Good Gandhi!

My oh my. There's a bit of a hoo-ha going on with our friends in India, all over a simple pen. It's not that said implement is in any way causing offense through it's use; it's guilt by association.

Montblanc has issued a commemorative Mahatma Gandhi pen complete with decorative images of the original father of India. Now, you may ask what's all the fuss about? Popping a picture of an old guy in glasses onto a pen isn't all that offensive, is it? But the pen retails for $23, 000, and when one bears in mind that one third of children in India suffer from malnutrition, not to mention the widespread poverty that prevails in the country, perhaps it is in poor taste.

To be fair, Montblanc made a sizeable donation to Gandhi's charity before any pens were sold, and have promised a further gift of up to $1000 per pen sold. And it's not like anyone's being forced to buy them. Least of all the Indian government officials who wear the pens in breast pockets with pride.

It's nice that they can afford such a luxury, when the average Indian worker would be lucky to make $23, 000 in a lifetime.