Type cast!

The other day there was a strange discussion that originated out of nothing.  And it was all for an estranged object called the pen. I don’t carry it anymore. And I know few who carry one religiously. From times when the pen was almost the best friend and something we touched most, one thing that we are completely out of touch today is our handwriting.

              

My father was into accounts. And he would carry two pens in his pocket as he walked out from home to office every day. In office he would use those pens to complete his work; Writing files… writing cheques.  As for me and my siblings, he would get us nice fountain pens before exams. A good pen would always give some added confidence. Every exam we would have nice new pens to write. Pens have been so much a part of our lives. But as the clocked ticked away we got busier with work and companions changed from a notepad and pen to a computer; a laptop for the more tech savvy, or now an iPad. 

Getting back to the discussion, a friend asked me for a pen. And I didn’t have it. Then she asked her boyfriend and he didn’t have it either. Funnily both he and I earn our bread and biscuit from writing. He writes scripts and I write for newspapers. My friend ridiculed that we call ourselves writers and don’t carry a pen with us. To our defense we said writers don’t need to carry pens. We write on our computers. “But writing is done with pens. You type on your computer,” she said. Of course we are defined as writers, but I have no idea how correct that term is any more. My friendly promptly pointed, “You are mere typists!” Of course that was a remark made out of fun but it did suit what we do. We don’t write stories any more. We conceive them in our minds and then we transform them into paper through typing on a keyboard.

Thankfully school kids still are using the pen. Although they don’t really use the good old fountain pen any more. While we blame kids for writing with ball point pens and playing soccer only on PlayStation, we have ceased using the pen except few occasions.

A few instances we still have to use the pen are – writing the pay in slip in the bank, our signatures on important documents and signing in out and out of office compound. And here too the first and third instances are being replaced through electronic transfers and plastic cards. We are left with signatures… ideally a mark to prove our genuine self and not some virtual thief or real ghost.

In the age of guns, bofors and nuclear the stronger pen has taken a beating from an unassuming computer keyboard!  But then we still have to resort to it to prove that we are real. The good old proverb – a friend in need is a friend indeed!