and I too keep experimenting with materials, shapes, sizes, etc., and because of this customer, I now have a new model…the Acrylic Kid…”

 

Thank you...there is more to come...

 

Shrujaya

 

 

 

 

[hari317]

Thanks for sharing Jai, BTW interesting font.

[shrujaya]

Thanks Hari for visiting...and there is more to share from this meeting with Mr Lakshmana Rao...and I am glad you noticed the font...it is Narkisim...

 

Jai

[terminal]

Thanks for posting this... I have a lovely Guider glass bodied eyedropper pen myself. I love it but my big frustration is with the nib(s). I ended up with three different nibs and I'm not very fond of any of them. Does Guider experiment (or plan to) with higher-end nibs of different materials at all?

[shrujaya]

Dear T...thanks for your comments...I bought 3 medium ones in different colours...just to soak in the colours...very tempting indeed...will post pics by and by...Guider gets its nibs produced by an outside agency, and I am not sure about what quality checks are conducted at Guider itself once the nibs are delivered...but this time, I got the Super Jumbo Acrylic in White, and it writes like a dream...the nib is so smooth that I ended up writing around 10 pages in one sitting...I will post that soon...Guider does make customised hand hammered nibs in gold, and I saw one during this visit...very well made I thought, though I didn't carry any ink with me to test the smoothness...you may get in touch with Lakshmana Rao in case you are interested in gold nibs handmade by them...

 

Regards,

 

Shrujaya

[hari317]

I am getting more and more eager to see the white zimbo. Guider gold nibs, my first handmade gold nib was from Guider. mine is plain, medium sized nib, writes acceptably and did not seem as much hand "hammered" as the ones made by Ratnamson!

[terminal]

Guider does make customised hand hammered nibs in gold, and I saw one during this visit...very well made I thought, though I didn't carry any ink with me to test the smoothness...you may get in touch with Lakshmana Rao in case you are interested in gold nibs handmade by them...

 

Regards,

 

Shrujaya

 

Wow, that's great to know! Thanks so much for the reply! Is the best way to get in touch here? http://www.guiderpen.com/contactus.html

[shrujaya]

Yes...you can send Mr Lakshmana Rao an email at guiderpen@gmail.com ...talking over the phone might get confusing...

 

Shrujaya...

[mohan]

Wonderful pens Srujaya. I dont have a guider, ratnomson or ratnom pen. Which one is the best one to start? I like medium sized pens only.

[Anne-Sophie]

Thank you for sharing such a wonderful story!

[Mesu]

The previous week i was talking to Mr. Lakshmana Rao about some pens i was planning to purchase. Similar to the orange and deep blue pens in the pic below.

 

Will post the pics soon.

 

 

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn280/bambli_mass/Guider-Kid1_zps556b15ef.jpg

 

 

 

Edited August 9, 2013 by Mesu

[Mesu]

 

Wow, that's great to know! Thanks so much for the reply! Is the best way to get in touch here? http://www.guiderpen.com/contactus.html

 

You can also email him at guiderpen@gmail.com or guiderlakshman@yahoo.com.

 

http://www.guiderpen.in/ has the latest updates of their models.