Meet the Pen Pal

At his two-day pen clinic in Mumbai,Japanese nib doctor Yukio Nagahara decodes the mysteries of the fountain pen for the citys pen enthusiasts.

The blue ink on his fingers is reminiscent of ones school days when ink would dribble out of a leaky fountain pen onto the hands. Yukio Nagahara,however,is nonchalant about the mess. In fact,the only time he reaches out for the wad of tissues on his desk is when he has to wipe the excess ink off the nib. Then again,Nagahara is not some Japanese school student,and any pen enthusiast will tell you that.

A nib doctor who repairs nibs irrespective of size and metal,Nagahara was at Mumbais William Penn store at High Street Phoenix as part of a free pen clinic on August 14 and 15. The two-day workshop,aptly called Different Strokes,also saw the launch of a limited edition collection of luxury pens from the brand Sailor,including the special Sri Venkateshwara pen,which has the image of the Lord engraved on it with gold dust.

This is my second time here; my first visit here was two years ago, says the 52-year-old through his interpreter. Hiroshima-based Nagahara is the son of the famous nib doctor Nobuyoshi Nagahara known in Japan as the God of fountain pens Yukio didnt plan on following his fathers footsteps. For the most part of his life,he was busy peddling vending machines. Twelve years ago,he woke up to the importance of carrying forward his fathers work. I didnt want his art to get lost. By now,I have worked on at least 20,000 pens, he says.

Yukios work has taken him to many countries,including the US,Singapore and France. The nibs that he repairs are mostly created by his father be it cross point nibs (that have two nibs fused together,mainly used for pens with heavy ink flow on paper),concorde nibs that have the nib pointing downwards,and the emperor range that have an additional layer of metal on top . Also eye catching is the King Cobra nib that,as the name suggests,resembles the head of the snake. According to the nib master,a general filing and polishing session with his electronic nib-polishing kit takes at least half an hour. He checks the filing under a microscope as the damage to a nib is often not seen to the naked eye.

The most important tip from him is not to put too much pressure on the nib while writing and instead curl ones fingers lightly around it. Also,every six months,one should rinse the nib and the inside of the fountain pen with water, he points out.

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Meet the Pen Pal

At his two-day pen clinic in Mumbai,Japanese nib doctor Yukio Nagahara decodes the mysteries of the fountain pen for the citys pen enthusiasts.

At his two-day pen clinic in Mumbai,Japanese nib doctor Yukio Nagahara decodes the mysteries of the fountain pen for the citys pen enthusiasts.