How could our forefathers live much longer than us without any medical facilities that time? Because they walked longer and worked on the stone-made domestic appliances which kept them hale and healthy. This was found ‘in practice’ by the students of Everwin Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Kolathur, In the year 2008.

In an exhibition-cum-participatory programme captioned ‘Ninaithu Parkkirom, Uzhaithu Parkirom’, it was a rare display of 32 kal endhirams (stone machines) used to grind dry rice, ragi etc. into flour, 27 sets of ural and ulakkai (grain-pounding stones) to crush and polish the grains, 27 aattukkals (stone wet grinders) and 18 ammis (stone mixies). Students worked on all these, obtained from several villages at great difficulty, and found the exercise very thrilling.

They also tried their hand on ‘jammankoodai’ the palm leaf raincoat of yesteryears that could withstand rains and storm.

Beyond their belief was the display of ‘thookkukols’ the ancient weighing machine made of wooden stick on the top connected to a bamboo plate at the bottom. It weighed one kg, half kg etc. with stunning accuracy.

The menu of the day added splendour to the show. Dishes such as uruvakkali, seeralangari, kollu vadai, uppu urundai, ragi dosai, ragi gruel and lotta idly were the ones they never tasted earlier and found absolutely delicious.

In an era where we use motor vehicles to reach even a few metres and take lift to reach even the first floor of a building, the show turned en eye opener for students as they got a strong message on hard work.

B. Purushothaman, the school principal, said, the show was held keeping in mind the importance of hardwork and the resultant health benefits.