How I got rid of Thagara Slate ……..!

This is the tale of how I got rid of my Thagara Slate (Tin slate used in those days by school children for writing) as an elementary school boy.

In those days, i.e late 1940s, cooking was not done using LPG, Induction stove, microwave, etc. Even pressure cookers were rarely used. People used firewood for cooking in clay moulded home-made ovens.

Cartloads of tree trunks, branches, etc. used to be purchased and the woodcutters who used to roam the streets, looking for work, normally approached householders for cutting the chunks of tree parts into firewood measuring approximately 18” inches in length and about 4 to 6 inches in width. They would use a wooden axe to do the job.

One such woodcutter had left behind his axe since the work was not over one evening.My little resourceful young mind saw a possible answer to my vexing problem i.e. of getting the thagara slate replaced. Quietly, when I was sure no one was watching me, I used the wooden axe to damage the despised slate a shapeless mass!

The next day, with an innocent (!) face, I showed my slate (or handwork) to my Mother and demanded a replacement. My Mother was dumb-struck. “How in the world did this happen?” was what she managed to blurt out.

She was worried about convincing my Father who was known to be hot-tempered. She had the daunting task of protecting me and getting a new slate.

I don’t know what she went through, but I did get a shining new slate (not a Thagara slate!) the next day!

*********************************************************************************************

Picture courtesy: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/256283035020123877/