The 11.39 lakh Gandhi pen set
Posted by Sanjukta Sharma on Tuesday, September 29, 2009
It was a surreal evening at the Taj Mahal Hotel’s Gateway Room.
The CEO of Mont Blanc, Lutz Bethge, on his first ever trip to India; Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Tushar Gandhi (present everywhere there is a sensational Gandhi event); and Dilip R. Doshi, chairman and managing director of Entrack international Trading Pvt. Ltd., the company that obtained the Indian government’s license to import Mont Blanc writing instruments in 1994, hosted a press conference.
On one side of the room was a vintage wooden writing table where the Mahatma Gandhi Limited Edition 241 pen set was placed under a spotlight. It was surrounded by a pair of respelndent gold Gandhi spectacles, some antique-looking fountain pens cased in wood and an oblong shaped small bottle of flaming red ink that contained, what was labelled, the Mahatma Gandhi ink.
On the other side were a buffet of evening snacks, teas and coffess.
Listening to the three hosts were not only journalists—with a fashionista here and an executive there, in the assorted crowd.
This exclusive pen set, which ateliers in Hamburg painfully crafted (according to Bethge) with gold and rhodium, was launched in India. The 241 limited edition set costs Rs11.39 lakh. The number of sets launched is 241, because Gandhi walked 241 miles during the Dandi March.
The German CEO spoke about Herman Hesse’s ‘Siddhartha’, about how Germans love India and he quoted Gandhi and talked about Gandhi’s appeal all over the world. The Indian managing director spoke at length about Mont Blanc’s commitment to cultural heritage and “philosophy pieces” and said why the Gandhi pen was such a relevant collector’s item. Tushar Gandhi said Barrack Obama should get one of these and sign peace treaties. He also reiterated that he has walked the entire length of his grandfather’s Dandi March. The company presented him with the first set and also donated Rs72 lakh to his Mahatma Gandhi Foundation. The money, he said, would go to a home for refugee child labourers in Kolhapur.
We peered into the pen’s rhodium-plated nib, where Gandhi, with his bamboo stave in hand, was engraved. Where, really, was Gandhi in all this?
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Gandhi would be pretty sick to see his grand son appreciating a product that will be mostly used by the horrendously rich, most of it earned by black money particularly in the Indian context . Imagine what he, whose life’s mission was to care for the poorest of the poor, must be thinking about this extravagant gesture. How many poor you can feed from Rs. 11 lakhs?
Why so negative about it ? As part of the price is beeing donated isn’t it better if rich people spend their money for this product than for another high priced item not having a connection with India at all.
This is hilarious. Maybe they should have a matching Cellini salt shaker to along with it!
Odd. I thought both Germany and India have used ‘kilometers’ as measures of land distances, for decades, if not longer. I wonder why anyone in either country would associate ‘241′ with the distance Gandhi marched? Why not ‘390′?
Still, if they were reaching for inappropriateness, I suppose they felt they might as well go all the way..
Hey guys, why every1 out there making hue cry about the prices, its wonderful that a company like Mont Blanc is launching a India Centric product, it shows the growing stature of India and Indians economic power, Looking forward to buy one for myself.
गोपालकृष्ण गांधी का यह लेख जरूर देखें । अपने भतीजे तुषार को आईना दिखा दिया है ।
Very creative
Cool website, like what I have read. Will definitely be back to read again.
Excellent site,Thanks for this great post – I will be sure to check out your blog more often.Just subscriped to your RSS feed..
Hey guys take a chill pill… I respect Mahatma Gandhiji for what he did & was. “Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi” has perished and with that gone are his ideologies & everyone will have to accept that. Tushar Gandhi is a total different personality. How the bloody hell can any1 compare him with such a gr8 soul. Remember Mahatma Gandhi’s saying “Be The Change You Want To See In This World”.. So don pin point any1 & there is no problem in buying a pen marketed under Mahatma Gandhiji’s name. It actually is an honor for India & Indians tat a foreign company thought of glorifying the name “Gandhi” even more. Yes yes I know “The Mahatma” never needs an introduction world over but you must think tat never ever did an Indian company think of doing anything like this not only for Mahatma Gandhi but also for many other such names who are still stay unknown..
Vande Matram.