PEN HUNT at PARRY'S

GEM & CO.

If you want a good fountain pen at an affordable price, just walk your way up to the corner stationary shop. If you want a great fountain pen, with your heart ready to loosen up your pocket, grab your car keys and drive to the nearest mall. But, if you want to buy a great fountain pen at an affordable price, plan a trip to Chennai and board a bus there with “BROADWAY” written in bold letters on its placard.

Fountain pen, especially, since long have been a passion to many a people and an identity to most of the Artists and Architects. Every drop of ink that flows through the shiny metal nib, expresses your thoughts and feelings on the paper. Every curve of script you write and every stroke of sketch you make is a conscious effort which your enthusiasm plans for you even before you remove the cap. Eventually, with every passing attempt, you get addicted to materialize your expressions on a paper and this is when you realize what a mere fountain pen can do to you!

Well, this very addiction bought me a bus ticket to Chennai along with a fellow connoisseur and a generous man who provided me with food, shelter and direction in the city. And thus began my “PEN HUNT”! Being a student of Architecture with a knack for fancy fountain pen, I often find myself admiring collections of exquisite fountain pens over the internet and this is where I found the address to my dream fountain pen collection, which read……… Oh God! I forgot the address ….. and so did my fellow pen raider! And yes, at this moment we were at Broadway Bus stand! All we knew was that it was in Parry’s area near Broadway and all we could make out from the vague recollection of its photograph on the internet was that it was taken from distance, thus we came to the conclusion that the shop was not in some alley. With this information, we began our final phase of pen hunt.

As we walked out of the Broadway bus stand, with peanuts in our hand and fountain pen in our mind, we were greeted by a huge crowd moving all around in a specific direction like ants!  But when we tried to join them, we were pushed out, but this didn’t discourage from our hunt. Just as I got an opportunity to raise my head, I read a shop address which said NSC Bose Road. Suddenly there was a click of flashback, as we recalled that Internet also pointed out NSC Bose as a part of the shop address. After a sigh of relief, came the very obvious question…… should we proceed on left or right hand side? So we all tossed a coin inside our head and a unanimous decision was taken…….Left!

The next two and a half hour was a long walk under bright sun in a crowded street and taking a sneak peek into the stationary stores along the road. For those Chennaites who are not aware, NSC Bose Road is a mine of stationary in Chennai. From pocket diaries to executive folders…. from use & throw pen to pen with warranty…. all could be found here at Parry’s. Anyways, browsing through the shops with eyes wide open, we came across a shop with a huge replica of a fountain pen hanging inside it. We bent backwards to read the board which said “PARRY PEN CORNER”. Assuming that it was the shop we were looking for, I exchanged a victory smile with my partner and a smirk with our rest of the companions who didn’t believe in us, and barged into the shop shocking the other customers. Looking at our tired but enthusiastic faces, the shopkeeper opened a few cases filled with GAMA pens and welcomed us. In a fraction of a second the pen caps started popping like soda, as we started inspecting the pens with a curious face. Though I and my fellow pen enthusiast are final year students, for those 20 minutes, we turned into kindergarten kids standing in a candy shop, delighting ourselves and annoying our rest of the tired company. Soon (though our company disagrees with this adverb) we picked the pens of our interest and started discussing them like some wine taster discussing their wine. The only things missing were monocles and money. Anyways, scratching our wallets yielded some money and pens were packed in envelopes. Though we stood victorious in our pursuit of pens, we did realize that another mission was on its way once we step out of the shop, “THE ATM HUNT AT PARRY’S”. Luckily our desperate eyes found an ATM across the road, so we took another sigh of relief and ordered for lime soda from one of the many petty shops along the road, knowing that companions had money to pay for it. Once the bubbles of sparkling water burst their energy into us, I and my friend took a stroll across the road to the ATM, just to read a board hanging over its knob saying “ATM not working”. All the recently gain energy was lost…. the stroll turned into a tedious effort of dragging our feet as we started crossing the road back to our rest of the company.

Just as we were about to reach the signal in the center of the road, my eyes caught a glance of a huge board on the top of a shop with “GEM & CO.” embossed on it. This was it! This was the very shop we were looking for! The shop on the internet! Within a blink of an eye, we found ourselves running towards it like a lady who just spotted a 50% off poster on the window of a boutique. Oh God! the excitement was back again as I threw a half burnt cigarette to enter the shop.

This shop was bigger than the previous one, had a better collection of pen and before anyone could stop me, it was Rachit in wonderland all over again. The shelves start sliding, the cases start opening, pen caps start popping and the next thing I know is that I am having the same old animated conversation and yet again sans the monocles and money. Pens were amazing, ranging from writing to sketching, antique to executive and from affordable to definitely not affordable. Luckily I found some emergency money in my travelling wallet and crossing the fingers praying that nothing goes wrong during our trip, I let my desire for pen take control over me. I bought myself a Rotring Calligraphy Pen and a Gama pen with a Sheaffer nib for fine writing, an addition to the collection of my most prized possession.

The most notable thing about these shops I visited, which distinguishes them from the mall and corner stationary store, is the service they provide. The person across the counter knows what he is selling and respects your price constraint. He would suggest you pen, let you check it and would also offer you tips for usage & maintenance of fountain pens, before he packs them in an envelope and write you a bill with a smile.

Anyways, once I paid the prize for my most prized possession, I obliged him with a smile, turned back with my head held high and walked out. I stood valiant in my PEN HUNT AT PARRY’S.