How slaked lime is prepared from snail shells in Jhalakathi

 

How slaked lime is prepared from snail shells in Jhalakathi

Jhalakathi is one of Bangladesh's southern districts, also called Jhalokathi or Jhalokati. In the British regime, Jhalakathi along with Patuakhali and Barisal was a center of business with Calcutta. Jhalakathi is famous for its beautiful rivers and canals. Besides this, ‘shitol Pati’ (plant-based bedding) is very comfortable during hot summer days. In Jhalakathi, you can find fashionable houses, mosques, archaeological structures, potteries, lime preparation, and many other historical arts and culture Being a riverine district, the best and cheap communication is through waterways like launches, boats,s, and ships. You can have busses to get to Jhalakathi as well For a better and more comfortable journey, you have to get into big launches from Dhaka Sadarghat after sunset. You will find many amazing scenes beside the river Buriganga From Dhaka Sadarghat, you will reach Barisal Launch Ghat before sunrise. From Barisal, you can go to Jhalakathi either hiring a taxi or bus. This district is crisscrossed by many big rivers like Bishkhali, Dhanshiri, Gabkhan, Sugandha and their tributaries. Dying of rives is mainly due to siltation and also illegal occupation by its neighboring influential inhabitants. Jhalakathi town is located on the bank of the Bishkhali river A canal known as the Jhalakathi canal or Jhalkathi River has divided the township into two parts. There are some other rivers that are also as wider as the big rivers such as Jangalia, Bamanda and Bajirpur. Being a coastal area, tidal surges cause the entrance of salt water. As a result, many ponds, small to large, were built from ancient times at Jhalakathi. But there are even some small ponds inside the orchard to be used for household purposes. These ponds are linked with interior canals in the orchards. Peoples of this district is very friendly and simple with their industrious nature mostly working in the crop fields. The district is characterized by low and high tides like other coastal areas, which made people accustomed to the watery wet environment of nature. In monsoon, the villages take an amazing look at its floating beauties. Moreover, farmers’ working pictures everywhere will amaze you very significantly. Let us now see how lime is prepared Before seeing the lime preparation method, let us know what are uses of lime In the subcontinent, lime is used to increase the taste of the chewing betel leaf in a combination of betel nut The lime increases the color of the saliva. and hence the color of the lips becomes attractive while chewing betel leaf. For this reason, females use lime more than males. Indirectly, it adds calcium to the chewer’s diet to a little extent The original source of slaked lime is limestone and chalk which occur in nature in the form of Calcium Carbonate. Natural calcium carbonate is available also in the snail’s shell The snails’ shells are burnt in the lime kiln (calcination) above 900 degrees Celcius The shells are then converted into caustic material known as unslaked lime or quicklime (Calcium Oxide) To the burnt shells (unslaked lime), water is added; and then, water and burnt shells react to form calcium oxide generating tremendous heat. Water is added to such an amount so that it becomes a dense white-colored pest that is consumed with betelnut and betel leaves. Chewing these betel leaf compounds is a part of culture and hospitality in the subcontinent including Bangladesh However, mixing lime with betelnut and betel leaf makes saliva color dense red, that when spitted spoils places. For this reason, chewing betel leaves in many countries are strongly prohibited. Owing to the easy availability of mineral limes nowadays, the importance and prices of hand-made slaked lime have been reduced. This caused the ‘lime makers’ to suffer from financial losses. Alternative ways to rehabilitate these lime makers need to be found.

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