Of writings and handwritings

I still remember those classes in early years of my life where we had copies of 'handwriting' and books with printed italics which I believed a painter painted. We were supposed to write exactly in the same way. Never mind , the topic of my handwriting is still a hotly contested debate by my friends, parents and teachers alike !

It all began with a queer manner of holding the pencil in my early days. I didn't know that we had to hold our instrument in a designated manner. I just held it in the way my hand felt less pain. Years passed on and the pen came. One could be dead sure that even in a crowd of a 1000 my handwriting will certainly stand out (pun intended). I never believed that cursive or anything close to it was really needed. What is handwriting if not a mere path of expression of thoughts.

The distinctive style of the alphabet 'a' , the seemingly different initials and the mockery that followed. It never mattered. I can emphasize that I have seen people with far worse handwriting but acceptable being 'cursive'. And I was the only one to think cursive was a curse. My handwriting without a doubt is perfectly legible for the second time reader except when I scrawl or write while dozing off.

One hidden secret is my Dad's writing was sort of model for me. He used to write in small initials and to me it looked great. I have had always a liking for compact and precise things in life. He never used cursive but still it was pretty clear and spaced out.

One of the misgivings of cursive is that it makes it too crammy and inconsistent to me. Different people use different styles for a 'l' , a 'r' and such. People have strange slants while writing and surprisingly some personal research revealed that slants are indeed a hallmark of great writing.

Still the look of people reading my handwriting for first time ( Ashish Nehra would be shamed by the frown that people have ) is unbelievable. But second time around it becomes simpler. But when I have to copy things from friends who supposedly have 'great' handwriting I find it a mammoth task decoding and encoding into mine.

I would end by saying that no matter what the importance of writing can never become redundant even though iPads and Intels want us to. I don't intend to change my handwriting like Gandhi did when he was in Africa. I don't feel that it is in any way inferior or stupid as people have wished me to believe.

P.S : The secret behind the idiosyncratic 'a' is definitely the computer generated 'a'. :)