I have heard of the famous urban legend that NASA spent millions of dollars to invent a pen that could be used to write in Space. In space there is no gravity and so the common ink filled pen will not work because gravity will not pull down the ink towards the nib. When NASA was spending this money on the pen research, Russia went ahead and used pencil instead. It served the same purpose at no extra cost!!!

I got it from a book that the site
Fisher Space Pen Co. - Engineered for Better Writing
is of the company that invented the pen for NASA.

The prices on this site says $130 for a pen. That is approximately Rs.5850 in Indian currency. This will be more than the average monthly family income for most Indian household. Even by metropolitan standards that is almost equal to half the salary for a lot of people.