On Rolling Your Own, Writing With a Fountain Pen and Thinking on Paper in 2014

It's a bright sunny morning. Though winter is on it's way out, the chill is still there. I am standing in the balcony sipping my freshly brewed Coorg french press coffee and getting set to roll the first cigarette of the day. 

Yes, I roll my own cigarettes. I prefer to select my tobacco, the thickness of the paper and the size of the filter tips over flipping open the pack and lighting a readymade cigarette. Not many people these days know about RYOs India. Once upon a time this was the way people used to smoke. By the way, RYO means Roll Your Own. It is an official word. It is common for people to ask me what am I rolling. Often with suspicions. I have had kids ask me for a joint in music concerts. Even a few drivers and rickshaw wallahs. It pains me to see the disappointment writ large on their face when I tell them the truth. So why do I roll my cigarettes? Simply because I like the ritual of rolling them. Also because it is has a traditional feel to it. Just like writing with a fountain pen.

Yes, I write with a fountain pen. There are not too many people around these days who do that too. I prefer write with a fountain pen over the ball point and gel pens. For a lot of people, fountain pens are a hassle and the newer ballpoints/gels are more convenient. One wouldn't mind losing a few of these, unless you buy the expensive Mont Blancs of the world. Not for me. I love the ritual of personalizing the nib to suit my writing angle, filling up the ink barrel and unscrewing the cap. I love the scrawl of the nib on paper. It feels so traditional. It gives me a feeling that I am in control of my thoughts.

Yes, I think on pen and paper. There are not too many people around these days who do that too. It is always easier to type on a word processor with a keyboard. You can move around stuff how you want. You can undo and redo. You can cut paragraphs of text from one place and paste it somewhere else if you don't like the order. But I can't do that. I wrote these thoughts on paper with a fountain pen. There was one paragraph which I felt should come later. I struck that out and wrote again. I could have been lot easier to move that paragraph with a word processor. But without pen and paper that paragraph would not have existed at all. I could't have written that paragraph in the first place on the keyboard.

OK. It's time to get to work. Till the next blog...