Re: Penmanship
old-school methods of enhancing penmanship were to use slate/slate-pencil: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/images/oversite/store/catalog4/slate-pencil.jpg
people, who learnt to write on such things, never were shaken off their feet in life.. (writing on slates required descipline, and control, patience and focus), primary things which lead to a succesful life..
see, SIMPLE! things in life determine that u will be defeated or not.. FOR EXAMPLE writing on slate.. paper was expensive, and ink was a luxury.. so slate+chalk was used for that .. TAKHTI is something similar..