If you are a Calcuttan and learnt to write before the onslaught of ballpoint pens, then you must have filled your pen with Sulekha ink at least once. It was a Swadeshi product meant to script defiance to British rule, literally.
Most such indigenous entrepreneurs fizzled out after making a passionate start. However, Sulekha was there to stay. It would only go out of the shelves when fountain pens became out of fashion. Not really. For the ink has been back for quite a while and is gradually making its presence felt through whispering campaigns and packaging strategies.
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It all started during the ‘second leg’ of the Swadeshi movement in the 1930s. M.K. Gandhi, in his bid to have everything manufactured in India, requested Satish Dasgupta, an ex-chemist at Bengal Chemicals, to come up with a desi ink. The chemist obliged and named the ink Krisnadhara.
That was in 1932. He shared his formula with the Maitra brothers, Shankaracharya and Nani Gopal, to start the legacy. Nani Gopal, a physics professor, worked on the formula to improve the composition. A solvent was used to ensure that the ink dried quickly on paper and did not clog the pen. The same solvent is still in the ink today.
The Maitras claim that it was Tagore who gave the brand its name. There are no records to ascertain this fact. However, the poet did probably use the ink to pen many lines during the last few years of his life. So Sulekha, which means good writing, did justice to its name right from the start.
The Maitras started manufacturing the ink in 1934 in Rajshahi, now in Bangladesh. Then they gradually shifted base to Calcutta and settled at Jadavpur. It had been quite a smooth sail for the company since then, and it even exported its product. It also did not shrug off social responsibility. During the Bangladesh Liberation War in the early 1970s, it provided employment to many refugees.
All this was coming to an end with militant trade unions and alternative modes of writing. In its desperate bid to stay afloat, Sulekha started diversifying and even set up another factory in Ghaziabad. It also came up with a special green ink with a sandalwood fragrance. However, all this was not enough. The company shut down in 1988 and went into liquidation three years later.
It had a miraculous comeback in 2005 after the Calcutta High Court gave a permanent stay on the liquidation. Ink bottles of different colours were once again seen in the shops. One rare colour of yesteryear, brown, is still sold like hotcakes.
In its recent ventures, Sulekha has started theme packaging as its marketing strategy. One is the Swadhin series, which gives its Swadeshi past a boost. In 2021, it came up with a green ink package to mark 50 years of the formation of Bangladesh, the cradle of the company. Our own independence is packaged as a Swadeshi brand with an image, probably of Khudiram Bose. Then there is a Maa brand in honour of Mother Teresa.
With increasing propaganda against global warming, fountain pens may make a comeback. Imagine the amount of plastic manufacturing that it will save if such a thing happens. Though not every school encourages the use of fountain pens, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISE) at least allows students to take the exam using fountain pens. It is up to us to pick up the writing pen.
The writer is a freelance contributor
