I checked out the Ivanhoe pen series. Expensive but classy. I still prefer my 'Hero' pen. I had whined and cried and had created a scene when I was 10. During that time, this 'Hero' pen was in fashion. Barrels came in 3 colors. Black, Green and Brown. It had a tapering tip and a hidden nib. Just the tip of the nib was visible. The cost of that was around 35 Rs, but during late 80's it still was a huge sum. My father is a lecturer and for him writing instruments and books/paper are sacred. So I was given a hundred instructions by my father. I was always fascinated by the writing materials that he used. One to correct assignments, to write letters, just for the sake of marking attendance, everyday signatures and one in which he used to write personal letters to his friends. He gave that pen to me when we moved out of Bellary. I had a bunch of dreams and a dozen or so friends when I left Bellary. I used to write to them every now and then. Somehow, letters got replaced with phone calls, then to e-mails and chat messengers and then to cell phones. Somehow the intimacy that we shared in the letters was lost. Yes, there were e-mails, but it was something I couldn't take to bed and then read it in a torch light, wondering why her hand shook when she wrote this word or what the hell was he eating when he wrote this letter, there are stains all over... There was nothing personal in e-mails. The anticipation of waiting for the letter to come, and I running to kitchen to ask my mom if there were any letters for me that day...it was glorious.
I still have the pen that he gave me when I was 12. And I still own the first 'Hero' pen that I bought. I don't use them. I treasure them.