Disco Pencil

   the famous "disco pencil"

I wonder with amazement at the person who came up with the name “Disco Pencil” because there would no name more apt than this for a brand of shiny pencils with changeable nibs. I can’t remember the make of these pencils but I am sure it was Chinese or Taiwanese in origin.

The pencils themselves would be made of very shiny plastic (almost glittery like a disco ball) and once a nib wore out, you could pull out the worn out one, stuff it down the other end of the pencil and the next nib in line would reveal a sharp new nib. Fancy huh? It also came with a cap to protect the projecting nib along with an eraser which would reflect the color of the pencil.

These were not your everyday pencils. I remember buying these disco pencils for about Nu. 10 a piece and in the 90s, that was a lot of money for a student. You could command respect and would be considered rich by your peers if you owned more than one disco pencil.

If you played the game of “pencil topa” (a separate blog on pencil topa coming soon), a disco pencil would be put on the line in extreme cases and to win/have one was a huge matter. One disco pencil could be traded for more than 5 Nataraj or Apsara pencils and the disco pencils never ran out of demand.

It was very popular with the girls because they came in myriad colors. Girls hoarded disco pencils for their colors and beauty. The most vivid and popular ones were yellow, blue, pink and purple. Boys would steal these pencils from the girls’ geometry boxes or bags to either use it to write or to lose it in pencil topa.

I wonder whether we can still buy disco pencils. Not that I need one, but it would be nice to have one just for nostalgic purposes.

This is a part of a series of blogs I will be writing on some of the things/moments that my generation has grown up with during our childhood in the 90's and early 00's. 

Most of the information/research for these blogs all come from memory or hearsay so I am not responsible if you quote me.