HB Pencil

The ad captured the essence of the Nataraj brand — the pencil gave a better grip, it would not break and it would write for a longer period than all the rest, it wouldn’t smudge, the lead was blacker and clearer, and the flow, smoother. And because the lead used was ‘bonded lead’, one was assured of getting ‘pointy points’ after sharpening the pencils, as another of their ads proclaimed. It followed, naturally, that all children wanted to use only Nataraj pencils. The Nataraj 621 HB pencil was the most popular then — and continues to be in demand today.Before Independence, pencils were manufactured in India, but the industry faced stiff competition from imports. The pre-World War II (1939-40) years saw pencils worth about 6.5 lakhs imported into India from countries such as the UK, Germany and Japan. The numbers fluctuated during the war years, finally dipping to 2.3 lakhs during 1944-45, and this gave the indigenous market a boost. Several pencil manufacturers sprang up across the country in places such as Calcutta, Bombay and Madras (now Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai).