Storymania - The Pen by Alvin Gladstone

The Pen
Alvin Gladstone

The Perfect Gift

Surya elated with joy when he saw his HSC results, he stood first in the class. There was a euphoric thrill that ran through his body, his muscles were electrified with fresh energy as he sprang onto his feet to announce the achievement to his parents. It was when he crossed the old man’s sweet shop enroute that he saw some glittering object on the ground. He ran few steps ahead of the object inspite of his best effort to end the fierce velocity.

He walked back, picked the shining object and looked at it intensely. It was a strikingly fine-looking black ink pen with a golden nib. It looked brand new and seemed to be of foreign made. The fine surface seemed like the perfect texture that his fingers had ever felt. There was a small transparent section at the middle part of pen indicating the level of ink. He had never owned a pen as appealing as this before, he considered this to be a perfect gift from god on a perfect day. He carefully clipped the pen in his pocket and then began to run towards his home.

Surya lived in a small town in Tamil Nadu called Thendralur. He stayed along with his parents, his father owned a small grocery store while his mother looked after the home. They lived a happy and contended life with whatever modest income they could make. When Surya unleashed the success news to his Parents, his father’s head rose with pride and his mother’s eyes were full with tears - out of compassion and love.

The jubilation spirit stirred up even higher after Surya shared his prized gift, the glittering black ink pen. Surya gently kept touching his pocket at frequent intervals to feel the presence of his pen. His delight was floating around like a tender breeze and he enjoyed every moment of that day. He later sat in his chair, still dreamily lost in the bliss.

“It’s a perfect day “he thought. He picked up the pen from his pocket and couldn’t move his sight away from it. Everything about the pen was attractive, it seemed to be infatuating.

“This is my most prized possession, I’d have this with me all the time” he thought “probably till I die”. And then he smiled.

From that day onwards, the pen became an integral part of Surya’s life. It was apparent that if Surya was wearing his shirt, then the pen was with him. He became so close to his pen that it became as vital as any part of his body. Every Sunday morning, he would dismantle the pen to its tiniest part, clean it with hot water and then sun dry it on the terrace. There were strong grounds for him to adore his pen at this level, it seemed he knew everything about it. He could determine the width of text with the way he angled his pen, the nib had to be held straight forward for a smooth thick writing whereas the nib was held backwards, slightly bent for a thin elegant script. He would often peek at the transparent section of the pen and would exactly determine the number pages left out ink could write. The pen itself was so appealing that anyone who got a glimpse of it would for sure have a word of compliment.

And of course, the pen was associated with a day that Surya considered to be his best one so far.

The Affection

Many years passed by, Surya later moved to a larger town called Madurai for the college, he went on to complete his MA in English Literature. His pen had been his faithful companion through out these years, he was so much attached to it that any thought of changing the pen would seem like proposing to change his religion. After the college, Surya joined a local school in Madurai as an English teacher and earned sufficiently enough to live on his own. He later got married to a girl belonging to his own caste and hometown, purchased a small house in Madurai and then became a proud father of a young son. Surya was passionate about his work, it involved him to teach and also to do lots of writing. There was not a single day when his pen had stopped working, it was like a machine that never ceased to work or never let its master down.

As decades passed, Surya became old, his son was now aged enough to work and live on his own. He was married to a beautiful girl and was settled in Madras. As times changed, preferences and people also changed. It was the ball point pen that was preferred over the ink pens, primarily due to it’s convenience of being hassle-free and it didn’t require you to fill ink every couple of days. However Surya was still very much contended with his stark black ink pen, though people didn’t notice it anymore like they did earlier. Nevertheless it still remained as one of his priceless possessions.

Soon the day came when Surya had to retire from his teacher’s job, he returned home with a heavy heart overflowing with nostalgic emotions. Somehow he had the contentment of fulfilling all his responsibilities towards life, he had a nice childhood, good parents and he took good care of them till their last day. He also had a lovely wife and a wonderful son who is now well settled in Madras. What else did he want?

“I can die peacefully now” he thought.

Surya lived on his pension and a small amount that his son sent from Madras. Though his daily routine seemed to be quite mechanical, he didn’t crib over anything in life. He was pleased with his life just by having his wife around and to talk twice in a week to his son over the phone. His routine on a standard day would involve carrying a steel bowl to the dairy and buy milk. He’d sometimes spend time with other retired folks around neighborhood. He’d then sleep for good 4 hours in the afternoon and evenings always belonged to his wife. They’d go out to the local market and do some vegetable purchasing for the next day’s cooking. He also earnestly helped his wife in maintaining the house and also manier times would assist in cooking by cutting the vegetables.

Though Surya didn’t have much writing work to do, the pen still remained as consistently in his pocket like it always did. It was when receiving his son’s money order that Surya would proudly take out the pen from his pocket and then sign on the acknowledgement receipt. One day they received a letter from his son saying that he’d visit them during the dussera holidays. Surya was eagerly counting the days for his son’s arrival and finally the day did turn up. He was delighted to see his son and welcomed his home. The son had bought lot many gifts to both his mother and father, though mother got saree, perfume, kitchenware and few other things, father just got a brand new pen.

“I already have a pen” Surya said

“Father, it has become very old now. Try this one, it’s made in America, looks better and writes well too”.

Surya held his son’s gift in hand and was lost in thoughts for some moment. The attractiveness of new pen and a likelihood of better writing didn’t tempt a speck to shift his choice. Why isn’t the new pen attracting me? Surya slowly picked up his old pen from the pocket and looked at it – it’s much more than a pen. “It actually portrays many facets of my life” Surya wondered. The pen represents his childhood, parents, friends, school, exams, college, marriage, work, children – the pen was associated with anything that had any impact on his world. In way, it represented Surya’s life itself, it shared every ups and down in his journey so far. It had seen and pursued much of his life to be parted now.

“No son” Surya sighed and said “I think me and my pen will part only when I die”

His son knew that there would no point in trying to convince his father, he was aware of his father’s attachment to his pen.

“Alright father, you use whatever that pleases you”

Surya smiled and lovingly pat on his son’s shoulders.

The Five Rupee Note

It was on a Wednesday early morning when Surya was on his usual routine walk to buy some milk that he saw a five rupee note lying on the road midway. Surya was tempted to gradually walk and pick up the note but didn’t want anyone to witness that. He did a slow surveillance across the street in a circular fashion and when he was convinced that no one was around, he quickly walked to the side of the road and bent down to pick up the note. With the note in his hand, he pushed himself hard to stand up when the pen that was not clipped well to the pocket, crawled out and fell down on the road. The momentum of the pen was fast enough to keep it rolling till it fell between the small railings of the sewage cover. Surya threw the five rupee note back on the ground and ran towards the sewage cover in panic.

“What have I done” he said to himself in dismay as he watched his pen lying motionless beneath the cover.

The sewage was dry and wasn’t much deep, he knew it was easily reachable. However the cover that was placed over it had railings that was wide enough only to allow the pen to fall through. Surya knelt down on his knees and inserted his right hand index finger between the railings with the grave hope of picking up the pen using just one finger. Predictably, it didn’t work. Meanwhile a small boy was standing at a little distance away from his mother and was looking at Surya with great interest. Surya immediately sensed someone watching him and glanced to look at the small boy who appeared so inquisitive that it looked as if he wanted to offer his help.

“Hey boy, come here, can you help me?” Surya whispered

The small boy immediately jumped at the request and came running towards Surya.

“You see a pen there?” said Surya pointing the sewage.

“Yes”

“I need you to put your small hands between these railings and pick up that pen for me”

“But it’s dirty” protested the boy

“No, it’s not. Look at that, it’s dry, there are just few leaves lying down there, that’s all”.

The boy not so happy any more, hesitantly put his hands between the railings. However the gap was just wide enough to permit the boy to insert only half his palm.

“Try slowly, it’ll go then” Said Surya and gently squeezed the little boy’s hand and pushed it in.

“Well, how will I take my hand out then?” the little boy was angry now.

“Just few more minutes and then you’re in”

“Leave my hand” the boy was trying to pull his hand back.

“Wait, wait” said Surya and was fully engrossed in pushing the little boy’s hand further down in.

“Mummyyyyy”

“Keep quite and focus, you little rascal” said Surya and thought for a moment that he was actually teaching a small kid in the school.

Soon the little boy’s mother came rushing and pulled the kid out of Surya’s clutches and then starred at him with bewilderment.

The little kid began to cry as he hugged his mother tight.

“You are the retired teacher, right? asked the Mother.

“Yes, Maam but please don’t get me wrong. I was just trying to….”

“You need to be ashamed of yourself. My son is not your broomstick to pick your dirt around”

“But, it was my pen….”

“Please shut up sir” said the Mother and pulled her son by his arm.

“How many times should I tell you to keep away from strangers?” shouted the Mother looking menacingly at the little boy.

“But I thought he was just playing”

The angry mother dragged her son to the other side of the road and then started walking across the street. As they moved away, Surya faintly heard the mother’s words “Wait till your father hears this”.

Surya didn’t really care about anything, all he wanted was his pen back. He had to think of any scheme that could fetch his pen. With these thoughts hovering around him, he walked back home even without buying the milk.

The Municipality

Surya returned home and told the story to his wife. Though his wife felt quite sorry for him, she was more upset at not getting the milk. “It was anyway old” she said.

Surya spent the entire day thinking of any idea that may fetch his pen back. Should he use a magnet to pull the pen out? Or how about cutting out the railings? He even thought of getting the local temple elephant to stamp and break open the sewage cover.

None of them really seemed workable.

Surya was slowly beginning to get frustrated. He even considered forgetting his pen and continuing with his life.

After all it’s just a pen. A thing which is not even alive, why should I think so much about it?

Surya just wandered about in his thoughts. It was probably the most exciting day in his life when he stood first in the class, the day when he found this pen. He later went on to write his SSC exams with it, also finished his graduation. Signed on his appointment letter as a teacher with this pen, he had used it to get his son’s birth certificate, worked with it through out his days as a teacher, his child played with it when he was young, his father had used it for the last time when he signed on the will – this pen had indeed played a significant role in his life so far.

And now it lied inside a gutter slowly rotting to be dilapidated forever. I need to do something!!

Surya pondered over what tool he could use to get the pen out. He was aware that he needed something that should to be thin and long enough to enter between the railings and hold the pen. He thought about Knife, spoon, stick – none seemed to work.

The Clip.

Suddenly his ancestral clip stuck his mind. It was a thin and a lengthy one, at least 12 inches long that his mother used for drying bed sheets and saree. For the next two hours he searched his entire house spick and span for the clip, but in vain. With no hope at his sight, Surya sighed and went out of his house for a walk.

Few blocks away from his home, he saw a construction site where many laborers were working with different tools for the construction. He scanned around to see if anything could help him. At a distance he saw 2 men using a long iron rod to break large chunks of thick solid mud. He wondered if he could insert the rod into the railings and break it open, it would be piece of cake for him to get his pen out. He quickly went to the two men and negotiated the price to get his job done. After much talk, it was agreed at Rs 50.

“Be there with the rod at 6:00 AM sharp tomorrow”, Surya said to the men before leaving them.

Next day morning, it was at 6:00 AM when all three of them met. Surya rubbed his hand excitedly at the prospect of retaining his pen back.

“C’mon boys, start your work” Surya said elatedly.

A man held the iron rod between the railings and tried to bend it open. It seemed like one of the rare occasions when you come across a good quality government construction and this happened to be one of them. The railings were so hard that inspite of two grown up men applying their full energy couldn’t move the cover away by a slightest inch.

“Darn gutter” said Surya in dismay.

He then saw his pen, still lying beneath the sewage, surrounded by a scary darkness, it appeared desolate and seemed to be pleading for help.

Surya’s determination grew stronger.

“Break open the cover” said Surya sternly

“What?” exclaimed one of the men.

“I said break it”

“Are you sure?”

“Don’t ask questions, just do whatever I say”

Then the man started hitting the road hard with the iron rod. He hit the corners of the cover that was held tight by the tar, as he hit harder – the tar started breaking into pieces. Surya suddenly felt his hope revived. “Harder” he shouted. The man used all his energy without any break to knock off the lid, pieces of tar were scattered along the road. People crossing by were wondering why these men were digging a perfectly well maintained road. Surya just didn’t care about anything and was completely focused on getting his work done. He knew it was almost over, just few more knocks and then he was going to get back his pen. And then someone came from behind and pat his shoulders.

“Excuse me” the stranger said

Immediately the men stopped their road breaking work. Surya turned behind.

“Yes?” asked Surya in a surprising tone.

“Can I ask what is going on here?”

Surya was irritated at this, just when everything seemed to be going well, the last thing he wanted to do was public answering service.

“Can’t you see? We are digging” said Surya in an irritative tone.

“I can see that but can I ask you why?”

Now Surya was angry.

“Oh we just thought how good this road looks and it might be fun to do some exercise breaking it off. Do you also want to try? Said Surya sarcastically

“Well…even your nose looks equally good” said the stranger “can I try breaking it too?”

“Who the hell are you?” shouted Surya

“Am the local municipal officer” said the stranger “and I don’t allow people to do exercise breaking my roads”

“Ha ha ha” Surya laughed “You, a municipal officer? Am sorry but you don’t look like one”

At this the stranger fumed with anger and shouted at the two men holding the rod “If you don’t leave at once, I’ll call the police”

As soon as the laborers heard police, they cleared the place instantly.

This infuriated Surya. Just few more knocks and he would have got hold of his pen back but now everything seemed to be over. With all the commotion, few people on their morning walk gathered around them out of curiosity. There was even a half asleep dog growling at a low tone to express its impatience over the noise.

“Do you look at that dog?” Surya pointed his finger to the dog “I may believe even if that comes and tells me that it’s the new municipal officer but why should I trust a pig like you?”

Somehow the dog sensed that it has become the part of conversation, it lifted its head and wagged its tail signifying it’s gratitude towards its newly acclaimed importance.

The stranger was enraged “Okay old man, you will see who I’am.” The man turned back and walked back his way. He kept on mumbling as he went “You will see”.

Soon the entire crowd cleared, Surya stood alone in the road looking at the half broken sewage cover. He cursed the stranger in anger and then returned back home.

It was the screeching noise of doorbell that awakened Surya from his afternoon nap. He drowsily got out of his bed and opened the door. A teenaged boy handed over a letter and then without saying any word turned back and left the place.

Surya still half asleep, slowly opened the letter half heartedly. His eyes widened with shock as soon as he read it. It was a notice from the municipality office, it was addressed to Surya stating that he had been caught damaging public property and also is considered as threat to the communal peace. With a fine of Rs.1500 and a strict warning Surya was advised to refrain himself from indulging in such activities again. And in case he didn’t pay the money in two days, the fine will be doubled up to Rs 3000. If the money is still not paid, a warrant may be issued for Surya’s arrest. The letter was signed by Municipal Officer. Surya was gaping at the letter in astonishment when his wife sensed that something was wrong and walked up to him.

“What happened?” his wife enquired.

Surya sensed a bigger storm approaching and tried to hide the letter. However his wife recognized the conspicuous change in her husband’s behavior.

“What is it that you are hiding?”

“Nothing” fumbled Surya.

His wife came forward and snatched the letter from Surya’s hand and then read it.

“What is it?” asked his wife in a state of shock.

And then Surya explained the story.

“When are you ever going to learn?” said his wife “and from where are going get 1500 Rupees? You know we don’t have that much money”

Surya bent his head down in a defeated posture, he felt like a turkey that was standing in line to be slaughtered.

“Will you ever grow?” continued his wife “I don’t know what more troubles is that stupid pen of yours is going to get us into?”

Just when the environment was getting heated up, the door bell rang again. It was the two laborers that Surya had hired in the morning to break the road.

“Sir, when can we get our 50 Rupees coolie?”

Surya’s face frowned with dismay while his wife’s eyes blazed with anger and anguish.

The Clip

Surya had to mortgage his wife’s ring to the local money lender for paying the municipality fine. This came as a severe lesson that Surya had to learn, his wife too kept cribbing about the fine for few weeks.

Weeks had passed, however Surya made no genuine attempt to retrieve his pen back. He would stop by the sewage cover every morning, look at the pen for sometime and then buy the milk.

The pen had lost all its charisma now. It slowly began to rust and started to lose its color. Surya could see insects swarming all over the pen, they were probably eating it. The surface of the pen didn’t seem even either, it was perhaps melting away. It appeared as if the pen was dying a slow death.
Surya’s heart wrenched with agony when he saw the plight of his pen. He strived hard to not look at it every morning but failed every time. And this continued for many days.

After the loss of his pen, Surya became more nostalgic and spent hours together sitting in the verandah and dreamt about his past. Gradually he started missing his childhood days, friends, parents, school and everything that belonged to the past. He never felt like this when he had the pen and it all started after he had lost it.

Then one night it was windy outside when his father’s memory hounded him. He wished to see his father’s photograph before he could go to sleep. Surya had just one picture of his father that was taken in a local town carnival decades back. Surya carefully preserved his father’s picture in his personal trunk which he hadn’t opened for years. The winds grew harder as the windows started shattering, Surya quickly got up, noticed that cloud was getting darker and shut all the windows. He dusted his old trunk and was pleasantly surprised when he slowly opened it. He found his mother’s long and thin clip that he had been frantically searching few weeks back. He forgot about his father’s picture as a swift thrill took over him.

I’m going to get my pen back!!

Surya quickly changed his dress, put the clip in his shirt pocket and slowly sneaked out of the home avoiding his wife. Even before he could hit the road, droplets of water hit his face and hand. Before he could realize what was going, a sudden burst of shower poured upon him. Surya quickly rushed inside the home and waited on the door for rains to stop.

“What are you doing on the door?” asked his wife from the other room.

“Nothing, just enjoying the rains” Surya replied.

“Enough of your enjoyment, now go to sleep.”

Surya slowly returned back to his bed, his ears were stuck to the window to hear if the rains have stopped. Each minute seemed like a dragging hour but the rain never ceased. Surya’s impatience grew stronger, he twisted and turned on his bed after every minute. He kept looking at the clock but it seemed that earth had stopped rotating. The darn needle wasn’t moving at all. His impatience slowly turned into drowsiness even as the noises of rain droplets were shattering his ear drums.

He abruptly woke up from his sleep and starred at the clock, it was 2:00 AM.

How could I sleep when my poor pen is dying?

He peeped out of the window, it was slightly drizzling and the street had been plunged into darkness. He knew the power cut was due to the rain. He quickly wore his raincoat, picked up his torch and barged out of his house into the darkness.

The roads were slippery and darker than he had expected. An old man walking in the middle of night with a raincoat and torch was not a usual sight by any means. Any onlooker would be surprised at this, including a dog. A dog came straight in front of Surya and starred into his eyes with a threatening warning.

“What are you doing in my territory at this hour?” the dog seemed to speak.

Now Surya never expected this, at least he might have brought a pack of biscuits. Both of them stood still for few minutes, not making a tiniest sound. Surya couldn’t wait any longer, he decided to take a slow step expecting the dog may just walk away. As soon as he lifted his leg, the dog yelled at its loudest voice. Surya became still again.

How long do you want me to stand like this?

That one bark had attracted four more friends of the dog. Now all of them were slowly approaching towards the stand still Surya, the last thing he wanted was to be eaten alive by few street dogs. It was 2:20 AM, Surya was surrounded by five hungry dogs on a rainy night with not one soul around. He couldn’t handle the pressure any more, the standstill game had exhausted him. Not caring about anything, Surya sprang on to his feet and started running towards his home.

As he was running breathlessly, he stumbled over a stone and with great difficulty managed to regain his balance but not before he heard a clinging sound. Surya instantly knew that the clip had fallen down from his pocket. He stopped for a second and turned back. The dogs weren’t far off, they were barking and running towards him at an assaulting speed. Not caring about the pen anymore, Surya blindly ran towards his home.

He panted exasperatedly as he reached the gate of his home. For a moment he thought that he was going to be choked till death, after few minutes he regained his courage to look back and the dogs weren’t there.

“Home sweet home” said Surya and entered his house.

The Pen

The sweetness of home was cherished by Surya only for few minutes on the bed, soon he was lost into the thoughts about his pen. He couldn’t forgive himself for dropping the clip, he felt like stabbing himself slowly with a knife.

Sleep seemed like a distant dream, the clock was ticking slower than ever. Surya had a faint hope of finding his clip the next day morning, he clenched his fist and prayed to god.

“God, I have had enough of this now. Am not asking anything but just help me to get the clip tomorrow”.

With this Surya closed his eyes and was slowly lost into the darkness of sleep.

It was 7:00 AM when Surya woke up.

I’m late again.

Surya quickly grabbed his milk bowl and rushed out of his home in the pajamas. He kept muttering his prayers as he walked on the road. He shouted with joy when he spotted his clip, at last he felt that things started moving well. He quickly picked up the clip and then started walking towards the sewage.

Just few more minutes and I’ll have my pen back.

His heart pounded hard as he neared his destination. He slowly walked up to the sewage cover and knelt down to have a look inside it.

The pen was missing.

Water from last night’s rain had carried it away. A strange weakness swept over Surya, his thoughts went numb. He frantically searched around the sewage with a vague hope of locating his pen nearby. The small kid who had helped Surya earlier looked at him from a distance. For a moment he thought Surya had lost his senses. The kid slowly walked up to Surya and starred at him. Surya was now sitting on the road motionless gaping at the cloud.

“Sir, Is everything okay?” asked the boy

Surya looked at the boy with a blank mind and slowly got up to walk.

“Sir” said the boy “You have left your milk bowl”

Surya picked up the milk bowl and dizzily walked towards the dairy. A faint hope lingered in his heart that he’ll find his precious pen someday, before he dies.

-Alvin Gladstone