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About a month and a half back my elder brother Amitava who lives in Mumbai happened to visit Chennai, the capital of Tamilnadu on some Official errands. The city of Chennai involuntarily reminded me of two names- one is ASA Pens and the other is Gem and Co, both related to fountain pens and that too handmade. Gem and Co is the original maker of the Indian "Gama " brand with ASA Pens being its marketing outlet. So I called up my brother and in passing mentioned about these two names and forgot about it.To my utter suprise, Amitava took it seriously and took some time out from his otherwise packed official engagements and managed to mobilize a local gentleman from his Office who knew the city well and did all the travelling and managed to locate Gem & Co and meet its proprietor Mr Pratap Kumar. My brother though not a great pen enthusiast, was a regular user of fountain pens in his school days in Shillong where we grew up together and till this date carries fond memories of the place and the fountain pens that he used. Amitava struck up a conversion with Mr. Pratap Kumar who was a very knowledgeable person. My brother describes the shop as having seen better days which still operates with memories of bygone eras and a hope for the future. Mr Kumar insisted that Amitava send snaps of the models that were in ready stock to me before making any final choice because he very rightly thought that serious fountain pen enthusiasts were very fussy about selecting their right stuff and give the impression that as though they were buying a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. I received snaps of seven to eight Gama models out of which I selected four because i didn't have them. They were Gama Sneaky, Gama Airborne, Gama Master Piece and bringing up the rear was a beautiful Gama Ezuthani clear demonstrator, which is my subject of review today. The Gem & Co store ( pic courtesy Amitava Gupta). The GAMA EZUTHANI is a beautiful clear demonstrator desk pen of archaic looks with a cap. The body is clear and transparent which includes the section too. Look wise the pen is a show stopper by virtue of its very elegant design, aristocratic look and of course the brilliant craftsmanship imparting the Gama Ezuthani a very neat and clean look. Besides being a good looking pen it is also a fully functional and a consistently good performer. The pen has an Eye dropper filling mechanism. Inside the transparent barrel there is an inner transparent tubular ink tank , about 1 & 1/2 inches long which can take in a good volume of ink, which means that you need to fill it and forget it for quite a while. When the Ezuthani is inked it look very gorgeous and eye catching. Mr. Pratap Kumar in the middle and Amitava to his left. (pic courtesy Amitava Gupta) A full view of the pen The pen is long and slender and has a rounded cap with a slender section which is about 8 mm. The diameter of the barrel increases from the end of the section and then gradually tapers downward ending in a somewhat pointed but circular rounded bottom. The barrel threads are pretty smooth and it is easy to screw or unscrew the barrel from the section. One good thing I noticed the about the Gama Ezuthani demonstrator is that the cap threads are located inside the cap and that there is no corresponding thread grooves at the junction of the barrel and the section. The drop from the barrel to the section is abrupt but causes no hindrance in holding the the pen since the length of the section is adequate and smooth. The Ezuhani is a light weight pen and is wonderfully balanced despite its long and elongated barrel. I found this pen to be ideal for writing long sessions without any fatigue to the wrist and the grip fingers. Comparison with Ratnam's " Kalam". The Gama Ezuthani came fitted with a fine tipped stock nib on which the word "GAMA" and the letter G was etched. The pen writes wet and smooth with a feeble feed back which is up to my liking since it allows me to take control over my hand writing. As far as dimensions are concerned the Ezuthani is 205 mm in length with the cap on, 197 mm when uncapped, thereby putting the cap length of the cap at 8 mm. A view of the Gama Ezuthani with the cap seperated. writing sample (apology for the lack of sharpness in the image). Overall I am delighted to have the Gama Ezuthani in my collection which as per my reckoning should be be a sought after item for any pen collector for its archaic design, beautiful appearance and lastly its performance. Hope you liked the post. Comments are welcome. Best regards Somnath.

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. . It is approximately the size of a Guider Zimbo and slightly smaller than a Deccan Masterpiece.. Hope you enjoy this. Cheers, Sudhir

This is one of my favorite pens. It is an Indian Handmade Acrylic pen from Gem and co. The pen is called Gama Acrylic Demonstrator. Hope you enjoy the review The three gamas: Kuyil, Acrylic, Ebonite Jr. More images of the acrylic demonstrator Note that a full transparent pen is also available where one can see the nib and feed fully. I however chose a semi-demonstrator pen where the section is black. I do intend to buy the full transparent one later since I love this pen so much.

The gama kuyil is an ebonite pen from Gem and co. based from Chennai, India. The deccan ambassador and the gama kuyil. A minor diversion: Among the deccan pens I prefer the Deccan Advocate Sr. and Jr. models. My wife prefers the Deccan Bullet Sr. My wife trying out the Kuyil From left to right: Deccan Advocate, Deccan Ambassador, Gama Kuyil, Gama Acrylic Demonstrator, Gama Ebonite Jr. A note on the Indian Ebonite pens I own: Since these pens are hand-made and the quality control is not supreme the same model can vary in quality across pens. If one reads the above review it is clear that I am not satisfied with my Deccan Ambassador. The reason why I have openly expressed my distaste for the brand is because I used a Deccan Ambassador of another fellow pen collector and found similar issues while using it. I know of a few people who use Deccan pens who have a similar opinion and I thought I could voice it. I purchased other pens from the company before coming to the following conclusion (Please bear in mind these conclusions are from using the pens that I have encountered from Deccan and are entirely personal): The deccan pens are in general over-priced. I have no problem with the price if the quality is good. I bought a white deccan masterpiece and sold it to my friend because I hated the aerometric converter and because the nib was OK at best (I admit it looked pretty and that was the only reason he bought it off me). I have no problems with the Advocate pens. Although I still think the pens are over-priced. I don't use my deccan pens as much as, say, my Wality or my Gama pens. Whenever I give these pens a try I just end being disappointed. I prefer the Wality Jumbo to the Deccan Advocates (don't get me wrong the ebonite is nice to touch). Again, these are my personal experiences

My wife purchased a gama fountain pen that has a parker italic nib. I have christened it the "Gama Italix". The pen is a simple, plastic bodied pen. I think the feed is ebonite. The nib is a parker italic nib. The pen is inexpensive but works well. The following is a writing sample and a few pictures by my wife.