First Impressions Of Pens From The "eternal Gandhi" Brand

[Sudhir]

While leaving for an outstation trip recently, I happened to walk in to the Eternal Gandhi outlet at Mumbai Airport. Eternal Gandhi is a project by the Aditya Birla group and the products are also sold on their website http://www.gandhisouvenirs.com

As per the website that sells these Eternal Gandhi souvenirs,

"The idea is to create awareness about Gandhiji’s ideology and his undying spirit and spread his teachings in India and around the world through sale of various souvenirs like crystal mementos, apparel, personal accessories, office accessories, business gifts, figurines, timepieces, books, music, motion pictures and so on."

I had checked out the outlet earlier and had noticed some pens, but none of the pens really caught my eye. There were only a couple of fountain pens and they did not really look worth spending time on.

However, this time was different. This time, I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of nice, oversize pens and also a couple of sets with fountain pens and ball-points.

I picked up the two oversize pens as an early birthday gift to myself. Here are some impressions and pictures. The wife has not allowed me to ink them before my birthday, so a writing sample will follow soon.

They come in a pretty good cardboard box and the two pens I got are a Red one and a Brown Marbled one. My gut feel is that the Red is inspired by Visconti (cue the clip) while the Brown, Marbled one is inspired by Delta (cue the cap band and overall shape). The logo of the Eternal Gandhi brand - an image of the Mahatma walking - is on both the caps.

Both pens have screw-on caps and take standard international cartridges. They both came with a short standard international cartridge and I managed to swap these with spare standard international converters without any issues.

As of now, my only gripe is the overall quality of the pens - it is not easy to screw the cap on or even screw the barrel and section together. This shouts out "Quality Control Issues." I went over both pens with a loupe, but was not able to identify the original source from where they could have come. Any help/information in this regard is most welcome.

Hope you enjoyed this.

Cheers

Sudhir

Edited November 23, 2014 by Sudhir

[hari317]

I had never heard of these before, thanks for documenting these models.

 

I still remember the outrage that the Gandhi LE from MB had caused among some circles in India. That pen was a wonderful homage to Gandhi, but look at this pen, it is neither here nor there and mostly Chinese.

[Parker51]

I have very mixed feelings about this endeavor. Not the stated purpose, but the mechanism used to promote it.

Despite my misgivings, I did some research and other statements on the Website suggest that the pens were made in India, though by whom it is unclear.

[Parker51]

I have very mixed feelings about this endeavor. This is in part because I am familiar with one of his descendants who is a Radio Producer at one of our Local Radio Stations and she has been very cautious in using her inheritance in a commercial way. I know from reading of his personal feelings regarding the use of his position, both by himself and his family this was a touchy subject and in part lead to familial strife.

And now I see that a very large, very successful, very rich family/ business is using his image on products, well, it gives one pause.

Edited November 23, 2014 by Parker51

[Parker51]

I did some more research and I suspect they were made by Bhimraj & Co. This organization makes the Oliver Brand Fountain pen. they do work in acrylic, and they use German Nibs of the type pictured. They produce a large variety of pens, and it is quite possible they make special order pens for other organizations. This is simply a guess, but it is a possible direction to research.

Edited November 23, 2014 by Parker51

[chandelle]

 

Hope you enjoyed this.

Cheers

Sudhir

 

 

The second of the pens is a Wancher offering. I bought one some 18 months ago; it didn't have the Gandhi doodle or anything on it. Decent writer if a little dry. I suspect the other one too is a Wancher product. From what I've seen, Wancher's product range is strange in that their pens are either the type that are surprisingly affordable, given their general quality, or are in the MB range of un-affordability.

[Sudhir]

I had never heard of these before, thanks for documenting these models.

 

I still remember the outrage that the Gandhi LE from MB had caused among some circles in India. That pen was a wonderful homage to Gandhi, but look at this pen, it is neither here nor there and mostly Chinese.

 

The M Gandhi LE from MB was something I liked too. And yes, this one looks Chinese, I agree.

 

I have very mixed feelings about this endeavor. This is in part because I am familiar with one of his descendants who is a Radio Producer at one of our Local Radio Stations and she has been very cautious in using her inheritance in a commercial way. I know from reading of his personal feelings regarding the use of his position, both by himself and his family this was a touchy subject and in part lead to familial strife.

And now I see that a very large, very successful, very rich family/ business is using his image on products, well, it gives one pause.

 

While I understand your sentiments, could there be any more gross misuse (abuse?) of his name than by the multitude of Indian politicians? That said, thanks for that bit about Bhimraj and company - first time I've heard about them - and I will do some more research. But the overall feel I get is that this is from a Chinese source.

 

 

The second of the pens is a Wancher offering. I bought one some 18 months ago; it didn't have the Gandhi doodle or anything on it. Decent writer if a little dry. I suspect the other one too is a Wancher product. From what I've seen, Wancher's product range is strange in that their pens are either the type that are surprisingly affordable, given their general quality, or are in the MB range of un-affordability.

 

Thanks for the info. This could well be a Wancher and this would definitely fall in the affordable zone - under $20 in Indian Rupees...

 

Cheers

Sudhir

[vj2k]

One of the eternal Gandhi pens is made by Hertig from Jogeshwari Mumbai