THE CHALK

                                  THE CHALK

If some material can be viewed of value in the process of enlightening, without batting an eyelid, I would vouch by the item –‘the chalk.’ 

The term may not precisely engage you, until we rechristen it –‘the chalk piece’.  After all, the chalk piece is just a piece of chalk but [chalk]piece seems to render more peace than the intact member –‘the chalk’.

Be that as it may, the item is socially a trivial stuff by its sheer abundance especially in schools, colleges and universities.  But, the same stuff is a rarity back home.  Should some urgency emerge for rolling a chalk over a blob of ink that has flowed over a page in a notebook, we run helter-skelter hoping to grab the one that was hibernating in a corner of the wall-mounted cupboard, only to find ‘it is not found there’.

Grandma says “I threw it as none seems to use it”. Our fury now drives us to tackle grandma.  Meanwhile, the ink on paper is half-dried and an ordinary ink has gained the status of indelible ink, casting its impression to half–a-dozen succeeding pages though progressively weakening. Still a zone of paper in those pages keeps trumpeting the fall of ink- a great fall at that. 

In all these happenings, the chalk is innocent but its non-availability at the pertinent hour has ruined the thrill of our watching the mini pool of ink getting effortlessly drawn in to the chalk -as if possessed by a spell. Though staining the chalk, the ink looks a pale defeated fighter swept off by the lightest roller –the chalk. Is that all?

No, there is a set of gallant acts by the light stub –the chalk.

Never undermine the chalk, for, it is the most silent but the most efficient educator ‘sacrificing self in the act of educating’. Can we recall any other parallel? One may cite items that lose themselves in a process but they may not directly ‘educate the observer’ in the same way that a chalk does.  

In fact, the traditional teaching method is venerated as the “chalk talk” method. The teacher orally conveys an idea and the chalk depicts it or describes it in terms that are instantly scribed on a black board legibly. This method ably serves to educate ‘spelling’ and its oral form [pronunciation]. Avid teachers, NEVER MISS AN OCCASION to use the chalk, as it ensures correct feeding of message. Incidentally, this tool has been the least expensive and potentially quite explosive in triggering emotional outbursts by appropriately setting the tone for events like freedom movement/ French revolution and such historic occurrences that reached hysteric dimensions.

The stuff has its humble origin from limestone and is about 40-60% Calcium Carbonate [white chalk]. Others used in colourful depiction of complex structures are made of   Calcium sulphate derived from gypsum.

A certain level of dexterity has to be in place to make the best use of chalk, lest the images should look clumsy and liberally fail to motivate the learner. 

Obviously, if appropriately used, chalk can talk and fortify the chalk-talk effort.

How many of our predecessors have been richly endowed for analytic evaluation by the humble chalk!

Prof. K. Raman