We use them for all forms of communication: correspondence, business transactions, signatures. A fine pen enhances the writing experience and makes a definitive statement about the writer. Variety is vital to a life of luxury, an abundance of classic names and innovative styles. Indulge in close-up of distinctive writing instruments, masterful presentations of timekeeping design, and leathers of consummate, dependable craftsmanship are here. A look at pens suitable for the novice, the curious minded, the collector.

Let other pens dwell with guilt and misery

A major international manufacturer of fine writing instruments and more, the A.T. Cross Company has been in business for more than 150 years. During that time Cross has re-invented writing instruments, combining design ingenuity with jewelry-quality craftsmanship. They were America's first manufacturer of quality writing instruments, they've been making pens people use, depend upon, and enjoy, for a long time. Richard Cross, a highly skilled pen and pencil maker, founded the company in 1846, and shared the business with his son, Alonzo Townsend Cross. The quality of their pens is evidenced by their popularity. Located in Lincoln, Cross continues to make products of great value, one at a time and by hand, just as Richard Cross did.

Montblanc has been known for generations as a maker of sophisticated, high-quality writing instruments. Founded by a Hamburg stationer in 1906, the company began as the Simplo Filler Pen company in 1908, then adopted the Montblanc trademark three years later. As the highest peak in western Europe, Montblanc really does belong to the whole continent. Its many glaciers are rendered in the company's trademark white star found on all of their luxuries. Since its inception the company has been producing some of the world's most well-known writing instruments and added extensively to the world of luxury with new lines of leather goods, eyewear, desk accessories, jewelry, and fragrance. As a premier purveyor of exclusive products, they reflect today's demands for quality design, tradition, and master craftsmanship.

Founded in Florence, Italy, in 1988, Visconti is the brainchild of Dante Del Vecchio and Luigi Poli, two innovative and creative-minded fountain pen collectors. Together, they have helped reintroduce celluloid pens with a team of talented artisans whose varied experience and love of fountain pens have renewed the craft of celluloid. Visconti is now the largest celluloid pen factory worldwide and its production has widened to include materials such as ebonite, acrylic, Lucite, Bakelite, and ivory. Always interested in technical solutions, Visconti has brought back the crescent filler, and patented double reservoir power filler as well as a traveling ink pot--perfect for filling your pen without messy ink spills on clothes or luggage. Visconti is considered to be one of the most creative companies for fresh designs, technical innovations, and collectible instruments both traditional and contemporary. Choose one and discover for yourself: Visconti is the writing instrument elevated to the realm of art.

World Lux began as a small fountain pen repair company in 1973. Over 30 years later, they've earned their reputation as premier fine writing specialists for the Northwest and beyond. Their multiple venues include a beautifully-designed website, a glossy, full color coffee table catalog, and an elegant showroom in downtown Seattle. Spend some time with them and you'll soon agree that "Some luxuries are essential." They offer their own line of fully functional and aesthetically pleasing writing "essentials" for enjoyment.

Checkmate! No, we're not playing that board game here! In this edition of Collector's Item, we're talking about HBO South Asia country manager Shruti Bajpai and her husband Nestle India vice president dairy business Mayank Trivedi's chess sets' collection.
Shruti Bajpai

While the couple already boasts of 12 chess sets from various countries across the globe, they have just added two more from Turkey (where Shruti and Mayank are currently holidaying).

Speaking to Exec Life from Turkey, an animated Shruti says, "We have just added the 13th and 14th chess set to our collection. Turkey is famous for Mother of Pearl and also for Mosaics. We were keen to buy a chess set that was made of either of these and luckily we found both."
A Mother of Pearls Chess set from Turkey

They started their collection three years back when Mayank was transferred to Switzerland. While it was he who initiated this collection, Shruti too started sharing his passion for chess sets within no time.

Such is their passion for collecting chess sets that the first thing on their agenda while visiting a new country, is to go on a chess set selection expedition! "For us the priority is to have a chess set from a country that we have visited. It is very easy to ask friends to bring you back chess sets from where ever they are going but we don't like to do that. Secondly, it has to have something that symbolises the country the chess set is from and it has to have typical characteristics of that country and its flavor," says Shruti.
A chess set from Egypt

Shruti and Mayank have to pick a set from each country they visit and hence their home in Delhi sports a special area that displays their collection from countries like Equador, Egypt, Korea, Greece, Germany, Kenya to name a few. This special corner in their home is diligently looked after by Mayank, who is very possessive of the collection. Says Shruti, "Mayank has specially designed and constructed this corner in our house where we display the chess sets. The display has been set according to a pattern and no one is allowed to touch the pieces."

With the help of a small vacuum cleaner, the couple takes pains to clean their chess sets to make sure that dust is taken out of every nook and corner of each and every piece. While their collections sports sets made of different material like wood, ceramic, metal etc; each needs a different cleanser. "While we clean most of them with a soft cloth, there are some pieces that are made of metal and hence they require regular shining," says Shruti.
A chess set from Greece

While most of the chess sets are collected by them on their numerous trip abroad, there are a couple of sets that have been gifted to the couple by family and friends.

Of course, the hazards of picking up a fake piece or a 'Made in China' piece, when abroad are always there. To avoid being conned, Shruti and Mayank make sure that they do their research and also ask reliable people who know about the country's heritage to find out what they should be looking for in a chess set. "We are very careful to pick up the right piece.

Since we have been doing this for the last three years, we can now make out a piece that is a Chinese make. We make sure that we ask around for the authenticity of what we are buying to avoid being duped," she says.

A passion for traveling coupled with an interest in chess is what made them start their collection. While the traveling continues, the board game has now just become a prized collection of theirs, with the couple seldom getting down to playing the game itself. "While we used to play chess a lot earlier, now it has become more of a passion of collecting the sets. We don't sit to play anymore," informs Shruti.
Swaroski chess set: Ultimate Collector's Item for Shruti & Mayank

Since the couple is always on the lookout for authentic pieces, what is the kind of money that they spend on buying chess sets? "Since this is not "art" in the strict sense of the term, the monies are affordable! On an average, a chess sets costs anywhere between $ 100 - $ 300. We are also not brand conscious when it comes to these sets. In fact, we have some really elegant yet cheap sets," says Shruti.

While the collections increases year after year, one luxury that Shruti wants to treat herself and her hubby to in the near future is the Swaroski chess that she laid her eyes on some time back!

Collecting new designations as they go up the corporate ladder is something that is common to most executives. But, what many don't know is that these executives also harbor a secret passion of gathering collectibles. The most common being stamps and coins to airplane models, books, chess boards, comics, masks, rugs and paintings. Collector's Item refer to what executives like to collect, the places they acquire them from and how they nurture their interest on a regular basis.

We take a peek into Cartoon Network Enterprises India and South Asia director Jiggy George's numerous collections in a variety of items. His plush office cabin is filled with a range of Cartoon Network merchandise of Johny Bravo, Powerpuff Girls, Dexter and other characters.

Apart from this, Jiggy is an avid collector of comics, coins, stamps, masks and music CDs inlays! "All of these passions have been there from a very early age. I keep collecting and the only constraint is the size of the home," he says.

In his Pune home, the first thing that one notices is the pink wall, which sports atypical masks collected from different corners of the world. Having travelled extensively to South East Asian countries, Jiggy started collecting masks as a souvenir to remind him of all the places he had visited.

"My Pune home has a collection of 35 odd masks that adorn a wall and are reminders of places travelled to. Besides, they are works of art from Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Nepal and even from Kerala and Orissa," he says.

While he makes it a point to pick up masks from every country that he visits, his friends too have now started adding to his collection. "Sri Lanka is one country that I have yet to visit. But recently, one of my friends brought me a mask from there as he knows about my collection," he says.

What's more, Jiggy has a penchant to collect comics too. "I also am huge collector of comics and that explains my love for animation! I have the complete series of M.A.D., TinTin, Asterix, Amar Chitra Katha and Calvin & Hobbes. I also have many Justice League comics and a few Dilberts, Gary Larsons and Baby Blues Books. All in all, they tot up to some 500 odd books," he reveals proudly.

He also has a coin and stamp collection, some of which were given to him by father. But Jiggy says that these two collections have been stacked away in albums for a long time now. "I haven't added to the collection lately. As far as stamps are concerned, I own special collection of around 3000 stamps of India and Africa. I have about 100 odd coins including some rare ones that I hope will work for me as my retirement pension. These, I have been collecting as a child and even used to exchange them with like minded school friends," he says.

An unusual passion Jiggy has is that of collecting CD inlays. "Music is my other love. An anachronism in the days of digital music, but I love inlays! I see it as an art and love to read the lyrics, the credit list and any additional information that is on it. To the extent that I have also bought books on inlays and found them very interesting. I have a collection of 2000 odd CD's, which is an eclectic mix of rock, jazz and world music," he says.

After days of pursuing, we finally meet Rajiv Mehra on the sets of Shanno ki Shaadi. Taking a short break from his hectic shooting schedule, Mehra lights up a cigarette as we settle down for a brief tete-e-tete. After chatting up the salt-n-pepper producer/director about his soon to be launched show 'Kasme Vaade' and his other on-air projects like Shararat we slowly dicover a rather sporty side to this ace producer.

He reveals, "I am very passionate about the game of Polo and I've been pursuing it for almost two decades now. I love cricket too, but I just watch the game." Taking a nostalgic trip from his earlier days, he goes on, " while in school I got fond of horse riding. My maternal uncle who used to stay at Napeansea road would accompany me to the race course at the Mahalaxmi race course. As my love for riding grew and then later I got totally hooked on to the game of Polo."

"I joined the Amateur Riders' Club at Mahalaxmi and started participating in sports like Show Jumping [going over an obstacle while riding] Tent Pegging, [unearthing the peg with a lance while riding a galloping horse] Dressage rider doing various moves in co-ordination with the horse]," says the student of Scholar High School and H. R. College who won the championship in Tent Pegging at an individual as well as at a National level playing for Western India

Now Polo is only a leisure activity
"I have been pursuing the game seriously for almost two decades now. But now I don't really have the time for serious tournaments, it's only a leisure game.The reason being that the game requires tremendous fitness levels, a lot of time and a string of Polo ponies. I used to get away to places like Delhi and Jaipur for a month or so to participate in all the tournaments. The fitness levels of a Polo player should be almost at par with that of a Squash player or an American Football player," says Mehra who in his younger days used to ride for an hour in the mornings and evenings to keep fit.

On a lighter vein, he continues,"it was not as if the horse was doing all the work but that was not the case. To take the ball to make a goal on a galloping horse with a rough stick (read Mallet) over the pitch [spanning over 300 by 200 square yards] requires utmost physical and mental agility

Polo Ponies

As the sugarless coffee arrives,we ask him about how many horses he maintains? " earlier between me and a friend we used to maintain about 3 to 4 horses. Now as the chairman of the Amateurs Riders Club at Mahalaxmi, I urge the television fraternity to avail of all the advantages of this sport in Mumbai. We encourage women too to pursue the game."

Rajiv's tips to aspiring polo players:

• Be ready to maintain several polo ponies. A Polo player needs to change at least four ponies for one game per day. That is because 1 polo chakkar offers seven and a half minute of playtime that is bound to tire the horse. Since one game of Polo consists of six chakkars one needs to maintain a string of ponies as they could get injured or ill too.
• Become the member of Amateur Rider's Club at Mahalaxmi as it offers the cheapest facilities in the world where it buys and maintains the horses. It also charges minimum for playing one chakkar. The upkeep of the horse is cheap at Rs 1000 per horse per month against a Singapore Club that charges 3.5 lacs for the upkeep of a horse which is really steep.

Kaushik Roy, President Brand Strategy and Marketing Communication Reliance Industries Limited talks to Richa Dubey on his love for films and collecting artifacts.

Things that I really love to collect: One is artifacts, anything that is artistic, made of wood, metal or silver. I sometimes buy many things and assemble them together.

I have been collecting paintings for several years, since I used to paint. Many of these paintings are self made and few by other painters. I exhibited my paintings last year that got a good response and all of them were sold. Now there are others who collect my paintings. These paintings are very expensive now.

I have paintings by Gopal Ghosh, who is no more. He was a famous Bengal artist who specialized in landscapes. His work did not fetch him much when he was alive. But now, after his death, these paintings have become much sought after. These have been collected by my father over the years and they have become very expensive. They are invaluable for me. Estimated price of each of this would be Rs 5 lakhs (Rs 500,000).

Since the time I started living on my own I have been collecting artifacts. Initially, my collection was small and not very long lasting maybe because the things I collected were cheap and not durable. When I had more money, I started investing in wood carvings, metals and brass. Now I have slowed down in terms of collecting as there is no space left.

I simply love things that are made by hand as there is a lot of imagination and talent involved in making these things. In most cases, the people who make them are not recognized. So to be able to respect their work, I collect them. They look very beautiful and different.

Most of what I have I collected are from an auction house in Calcutta where you can pick up a beautiful piece of artifact without having to pay a lot. A lot of these are from old auction houses in Calcutta, Mumbai and Bangalore. I also designed a few of them on my own, like the chairs.

Maintenanceis not easy. Metal has to be cleaned from time to time. Wood furniture tends to become weaker over time so they need to be used carefully. Wood has to be treated like a sturdy young man when new and should be looked after when it gets old. A good amount of polish is the best way to maintain wood. Chances of losing wood to white ants are larger than losing it by continuous use.

Most of my artifacts are from India. But I also have been collecting from Thailand, South Africa and a few other places. I have not bought anything from the USA because over there anything that is hand made is of premium price. I don't possess anything European or American I bought rhinoceroses made of wood from South Africa. It is very unique and difficult to make.

In places like Jakarta and Indonesia, they have everything made of wood because of of availability in in abundance. There artisans are also used to working on wood, be it combs made of wood or spoons made of brass.

Silver is a precious item so I don't have many things made of silver. Stone carvings are very rare and I don't have them as they are heavy to carry.

My wife Nina is also fond of collecting artifacts.

Another area of collection is my real passion, films. I invest in buying lots of DVDs. I collect movies which I can watch and enjoy over and over again. Apart from my executive work profile, my biggest love is filmmaking. I am a self trained film maker, have learnt all the aspects of filmmaking on my own.

I have made my first film Apna Aasman, which will release by the end of June. It has Irfan Khan, Shobhna, Anupam Kher and Rajat Kapoor as lead actors.

Therefore, for me filmmaking and collection of DVDs is not just watching but more of a reference. Depending on the response my film gets, I will decide whether to take my filmmaking further and more seriously.

One basic difference between painting and filmmaking is that in the former you can play with the canvas available whereas with latter you cannot. Painting gives a good understanding of framing and composition but the film canvas depends on many external things. Film making is also about performances.

The purity of a person's heart can be quickly measured by how they regard animals," even if they are not real, believes animal collector Meenakshi Madhvani , Founder & Managing Partner Spatial Access Solutions in conversation with Correspondent Nidhi Jain .

Love animals --- as a child always had pets. Dogs, cats, chickens, a pig and even a pet snake. Unfortunately a flat is Bombay is not the right environment for animals and I have not had a pet for a long, long time! There was something missing and I decided to fill the gap with a surrogate. It all began by my buying a big bronze pig! He was followed by a papier mache frog, then a pair of marble dogs I found in Chor Bazaar...

Collecting animals-- for the last 5 years. I am not too concerned about the material they are made off. But they need to appeal to me.
My husband jokes that I have a meenagerie! My family & friends indulge me by adding to my collection. A stone Hippo was carried back from Africa by a friend. My brother-in-law got back a wonderful Giraffe from South Africa carved out of a single block of wood. Another Brother-in-law gave me a crystal cat & mouse!

Bit crazy -- when it comes to my animals? I like seeing them every day and move them around the house to new locations (almost like giving them a fresh view of their living quarters every once in a while!
I know that one of these days I will have a place in the country and will be able to have my animal friends around me once again.