HANDWRITING

    

HANDWRITING

Is there any secret behind our handwriting - good or bad, easily readable or otherwise? If examples and experiences to go by, one is unable to confirm either way. However, there is a belief (maybe, a superstition) that if one’s handwriting is good, then probably his fate may not be all that good and vice versa. Is it really so? One is not sure. If at all it were so, how then the doctors whose handwritten medical prescriptions are generally an indecipherable and unintelligible lot for a layman (pharmacists however read them right) have a lucrative profession. Another example is document writers who do chain-writing for registration of land/property documents in registration offices.

 

What then is the mystery behind the handwriting? How does handwriting of a person evolve? There can be no immediate or direct answers. Also, there is no quick-fix and/or magic-wand to make one’s handwriting look beautiful much less readable. The art of handwriting of one begins developing from childhood, say from age 3, with the help of a pencil, crayon or chalk-piece when a child haphazardly draws lines over floor, paper, wall or any other object(s) it lays hands on, and thereafter when the child is initiated into writing in school to climb up the education ladder from LKG, UKG, Standard/Grade-I and so on and so forth. There seems to be no clue or evidence as yet from the scientific world as to any nexus between good handwriting and genetic or hereditary factors of a person. That even within a family there are members with different quality of handwriting is a simple pointer. It all depends on, therefore, to an extent, the inclination of a person to write well and towards that end, what efforts and practices he/she puts up in the initial stages of writing and thereafter how conscientiously and continuously efforts are made for a good and readable handwriting that perhaps clinch the issue.

 

Could there be a hand bias? Can anyone say for certain whether a write-hander’s handwriting could be better than that of a left-hander or vice versa? No substantial proof is forthcoming to prove this point also. Practice and continued practice in the formative stages with intent, flair and fervour to improve it, I think, can only help to a great extent. Casual attitude, inattentiveness and/or indifference are negative factors.

 

Once I got a medical prescription from a doctor for some medicines. After coming out of his room I hesitantly went back inside asking the doctor the name of the tablet he had written last which I couldn’t decipher. Pat came the reply, “Don’t worry. Ask the pharmacist who knows better.” Anyhow while buying the medicines one can come to know that, OK!

 

Once a friend of mine living abroad, known for his shabby handwriting, had sent a handwritten letter to me, which was, as usual not readable. I contacted him to find out what he really wanted to convey. I told him, “my dear, come to my place, read the text for me and then go back”. The smart guy jocularly quipped thus, “When I wrote the letter only two were witness to it – The God and I. I have now forgotten what I had written; I am also not sure about my own handwriting and most probably I may not be able to read it for you. Try the other obvious option!”

 

It is precisely with the purpose of improving one’s handwriting, suitable exercise write-pads (with single line, double line, triple line, etc.) are prescribed as part of one’s studies – right from the inception i.e. LKG. And if one misses the bus in his/her childhood one may not be sure of the quality of handwriting later. Needless to say, in some fields, persons with a good handwriting are preferred.

 

Let the superstitions regarding handwriting lie as they are. One should try to write neatly as far as possible from an young age itself. However much you talk about good handwriting or the efforts one puts in for achieving it, the stark reality is that only a microscopic minority of people are blessed with a beautiful handwriting along with a prosperous life – both – Isn’t it?

 

Be that as it may, one knows not whether there is any link between one’s handwriting vis-à-vis his fate. The Divine writing on one’s head ought to be good so that one can shine and remain prosperous in life, regardless of his/her handwriting being good or bad, easily readable or otherwise!

 

(R.SAMPATH)