by amitava chatterjeekolkata in the digital era the convenience of an electronic touchpad has turned worries like broken fountain pen nibs leaky pens and ink blots immaterialbut in spite of the inconvenience and expense involved diehard fans of fountain pens do exist who observed world fountain pen day on friday medical practitioner atanu saha has scribbled every prescription with his trusty sheaffersaha says he had refused to dump his favourite fountain pen for a ballpoint even while taking his medical entrance exam for me a fountain pen signifies writing and nostalgia i remember writing with those chinese pens that had a fine nib it made you feel so good while writing with a ballpoint pen writing becomes a task an exercise which you wish ended soon said sahacyber police section in charge at lalbazar shatanu chatto padhyay swears by his wilson and parker i had started writing with an artex in school and have preserved it nothing comes close to the feel of putting an ink pen to paper it gives me a satisfaction which is unmatched pen hospital at esplanade is ellknown address for founta awellknown address for fountain pen enthusiasts and antique pen collectors with a history of 90 years the shop has catered to eminent people some of whom still visit for repairs and to check out new collections coowner mohammed reyaz said fountain pens havent lost loyalty among users with the advent of smartphones loyal customers still visit us and new customers keep dropping in ink pens are popular among law students but the band of loyalists is dwindlingits now more of a hobby than a necessity said reyazhis shop sells vintage as well as german pens and has started selling chinese models recently while the vintage ones dont cost much the german collection starts from rs 1500 the ones in demand are fountain pens by sheaffer cross and pelican there are fountain pens with gold and bronze nibs as well said reyazthe demand however is low among the youth college student abhishek ray said my father has a collection of ink pens but i find them clumsy i hardly use even a ballpoint outside my class i use my cellphone