Black and white memories from good old school days

SPICE OF LIFE: That complementary pair has swapped colours by turning, as if by magic, into a white board and a black marker

The moment we stepped into our classroom in school, our vibrant rainbow-like life would fuse into two fundamental colours, black and white. My little daughter was bemused to learn that in our school days, a large blackboard attached to the wall was used by teachers for writing on with a white chalk.

Rubbing off the blackboard clean with a duster was another task every student yearned wistfully to undertake with the covert aim to earn brownie points from their teachers. (Representative photo)

Her jaw-dropping expression was justified for Covid has confined her initial phase of learning to an internet-enabled tablet. She is accustomed to studying from tech-savvy teachers, scribbling words on a smart board with multicoloured markers and rubbing them off with gentle swipes of their hands. My daughter’s imploring entreaty, soaked in inquisitiveness to get a deeper insight into traditional teaching modules, consumed me with nostalgia.

Back in our school days, fetching a chalk box from the staffroom was deemed a privileged obligation and whoever was entrusted with the task, would perform it with utmost devotion, solemnity, and sincerity. Flaunting the prized possession in hand, the student would strut back into the classroom with squared shoulders and keep it safe on the ledge of the blackboard beside a duster.

That small piece of chalk was our teachers’ chief weapon, using which they would stroke their knowledge all over that big black canvas, whitening it up radiantly with their priceless lessons, life-changing thoughts, and righteous morals. Their prudently frugal approach in consuming resources at hand with minimum wastage often came to the fore.

The rising cadence of the squeak of the tapering chalk, grating heavily on our auditory nerves, would fail to persuade them into replacing that minuscule old and worn-out piece with a new one until the very last vestige of it was put to use. Rubbing off the blackboard clean with a duster was another task every student yearned wistfully to undertake with the covert aim to earn brownie points from their teachers.

One heart-warming memory that exercised a coveted edge over many was our queer manner of wishing our mathematics teacher on her birthday. Once when she entered the classroom, she was shocked to note that no one stood up to greet her. Hardly did she spell out her annoyance to our impudence than the whole classroom shouted in a chorus to look back and sprung a pleasant surprise on her. Spinning around, she felt overwhelmed at the scintillating sight of the blackboard chalked all over with birthday wishes and testimonies beautified with drawings of balloons, buntings, fairy lights, tinsels, and streamers.

Reading out each message under her breath with a smile on her lips, and to acknowledge our pure gesture, she decided not to rub the blackboard off and oddly went for oral revision through her period. Having struggled to sustain the sweeping change, that complementary pair of hard black board and soft white chalk swapped colours by turning, as if by magic, into a white board and a black marker, while their third buddy, the duster, bravely survived the test of time.

The smooth flow of the soft tip of that new marker on a finely polished whiteboard permanently silenced the crude rasping scrape of the chalk but contrastingly our peer group, driven by emotional adherence, often silently wished within to have continued with the old school of thought.

The inseparable duo has merrily slipped into the folklore of yore, however even years later my heart palpably feels a sense of close even-handed attachment with both as their mere mention rekindles a host of beautiful memories and priceless pleasures of our unforgettable school days.