Pelikan Souverän M 400 Review

BACK IN TIME

An 180 year old maker of fountain pens and their paraphernalia, coupled with the fact that your collection is rather incomplete without a Pelikan, was enough to provide momentum for my first purchase. Pelikan had launched its first fountain pen back in 1929. As for me, having already witnessed the writing finesse of a steel nibbed M 205, which I had to trade off, it was time to witness the real 14K Gold nib. And of course, these Swiss-incorporated German pen makers are credited with the genesis of piston filling mechanism with a differential spindle gear. It means that the piston knob is also threaded so that it unscrews a bit when the piston moves outward, thus delivering a greater ink-suction. Hungarian engineer Theodor Kovacs is credited with the invention of the original filling mechanism before selling off the patent to Günther Wagner (the man who established Pelikan) in 1927.

The M4XX is usually considered to be a logical next step to M2XX. As with the model numbers, there is a general increase in nib size & specs, in addition to overall dimensions, when you move from M4XX to M1XXX. Brass piston fittings in 8XX/1XXX series, render additional weight. The designs of the striped 400/600/800/1000 are pretty linearly recurring over the entire writing range except for several special editions. 405/605/805/1005s refer to the similar pens with silver accents, plated with noble metals (like Palladium or Rhodium), unless it’s a special or demonstrator model. The other model numbers refer to special/limited editions. One such alluring model is Souverän M 625 with sterling silver fittings (Ag 92.5%). And the green-striped M400 embarks the 1929 classical design with a translucent striped barrel. 

The logos have changed over the years starting from a mother pelican with four chicks to a one-to-one correspondence from 2003 onwards.

PRESENTATION

The pen comes in a standard G15 gift box, constituted of thick cardboard with dimensions in the range of 20 X 9 X 5.5 cm, in a top-bottom slider configuration. 

On opening the box, you would at once notice a white synthetic-leather pouch, secured by a brown strap with a plastic emblem, which mimics a wax seal. The pouch contains your pen and there is a separator holding the warranty and catalogue beneath.

DESIGN - THE STRIPED TRANSLUCENCY (6/6)

The m400 comes in five standard designs, four striped translucencies - Green, Blue, Red, Tortoiseshell White and one Classical Black with a Green Ink Window, across four different nib widths - EF, F, M and B although a custom grind is offered for a italic nib by some of the authorised sellers. The m405s now come in silver trimmed versions of Striped Blue and Black/Ink Window with monotone rhodiated nibs. Personally, I prefer the earlier two-tone nibs on them.

A touch would unveil the subtle craftsmanship associated in building the writing instrument. Through its light-weightiness, it apparently belies any effort for transforming thoughts into words. The black and green striped shaft has stood the test of time since the 1950s. The barrel made up of extremely smooth pelikan famed ‘cellulose acetate’ with its diamond cut contours, partially revealing the necessities like the piston end or ink level, while concealing the irrelevant ones.

Light and dark play differently with the barrels, which dazzles your eyes, rather than the lenses. 

The striped transparent sleeve gleams in gold with ambient light and these effects proliferate with sunlight. The golden radiance is matched throughout the pen starting from the famed finial and the pelican beak (clip) through the concentric bands in the cap, finally converging with the concentric piston rings. 

The cap feels light and unscrews with a single turn, revealing a dazzling two-tone nib. The grip reveals another knot of glitter, towards the nib end. The transparency does reveal the inside works of its piston mechanism.

Two concentric golden bands with a gold plated crown embossed with the pelikan logo, adorn the cap with a signature pelican beak-shaped clip (with a face!). The thicker one carries the brand imprint of PELIKAN SOUVERÄN GERMANY. A high degree of polish gives it a gleam which can coax the lustre of the gold plated bands. The logo on the finial is the one embraced by Pelikan post 2003, that of a mother pelican and its chick, gleaming in brushed gold or brushed palladium.

The significance of these bands is that somehow they seem to be intrinsically associated with the design rather than just differentiating the aesthetics. 

FILLING SYSTEM (6/6)

A piston filler with a sturdy knob is embellished with two concentric golden loops. Apart from their enchanting looks, like any other pelikan, it's an easy and hassle-free mechanism. The piston end unscrews with three to four rotations and ink is sucked in, with quite a gush, once the piston is screwed back on. And of course, you can observe the thing in action through the striped windows. A plastic spindle connector in the m4XX/6XX limits weight. M4XX fills upto 1.3 mL of ink. However, given the wet flow of the flock, it does not get a long time to use this capacity.

One thing to note here is that these piston mechanisms are not supposed to be dismantled using a wrench. In case of problems other than lubricating the piston seal, it’s better to send the pen to Pelikan Germany/Country Authorized Service Center. Pelikan does have an excellent customer service.

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS* (4/6)

The nib/feed section is screw-fit and comes in a standard 14k two-tone design across four stock widths - EF, F, M & B. It has the standard pelikan design with the usual convenience of a screw-fit section.

Like all its cousins, the nib is exquisite and efficient. With a standard m4xx feed, the nib-section is an ensemble of efficiency and art. And this two-tone finish does converge with the golden/silver trims in terms of both glitter and glimmer.

The tail end specifies the nib-width and composition (14 C, 58.5% Au) of the gold-alloy used. Three arabesques diverge along the shoulders of the nib with two of them converging near the circular breather hole. The third curve runs across the tines towards the shoulders ending with the tail end of the nib, outside of which a golden decor runs along the shoulders across the outer tines, before converging onto the iridium tip. There is of-course the dazzling golden mother-baby pelikan logo, resting above the tail. 

This one in the picture is an Extra-Fine nib and writes smooth out of the box.

A standard black plastic feed (earlier ones had ebonite feeds) with closely spaced fins allows a good buffer capacity to hold ink with ambient pressure and temperature fluctuations.

*My first green striped M400, had a wet yet scratchy nib. No doubt, it drained my entire emotional elation all of a sudden, when I started writing with it. Upon close inspection with a 20X loupe, I found tines misaligned by a considerable extent. But still due to wet flow, it laid a broader line than a pilot 14k medium nib, concealing most of the scratchiness, unless I wrote a looped ‘r’ or ‘s’. The next day, taking the loupe I did spend two hours, routinely lifting the right tine from the middle with my fingernail to align it with the left, although it kept coming back with amazing flex. An hour and a half later, the loupe showed both the tines to be more or less aligned and yes the scratchiness was almost gone. But the inertia of scratchiness still carried on the back of my head. Finally, I sent the nib back for a free replacement. The next m40Xs were gliders right out of the box and needed no such effort. But I did expect a better QC from Pelikan.

PHYSICS OF IT (5/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING

It does give a comfortable feel to write with the pen with the cap posted. The overall capped length is around 12.5 cm. The total weight of m400 has a third of contribution from the cap and it feels very light without posting the cap. The pen does get some heft from the ink inside the barrel.

• Uncapped Length ~ 12 cm
• Posted Length ~ 15 cm
• Nib Leverage ~ 2 cm
• Overall Weight ~ 16 g (Cap Weight ~ 6 g)

Capped, uncapped and posted comparisons with its cousins - m605 and a m805 go below. A m20X with a steel nib shares the same measurements as a m40X.

ECONOMIC VALUE (5/6)

The m400 retails at around USD 300 - 400, though it might be available at lower street prices. I was able to get the pens at a good discounted price in an online action at the bay, however the subsequent custom duty was high. I would not undervalue this rating by much, because in the end, I do consider the pen a workhorse.

OVERALL (5.2/6)

These 14k nibs have a smooth and wet flow. The nibs have a slight bit of spring and softness in them, without any noticeable line variation. Being extremely wet writers out of the box, the Fine nib puts a line which takes around 40 seconds to dry on MD Paper (for the Extra-Fine one, it takes 30 seconds to dry a line-width falling between a pilot 14K Fine and Medium nib)

Some of the links which I can happily share : Nib Adjustment, Souverän M625, Patent, Piston mechanisms, 2-Special Editions (m640/605), Gentleman's Gazette

Thank you for going through the review. Hope you enjoyed it.

More pen and paraphernalia reviews here.

Time and ‘Alka Aunty’ wait for none

It’s been quite a while now, in real terms say around nine hundred and forty six million seconds, since it all began. That is about the time I have been serving on this planet or it might as well be the other way round. From the nine hundred and forty six million seconds, it takes a normal human being less than thirty one million seconds to understand the nature of life and its materialistic incongruence, once he or she is able to apply Pythagoras Theorem in school. However, for me it took around two hundred and thirty million seconds, which is about the time in which one would have reached Uranus starting on a normal space shuttle from Earth, cruising along at a constant speed of 28000 mph. That’s about 100 times faster than the Volkswagen groups’ Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (Originally French), the fastest production car till date. Production car means you can actually sit on its seat, supported by gravity on your bum, while its wheels are turning and travel from Mumbai to New Delhi in less than three and a half hours over a perfectly deserted freeway sans any potholes or bumps without seeing any death angels. The absence of potholes is completely theoretical since it would render around ten million citizens jobless, and many more contractors and city municipal corporations penniless at the same time. And as someone had said, even the moon is envious of potholes in Mumbai roads. Pardon me for my mathematical analogies, for my dreams most certainly pertain to John Von Neumann types whereas outside the matrix it’s a cubicle with a dizzy screen to stare at and do whatever I am told by an assortment of Weasels^#.  And that dizzy screen is also my own laptop’s, since we had byod (brick bring your own device).

From the classical Indian context or say rather from the kaleidoscopic perspective of an Alka Aunty, a perfect life mandatorily constitutes of the following: Engineering from an IIT or NIT (by Alka Aunty’s exceptional mercy NITs were allowed to be on the list since 1990s via a special amendment) , MBA from an IIM (No other B-schools are approved by Alka Aunty within India, even if they feature within Top-10, MSc/PhD from the I-Bhee League was added later) OR a Hard-bard in US , an intra-caste marriage to a good-natured girl belonging to a decent family (Special approval may be sought for intra-caste love marriage against arranged ones), having kids who would always top from Pre-nursery to Post-Graduation and finally landing up with a aaMaNCee job, till death takes you apart. Pre 1990s, it was perhaps cracking the UPSC examination ending up with a high-profile government job instead of a MNC one, with other factors unchanged. Kids still had to stand first in each and every grade. All these things would be materially and spiritually fulfilling for the rest of one’s life. Social life in school should be pursued with like-minded people excelling in various fields and people aspiring to be a Dhoni or Sehwag (Tendulkars were alright though after he had won the Opel Astra[MoS] in Sharjah in 1998) neglecting studies lacking even the mild potential of a Gagan Khoda, are strictly untouchables. Boys looming behind girls are destined to end up as beggars or possibly lepers, in distant future and are worse than untouchables who have to be dealt with a poker-face insulting their intellect or rather the lack of it. This was about the idea.

This formulae is probably what Alka Aunty has seen succeed throughout her life. There might have been many others who would have been done things very differently and still would have done as well if not better in their lives. Limited to middle class towns, belonging to middle class families, these outliers or rather aliens like someone’s uncles’ sister’s son are simply ruled out by frame of reference, sometimes as myths and other times as lucky ones. Dinku has been voting for last ten years but is still living off his father’s pension at his father’s place, because he was hitting the cricket ball when he should have been reading books. And yes he could not equal Gagan Khoda forget a Sehwag or a Dhoni. Even worse, Dinku was composing love-letters to Dinki when he should have been solving quadratic equations. Dinki ignored those, thankfully to Dinku’s poor English and is now a successful and well-settled doctor. Had she not, she would have been selling vegetables after eloping with a vegetable seller on a bicycle which again would be a borrowed one, as her staunch father would have refused her any help. Though theoretically, she could have simply lived off Dinku’s father’s pension.

After performing the rituals one has to look higher up in Maslow’s pyramid for a challenging job. For someone like myself, both the person and the need is beyond comprehension. Something monotonous might require a change, but challenges beyond challenge is abominable. Long ago, our class-teacher asked the class to name of the tissue in the human eye where the image is formed. Amidst the chorus, one lanky bespectacled fellow firmly stood up and confidently answered it as “rectum”. The teacher almost fell off her chair in mirth, before correcting it as retina. That day he was probably written off from Alka Aunty’s books and possibly her alluring daughters’ too. Even that guy craves for a challenging job today, with incessant updates of his facebook status with thought-provoking latin maxims, either on world cup matches or during anything that is being broadcasted to two or more people. Even the concept of ambition is so abstruse, one frequently confuses with what someone wants to do and what others want one to do. My childhood ambition was limited to being a traffic cop, since you get to see all the cars from the front side. Gradually, giving in to my friends and relatives constant disapproval, I upgraded that to an engineer where I would still get to see those cars. Now, that was a secret till now. I am told that my next childhood ambition was to become a truck-driver, and my guess is that it might have been true. It must be fascinating to have a moving front view from a height of 8 to 10 feet. But it is not so fascinating for the people around me.

Lack of ambition for doing an MBA post engineering landed my friend in pre-marital affairs of a completely different sort. (Note - From Alka Aunty’s books, he is already written off) Although, post-engineering  he was doing great in his life in the US, he was bombarded with similar questions related to his ‘doing an MBA’ ambitions, whenever he met a prospect. The questions were either direct or carved out in utterly ingenious ways starting from, “my friend’s father’s uncle who is CEO of Y Company thinks that this world requires an advanced management degree to deal with todays business problems, so what is your opinion on that” to “all my other pretty friends are married to b-school grads, so will you please do it later ?”.  We learnt that this happened invariably when three conditions were met : (1) The prospective wife was very pretty (2) This was their second meeting (3) Third meeting never happened. So, his logical response should be to avoid meeting very pretty girls or just meet them for the first time and keep the memory. Being human, that too in the male format in late twenties, both were difficult and second response was possibly catastrophic. And in two to three weeks time, he would deluge himself with both gloom and Royal Stag, once he could see the engagement album of the earlier prospect in his facebook feed, till news of meeting the next prospect arrives. How did this happen ? Was it due mere lack of ambition for learning or simply a social cost ?

In contrast Learning seems to be the new buzzword to crack interviews. Even if you are sure that you are roughly ending up with a similar set of weasels, almost doing the same thing but with a pay hike, you have to emphasize on the steep learning curve the new weasels group would have for you,  ascending to newer heights of Weaselry. They all need a go-getter, self-starter ambitious little hog who would takeaway all the weasel work from them and yet stay motivated till the end.  What you do will perhaps never match with what you felt you were supposed to do.

Feeling mystified by ambitions, interest and social costs, most of us would keep thinking rather than working on newer things, keeping everything in eternal abeyance.

^#- Weasel is synonymous with office workers who can/will project your work as their own, It’s a Scott Adams invention

Another Himalayan Trip

BOM-NDLS-KLK-SML-DEHURI-MANDI-REWALSAR

This Saturday afternoon was not a lazy one after all. We had to pack our bags with necessities other than food, enough to last at least for ten days, board the evening flight to the capital and then, embark the northerly journey.  The flight arrived later than scheduled at Delhi Airport (T3) and there was a connecting train (HWH-KLK Mail) to catch from Old Delhi Station (Chandni Chowk) within an hour. Thanks to Aerocity Metro and some quick decisions, we could dodge the big queue in NDLS (Delhi Metro) to arrive at Old Delhi-Chandni Chowk, from where there was this train to Kalka (Haryana). As usual for Indian Railways, HWH-KLK Mail was not so express after all and it did arrive two hours late entering the station like a sloth. It took six to seven hours to reach Kalka, from where there runs a toy-train (narrow-gauge) to Shimla. However, being unable to book two tickets in any of the connecting toy-trains, we had to content ourselves with a cab till the Mall road in Shimla. The cabs till Shimla usually cost around 1500-1800 rupees for 90 kms, but one has to check with hotel reception about the proximity point where the cab can drop you, else there might be a longer climb uphill on foot. The advantage was that a cab can save around two and half hours from the journey time. The toy-trains run in excess of five hours to reach the point from where one has to take a taxi and then a public lift to reach the mall road. Cars are not allowed until certain points in Shimla. However, the cab ride from Kalka to Shimla with two brief tea-breaks took us through scenic mountains, copious amounts of unadulterated air, a bit of drizzle, a surprisingly speeding yellow Nano ascending through the mountain roads  and lush green slopes everywhere else. An ensemble of motley of colours of the trees did fill our hearts with wonder. Having booked our stay at a hotel we found it quite frequented by British tourists. The climb towards the hotel was a bit steep till the ground level from where one has to take a lift till the 4^th level, where the reception was located. The people at reception could understand our fatigue due to the arduous journey and promptly took us to the waiting room, till our allotted room was checked-out and cleaned.

Shimla

After breakfast and a brief nap, walking along the mall road sometimes climbing a few uphill diversions, we reached the Viceregal Lodge, Shimla. The walk took us around an hour and a half through many army cantonments, shops, buildings and streets. Passing the market places, The Gaiety Theatre, The Town Hall, it seemed as if we have waded right through history, as in Rudyard Kipling’s stories. The Viceregal Lodge did house the Viceroys of British India, Mountbatten being the last. The Shimla Agreement was signed there. It looks splendid in size, construction and design perhaps since the British era, with the tri-colour fluttering above it instead of the Union Jack. Next was a guided tour through history, inside the giant mansion and we were introduced to walnut ceilings, 100-year old piano, ambitiously high chairs of the Viceroys among other things. The German switches and the wax-sealed fire-sprinkler system are said to work till date, since the 1880s. The architectural flamboyance seemed to be centred upon English Renaissance intertwined with the construct of Castles of Scotland. Interior designs of the mansion constitutes of dark Burmese Teak supplemented with walnut and cedar wood. As the tour-guide told us, post independence it was renamed to Rastrapati Niwas (Presidential Residence) and later made IIAS (Indian Institute of Advanced Study) dedicated to academic research in the field of humanities and sciences. However, the most difficult part was of course the return walk. With some dinner, I did drop dead on bed and didn’t wake up until 9:30 am on the next morning.

This was the second day at Shimla and the plan was to go downhill to buy some woollens in the chilly Shimla wind, for we did not carry any. Then we took a local tour to nearby Kufri Valley and other places. It was around 15 kms from the Mall Road. Booking an independent cab cost us 600 rupees, instead of taking the local bus tour. Realizing that a lot of money could be saved and the independence of choice of places and duration of visit, made us take a cab. We paid short visits to Kufri, Fagu Valley and a local zoo near Fagu. While climbing up a small mountain in Kufri, it gradually unveiled a sequence of mountains till the snow-capped Shivaliks, with a splendid assortment of vibrant wildflowers down the green valleys. The white snow-caps, were preceded by brown mountain ranges with minimal vegetation and in turn ran the green ones with dense vegetation of pine and cedar trees, like the one on which we were standing. Clouds could be seen drifting beyond the valley, kissing the snow-caps as if the mountains were breathing white smoke. Taking some snaps we then took the car towards Fagu valley, the actual spot being at a distance 3.5 kms upslope, off the main road. Either you can brave the muddy terrain of 3-4 kms on foot, else you take a pony ride. Two ponies cost us around 800 rupees, but the ride through mud and mountains was worth it. The only intimidating part of the pony ride was that these Himalayan ponies preferred ledges in the mountain slopes rather than the main road. So, if you come back alive, you might be able to fight acrophobia with panache. 

Once we reached the top, there was a plethora of activities going on starting from sliding down the rope-way, photo-shoot with garments custom to hill-folk, taking ‘On the Yak’ pictures while holding a unloaded airgun (which some even held in a sniping stance) on awfully bored animals with minimal emotions to walking down quietly up and down the slopes and taking pictures, which we did. It was amusing to watch people posing for a world-war soldier portrait on the back of a yak, sometimes with that of a sniper’s eloquence. Had people really done this in the past wars, the side that would have used yaks as transport would have definitely lost.  In a span of an hour with some maggi noodles, it was time to return downhill, again on those two ponies. The ride was like intermittent jumps on the ledges and it seemed that the ponies were more eager to come downhill than us. After the bumpy ride, it seemed like Petrificus Totalus, a full body bind curse of Harry Potter eminence. The village boy handling the ponies shouted, “Keep leaning backwards, else you might reach downhill before your pony.”

Later on, there was a nearby zoo (in Fagu valley) having some Himalayan deer, leopards, bears (both black & brown) and pheasants among others. It was on our way back to the Mall Road, when we went through the famed Lakad Bazar of  Shimla, where beautiful handmade wooden-crafts are available at throw-away prices. Once these reach cities like Mumbai, the decimal point usually erases itself. From there, we went to Ladakh handloom & khadi shop where varieties of shawls, stoles made out of Pashmina wool were available at quite decent rates. The salesman explained some rent-a-blanket with exclusive gifts concept to us and showed us a few newspaper articles on the killing of the Chingu goat, the goat that rears pashmina wool. We got a stole with some pashmina wool in it and thankfully post the pashmina ring-test. Somewhere else, having heard the concept of rent-a-blanket being fraudulent and fake, so we didn’t want to take a chance on it. Then it was time to go back to the hotel and get some rest for an eventful morning, for the next destination was a remote village in the Himalayan valleys.

Tirthan Valley

A very hasty breakfast, a hurried cab-ride to the bus-stand with only 30 minutes to spare, and finally boarding the bus that kind of has a precise departure time the country, got our day started. It was a Tata AC bus run by H.R.T.C. The drive was northwards to a place 20-25 kms from Mandi. The way to the village Dehuri, was connected by a side-road near the tunnel of Aut, which is incidentally the longest road tunnel in India (NH-21, 3 kms).  The bus journey lasted around 8 hrs through places like Bilaspur, Sundernagar, Mandi and Pandoh with a fleeting tiredness perhaps induced due to the freshness of pure-air. Then, from the start of the Aut tunnel, we took a tourist vehicle which was booked by the Riverside Resort at Tirthan Valley. The journey made us muse through everything associated with the wild mountains and valleys – the mountain goats, the cow-herds, the fire-wood collecting girls with their big straw baskets, the quiet landscape, the gushing crystalline water of Tirthan river below and finally we could believe our luck. Everyone seemed to be at peace carrying our their chores with a pleasant smile, even the Sun was gentle and the wind was kind. Amazing is the illusion of success, which can turn even kindred spirits into demons of avarice and vanity. After around two hours, we reached the resort right in the lap of Himalayas in the middle of nowhere but mountains. Between the resort and the road, surged the pristine water of Tirthan river, and the two sides were connected by a rope-way carrying a small basket. Manually operated through nylon ropes and iron loops from both sides, the basket could carry at most one adult person at a time. The slow but gradual basket ride, the chilling breeze, the  flood of swift pristine water below did stimulate a sense of unwavering calm. There was an intriguing ropeway to reach the resort.

                              A fling of cheery weariness did creep in later, once we had satiated our mouths and hearts with soupy maggi noodles and spice-tea, sitting beside the gushing water of Tirthan, a sound resonating with innocence. The faith of Hill-folk on the Hindu Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu & Shiva pervades the entire atmosphere, right from those images in buses to the numerous small temples among the hills, and perhaps the basis of entire lives of these men and women.  And these people do seem quite resistant to ageing without using any of our anti-ageing creams.

 

                  The caretaker along with his wife managed the resort. We had delicious home cooked dinner prepared by Bhuvan’s wife. Night had crept in silently, our tired muscles got relaxed into a world of dreams, when the outer world had already painted an exquisite portrait for our eyes.  Next morning, we decided to take a trek to a nearby waterfall, which would be around 4-5 kms uphill. With a comfortable pace, one can reach the waterfall in two hours. Quite surprisingly a mountain dog followed us at first and then afterwards, led the way to the waterfall through a major part of the trek. As we climbed up towards the source of the waterfall, the village settlements diminished gradually unveiling clusters of amazing settlements which vividly complemented the scenic mountains, the background view of Jalodi snow caps, the curvaceous roads and intermittent herds of white furry goats and sheep. Various birds like Himalayan swifts, russet sparrows would materialize and vanish instantaneously, leaving their twitters echoing among the trees.

Sometimes we had to cross a series of houses by narrow plain dirt roads, sometimes jump between ledges to go uphill. The views seemed to be taken right out of an artist’s canvas, the colours seemed to be vibrant and the pristine air dismissed tiredness without much pomp. As the images would say for themselves, you might  end up yearning for a house among these mountains. Once we reached the waterfall, spending some time on the nearby rocks silently gazing at the radiant flowers, the fall of the stream and listening to the sounds of those little birds, evoked a sense of longing for the life in the hills. Then around 3:00 pm we started our descent and reached the resort in an hour. Energy is one’s friend during ascent but when one descends down the slope, one has to adopt caution. Once we reached the resort, lunch was served which included home-made chappatis, yellow dal, aloo-gobi fry. Aloo-ke-paranthe breakfast was perhaps the best thing one could have up there. Meanwhile, it had already started to drizzle with a chilling breeze and a greyish shade started enveloping the area. For the next morning, we had a cab-booking till Mandi and Rewalsar, post which we had to reach Chandigarh or Kalka. (The cab cost till Rewalsar was Rs.2500)

Rewalsar

A three-hour journey from Tirthan Valley began with an ineffable coloured chaos among the white-studded mountains along the breezing sound of the meandering river Tirthan. Rain had stopped and the Sun had started taking steady command. Passing by places where an occasional waterfall complemented the mountain-decor, series of lively houses stepped up along the mountains, we finally reached Mandi in two and half hours. Rewalsar is a hill city at a scaling of 24 kms from Mandi. The whole city is like a fort built around a lake known by the name of Tso Pema Lotus Lake which is abundant with both fishes and reed. There are three Buddhist monasteries, Temples of Lord Krishna and Lord Shiva and a Gurudwara among the hills surrounding the lake. The lake is said to be mystically created from ashes when the great teacher Padmasambhava also known as Guru Rimpoche among Buddhists, had been put through the flames of a pyre along with King Vihardhara’s daughter Mandarava. From the flames, he was seen dancing on a lotus flower that had emerged out of the newly-created lake along with Mandarava. Guru Rimpoche’s spirit is said to reside in a tiny island of floating reed.  It’s said that wishes of the one who circles around the lake comes true, due to the grace of Guru Rimpoche. We found an ensemble of colourful Buddhist prayer-flags hung beside the lake, which are said to represent each of the Five Pure Lights. (Blue - sky and space, White - air and wind, Red - fire, Green - water, and Yellow – Earth).

Later, we entered one of the monasteries, but the doors were locked for lunch session. One of the monks compassionately opened the doors when he saw us waiting in front of the door, and thus allowing us to have a gratifying glimpse of the Buddha. Two monks were kind enough to explain us the forces revered in Buddhist philosophy, in an adjunct praying area. After having lunch at a local restaurant in the lake-town, we finally journeyed back to the town of Mandi through a majestic view of snow-clad Shikari Devi mountains dancing among the clouds.

From Mandi, we took a rickety H.R.T.C bus to Chandigarh at 4:30 pm which reached at around 1 am in Chandigarh bus-stand. And it was the end of our beloved Himalayan trip and time to come back to mortal senses.

The Pilot Custom Heritage 92 Review

I am not sure whether you too will get a Custom Heritage 92 (CH92) after falling intensely in love with a Custom 74 model. Many reviews do reveal this graduation of Pilot Love. Although my love for pilot pens can be absolutely blamed on genes. Initially, the CH92 were released as clear demonstrators around October 2010, sporting a #5 rhodiated nib. Since it was 92 years after the company’s inception (i.e. 1918), it does carry the first two digits of the model number as ‘92’ and the third digit which is by default ‘1’ usually refers price at launch of a pilot pen (i.e 1 X JPY 10,000).  However, there is a minor deviation here, the price at launch was JPY 15,000, since the Custom 74 was already priced at JPY 10,000. The coloured versions were released two years later in 2012. 

The CH92 (for the Asian market) comes packaged in a standard pilot gift box (Z-CR-GN) which may not be able to draw any attention, but the pen definitely does. I just fell in love with the ocean blue colour. The simplistic yet elegant design sustains the traditional functionalities in a modern garb. Definitely with the times, the ‘asa-gao’ ocean blue transparent body says everything about itself. Asagao refers to a bluish flower which is more commonly known as Japanese Morning Glory.  It also comes in Sunset Orange (Yu-yake), Smoke (Kirisame) colours. The box carries a user manual for a Type S fountain pen. 

DESIGN - THE COLOURED DEMONSTRATORS (6/6)

The CH92 comes in four standard designs of transparency - Blue, Orange, Smoke and Clear resin, all in silver trims. The resin material feels strong though not substantial like the Custom 823. Initially I went for the Asa-Gao Blue with medium nib which wrote beautifully, and I could not resist getting another. The second one was another Asa-Gao then a Yu-Yake Sunset Orange.

The demonstrators given their lightness, are capable of refracting even a tiny bit of light, while a silver shimmer running across the centre band along with the clip creates a photogenic contrast. The smoky finials at the cap along with the piston knob conclude its design.

The cap is light and unscrews with little more than a turn, revealing the dazzling nib. The grip section is moulded from the same smoky transparent resin as the finial (cap) and knob, with a metal ring segregating, the grip from the barrel. And its transparency does reveal the inside works of the piston mechanism.

The cap does mention a few things etched across a lower centre band, including the model name CUSTOM HERITAGE 92 and PILOT JAPAN. I somehow miss the stars in the other custom series pens. An apparently segregate band above (although its part of the centre band only), renders some differential aesthetics to the overall design. The clip is tension-fit and has the shape of the double-edged Japanese sword Tsurugi.

The subtle gradient created by the transparent body, along with the smoky black grip, finial (cap) and piston-knob sections converge the rhodium sheen to render a well-orchestrated symphony of colours. No component individually would seem as stupendous as the complete pen.

FILLING SYSTEM (6/6)

A small but remarkably efficient piston knob unscrews from the metal ring to a quick end stop. And it does go the distance when the knob is screwed back on by filling the barrel upto a volume of 1.2 - 1.3 mL. The outer connector of the piston mechanism consists of a metal unit fastened to a inner plastic unit, and it can be disengaged with a TWSBI wrench (7mm) as shown here by Hari. This  helps add weight to pen and ensures that a metal wrench meets metal and thereby does not cause undue damage.

Cleaning the pen is a similar ritual accompanied by some shake. If there is some remnant ink left at the end of grip section, it’s an easy clean. You can repeatedly fill and flush the pen with the grip section dipped inside a bowl of water, or you can just remove the friction fit nib-unit and clean the insides with a soft damp cloth.

NIB - ALL THAT MATTERS (6/6)

The nib is friction-fit and comes in a standard 14k rhodiated design across four stock widths - F, FM, M & B. The nib has the standard pilot design.

 The tail end of the nib specifies the month and year of manufacture. An elongated hexagonal imprint separates the design from the outer shoulders and tines with an arabesque decor running inside its circumference, encompassing the circular breather hole in between. 

The branding and nib specifications of PILOT, 14k-585 (58.5% Au Alloy) along with the nib size and width, which are imprinted below the breather hole.

A standard bluish grey plastic feed with moderately spaced fins and a decently sized feeder hole delivers the amazing ink suction.

PHYSICS OF IT (5/6) – RELATIVELY SPEAKING

With a translucent resin body in form of a truncated cigar, it does give a comfortable feel of posted length. The cap weighs 8 grams. It’s a comfortable grip section with around 1 cm diameter.  Un-posted, its gives a lacking feeling of both length and weight. 

• Uncapped Length ~ 12 cm
• Posted Length ~ 15 cm
• Nib Leverage ~ 1.9 cm
• Overall Weight ~ 20 g

Capped, uncapped and posted comparisons with a few similar pens like the Custom 74 and the Pelikan m605 go below for your reference.

ECONOMIC VALUE(6/6)

The CH92 retails at around USD 220, and as usual it’s available at lower street prices towards a band of USD 130-140. I had bought the first pen at a cost of USD 130, and the subsequent ones at lower prices. Since pilot has stopped production of these coloured versions for some time now (as per two Japanese retailers), online retailers are selling off their leftover stock quite cheaply, getting as low as USD 110, to clear off old stock. May be Pilot is coming up with a new piston filler, who knows!

OVERALL (5.8/6)

This 14k nib has a smooth and wet flow. The nib is sturdy and does not have any line variation. It may lack the bit of softness and spring of a Custom 74 nib, but that’s purely my experience. There is absence of any significant variation among the horizontal and vertical strokes. These wet lines take almost 15 secs to dry a Visconti Blue Ink on MD paper.

Here are the adorable articles on Pilot CH92 which I referred: Hari & Losepus

Thank you for going through the review. Hope you enjoyed it.

More pen and paraphernalia reviews here.