Photo Courtesy : http://pad2.whstatic.com/ This article came about when I was in dire need of a topic and all the topics that people suggested were bleak at best. So I googled topics to write about and the most interesting topic I found was… paperclips. Now I wonder what state of mind I was in that day. Anyways, I rejected the topic then and settled for something else. Whatever happened to the topic I settled on is another story altogether but what did happen with the topic of paperclips was that it was forgotten for some time..till I was in need of a topic yet again. So this time, the topic is Paper Clips. Paperclips are just those everyday things that are used and misused and at times unused for many days till the papers get lost and misplaced and you wish you had used a paperclip or at least stapled the papers together. Paperclips, colored wires bent to a loop. Here’s the shape and composition of them: “Paper clips usually have an oblong shape with straight sides, but may also be triangular or circular, or have more elaborated shapes. The most common material is steel or some other metal, but molded plastic is also used. Some other kinds of paper clip use a two-piece clamping system. Recent innovations include multi-colored plastic-coated paper clips and spring-fastened binder clips.” Paper clips aren’t always the topic of discussion. In fact they are rarely the topic of discussion at all. They just hold paper together. (Though in some movies, they are used to open doors.)  I do wonder when paper clips were first patented or were first sold, were they “the” topic of discussion then? If they were then the newspaper heading would’ve been “Amazing, now we have an invention to hold papers together.” or something of the sort. It would seem sarcastic to many, true, but it would still be amusing for everyone. But papers also have a history of being a powerful symbol, a symbol of resistance against the Germans by the Norwegians. People wore paper clips on their lapels as a sign of solidarity and unity (“we are bound together”). After the war, it became a national symbol. This story became quite famous and a Paper Clips Project was started that collected far more than the required 6 million paper clips. This concludes the article about Paper Clips that just bind papers together.