Guider Nano - A Very Small but Funtional FP

I have been meaning to get some celluloid pens from Guider Pen Works of Rajamundhry, India. I finally ordered and got these a few days back. However, this post is not about celluloid pens, but about a nice surprise I got. I ordered 2 celluloid pens and just for fun, I also ordered a Guider Baby pen in Yellow Acrylic. Expecting 3 pens in the box, imagine my surprise when out fell a fourth pen. At first, I was not even sure it was a pen because it was so TINY. But further examination revealed that not only was it a fountain pen, it was a fully functional eyedropper with a pretty good nib.

I have named this pen the Guider Nano (for want of anything more creative) and here are some pics and comparisons with other small pens I have. 

Please excuse the picture quality - I had to make do with very average lighting.

So, here is the Guider Nano with some of its contemporaries. From Top to Bottom Kaweco Sport, Guider Baby Acrylic, Guider Nano, Deccan Lilliput.

By itself, the pen looks pretty good.

Some measurements to give an idea of how these compare. Please take these as ballpark figures. I have tried my best to be accurate with the tools I have, but YMMV, so please excuse me in advance if someone has other figures. Though I think they should be in a similar range.

Kaweco Sport: Length Capped = 106.1 mm. Weight Un-inked 13.00 gms (with the clip)

Deccan Lilliput: Length Capped = 110.5 mm. Weight Un-inked 13.90 gms

Guider Baby Acrylic: Length Capped = 103.6 mm. Weight Un-inked 11.29 gms

Guider Nano: Length Capped = 78.5 mm. Weight Un-inked 4.71 gms

As you can see, it is a really tiny pen.

Kaweco Sport

Deccan Lilliput

Guider Baby Acrylic

Here is the Guider Nano:

Then, just for fun, I decided to compare this pen to two absolutely huge pens - The Varuna Gajendra and the Gama Supreme White Acrylic.

Measurements. The Gama and Varuna lengths were visually taken with a plastic scale as the sizes were beyond the scope of my callipers.

Gama Supreme Acrylic: Length Capped = 164 mm. Weight Un-inked 40.08 gms

Varuna Gajendra: Length Capped = 178 mm. Weight Un-inked 41.02 gms

I must really thank Shri Lakshmana Rao of Guider pens for sending me this tiny, but unique surprise package. In my experience, this is the tiniest functioning pen that I have seen and used.

I would love to hear from others about such tiny pens. Has anyone else used such a tiny pen, or maybe something even tinier?

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed posting it.

Cheers

Sudhir

My thoughts on voting... and making a difference

It a personal choice, MY choice, of course, whether to vote or not. And this is not about whether I voted or did not (just for the record, I did vote). But it is sad to see many people not willing to believe that things can change and that one vote (even if it says NOTA - None Of The Above) can make a statement.

Reminds me of something I learnt a long time ago - in college. I was (kind of) a cricket player in college. I did not have much talent and I was as reluctant to work hard then as I am now. I did not see the point in turning up for practise as I did not see myself making it big in cricket. I would always tell my coach that if I could not be a very good cricketer, I did not see the need to practise. Logical, right?

But my coach told me that it was about contributing to the team, not becoming Kapil Dev (yeah, it was that long ago). His message was, get up, turn up and play the best you can - one day, it will make a difference. Transforming from a middling cricketer to one who could (occasionally) contribute to the team required practise; and the the most difficult part was just turning up for practise. All the way across town to report at 7 AM for cricket practise meant waking up at 4:30 AM to catch a train at 5:30 AM. Requires effort and conviction. Once you nail that, a lot of work is done.

It is not always about changing the world or making a ding in the universe. Sometimes, it is about turning up and doing the best you can. "Just turn up and contribute to the team" was a powerful message that has stayed with me.

So, to all of those who turned up to vote, I am sure that like me, you also believe things can change. And we can change them... eventually. Thank you.

And to all those who did not vote, I hope you had a good time nevertheless doing whatever makes you happy!

Gama Acrylic - Transparent/demonstrator

I had originally posted this as a reply to another post. Someone kindly suggested that I should create a separate post for this. Well, suggestion taken, and thank you. 

On my last visit to the Gem shop in Chennai to pick up a Gama Royal, I got into a discussion on Oversize pens - and I was shown this Gama Acrylic clear/see-through pen. Of course, I just had to have it.

Apart from a couple of Wality/Airmail pens with clear barrels, I did not have an Indian ED Demonstrator. This one is beautiful just for the transparent section and the way in which the nib and feed clearly show through.

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It is approximately the size of a Guider Zimbo and slightly smaller than a Deccan Masterpiece..

Hope you enjoy this.

Cheers,

Sudhir