Inside a 77-year-old pen hospital in Kolkata, where old pens are treated and given a new life

‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ – a famous proverb written by novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton aptly sums up the value of a humble pen. An object of great fancy and attachment, it is a writer’s most priceless possession. However, pens are dispensable in nature and get broken and ruined after prolonged use. While many throw them away, there was a time in Kolkata when people would take their pens to a ‘pen hospital’…