Chalk Technology

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My Father was a high school teacher...his father was a middle school teacher...his father was a street school teacher...during our benign British Rule.

So, chalk pieces were nothing new in our homes...

God! How good those chalks were! I bet our British Rulers imported them straight from Dover Cliffs. That is how British Empire ran her economy for two odd centuries. Cloth from Lancashire...after allegedly cutting the handsome hands of Bengal weavers...ask Gandhijee and his motive for khadi.

There were no scams in India then...the whole British Empire was a megascam...and they scowled at petty native scams...that's how Western Democracies run...our Yankee-Phankees were originally unwilling to export their democracies till everything went wrong with their Oil Monarchy Bedmates. They were very happy with petty dictators as long as they got their oil dirt cheap...

But the li'l brother of Sheiks revolted and used his share of pay dirt to export his own World View...hand in skirt with our own li'l sister across the border using cleverly her own dowry from both Sheiks and States...hurrying with the hounds and scurrying with the hares...

Then something nasty happened and our American friends, fed up trying to export their version of democracy, exported their e-crimes all over the world...rather successfully to their own European brethren...sparing largely our own economy...we were busy with our own homespun e-crimes and scams...we were exporting our own e-ore to our own Big Brother Bull across the Himalayas for showcasing his own version of Olympian Rule.

There is a moral law here which ought to be enshrined in the UN Charter...as soon as we get that promised heaven of a permanent seat there:

UN Law 5. something:

"No nation should be allowed to export their e-crimes, scams and Anna Campaigns to other members of the comity of nations against their will by hook or by crook"

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Big historical digression there...

Coming back to chalks, I lived with them all my life...I miss the chalk dust and my white collar.

Over my four decades there, IIT KGP was fighting a losing tech-battle between the blackboard and the piece of chalk.

My friend N taught me a rather cute ME design principle in the battle between the pantograph (the rhombus-shaped metal device that goes up over the engine of the electric train and couples with the zigzag power line overhead) and the standing high tension wire.

Which should be harder?

Answer: The overhead wire

Why?

As the pantograph rubs itself continually against the high tension wire, there is terrific friction between the two, and the softer of the two wears out with time. Pantograph is easy to dismantle and remantle in the workshop, unlike the power lines.

Same with the blackboard and the chalk piece in their daily battle: the blackboard is a fixture and can't easily be taken down. But chalk is cakewalk...let it break into bits and pieces...keep picking up the pieces from the floor...as simple as that...and gives you bending and stretching practice and keeps your waistline trim and slim...provided your pants don't split at the arse.

So, originally dozens of boxes of chalks were there in the Phy Office...just go pick up a box or two and take them to your room. The chalks were snow-white and used to write nicely and legibly...everyone is happy...except that the chalks were so soft that you need to carry a box or two to each Lecture Class.

So, there was a revolt and indents were placed for harder chalks...I guess they were custom-made.

These were long-lasting...one piece of chalk would do for two Lectures...only problem was that they were harder than the blackboard...so they would scratch and screech and make permanent lines and grooves on the wavy wooden board...and the chalks made no visible impression on the students even on the first bench...the ones who didn't snore.

So, wooden blackboards were replaced with green glass boards. And to add zing to the enterprise, boxes of rainbow colored chalks were made available to the teachers. Unfortunately multicolor diagrams were not exactly the domain of Physics unlike say Biology. So, I discovered, after lots of trials and bloomers, that yellow suited my stories.

The year or so of this bliss passed too soon like honeymoon.

I guess budget constraints and audit queries must have been the reason...anyway we were back to monochrome white on green.

But by now authorities realized that there ought to be a satisfactory solution to this problem. So, fresh indents were called and soft but unbreakable chalks were ordered and got. Writing with them was a pleasure and I used to look forward to the Lectures...unhealthy symptom for any teacher, or student for that matter.

There was only one catch...the chalks were so costly that rationing was ordered...and I had to go to the Phy Office before every class and beg Didi to give me a chalk or two...she would delve into the recesses of her cupboard and bring out one...and charmed quarks had to be applied to get the second...

That was the time when they offered me the Jumbo Lecture Class of hundreds of unwilling students and I jumped at the offer...no more chalks and boards...I had gone hi-tech into the OHP, Transparencies, Laser Pointer and the Milk White Cinema Screen...that is quite another hilarious story for another day...

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Collage from DC today:

National Innovation Council
Call for Proposals

"...a section of prisoners of the Kannur jail devised the technique after they failed to damage the jammer by pouring boiling water and urinating on it.

They sought the help of an engineer who was detained in a case...as advised by the engineer, the prisoners preserved the pinch of salt provided with their meals. They formed a human pyramid to help the engineer reach the jammer that was placed at a height. The engineer placed the salt on the jammer and within a few weeks it became defunct...

Jailbirds arrange for their friends to throw cell phones over the huge wall of the prison after packing them in plastic bags."

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