My last post dates back to 31st January, 2014: penned down within the enchanting realms of the monsoon showers of Ranchi, somewhere in mid-July and then published a lot later. And while I engage myself in knitting a thread of tales, owing to this languid afternoon in Bilaspur, bereft of anything that would give you the feel of a day in March... the
keyword in the above said statement was 'penned'.
... And this transports me back to an age-old English adage - The 'pen' is mightier than the sword. Honestly, I have got nothing to do with a sword... may be a bit of 'something' with rifles and pistols while I flip a few pages of the 'firearm injuries'. The keyword still remains 'penned', mind you. I don't know if the pen I mentioned is 'mightier'. I'd rather go for the humble 'more useful' phrase. Let's reframe it: The pen is more useful than the sword. And I take my hats off in reverence and awe... not to Waterman who invented the priceless, the vintage fountain pen... not to Germany for scores of seasoned gel pens and ball-point pens... but to the unsung hero, your regular spot-boy working behind the scenes who brought into market the irreplaceable, the subservient 'likho-feko' pen - as the Subhashini Storewale Bhaiya(Vidyapati Nagar's stationery capital) prefers to call it! :p ; 'Use and throw' for the more sophisticated class of gentlemen and ladies!
Yes, it deserves our gratitude for being a companion in solitude... the desks we ruin everyday without burning a hole in our pockets... the enigmatic doodles along the margins of the books... the dare-and-truth games we play - absolutely no regrets about having lost the cap of the pen..., for its love saga with a modest piece of paper which dutifully crafts out a reflection of our mind..., for being so damn comfortable and efficient sans a 'techno-grip'! Had it not been for this stuff costing a meagre 3 Rupees, a last-bench idiot would never have mustered up enough grit to lift his pen and fill up his answersheet... that too with an unmatched sense of achievement and relief!
I reiterate. We must be grateful to it. It dances, kisses, runs, leaps and wriggles across our pages... empties itself while pouring our hearts out... waits with immense patience, without leaking, for the 'stuff' in our minds to solidify and materialise into existence... kindles an explosion beneath its veneer of silence... all in exchange for those 3 Rupees! :p
P. S. : The greatest irony - this piece has not been 'penned' down actually... but typed on the Blogger's app ;) :p And yet, the 'pen' continues to be the hero.
