If your ‘t’ is looped, and the two strokes don’t intersect perfectly, it could mean you are low on confidence. If it is the‘d’ that has a loop, it could mean you are a tad too sensitive. A person’s handwriting actually holds a mirror to his/her intrinsic personality traits, even behavioural quirks. “The accuracy of graphology is scientifically proven,” says K. Unnikrishna Menon, a handwriting analyst based in Kochi.
With over 10 years of experience decoding people’s handwriting, Menon comes across as an authority of sorts. He takes a glance at an envelope lying on the desk, which has bold blue scrawls running across it. “The person who has written this probably has attachment issues. Look at the gap between the letters. He or she would be the kind that has a general sense of detachment towards society,” he says.
A retired government servant, Menon developed an interest in graphology and taught himself the basic principles. “Even as I learnt it, I was applying it on friends and colleagues. Most of the findings were spot on. That was what encouraged me to pursue it,” he says. Menon also did a short self-study course from the Handwriting University International, Dallas. “You know, writing is a neuro-linguistic process. It is a co-ordinated activity involving the brain, muscles and the nerves, which are a combination of conscious, subconscious and emotional stimuli,” he says. Handwriting is often called brain writing. “That is why, even if children in a school are all taught to write the same way, each child develops his/her own individual script.”
Though it is a part of forensic science in India, graphology is not used constructively like it is in certain foreign countries. “It can be applied to ascertain the qualities of a candidate during a recruitment process. For instance, two people with the same qualification vying for the same post would have different aptitudes. While one may be good at planning and production, the other may be great at sales and service. The employers can easily find this out with the help of handwriting analysis,” Menon explains.
Though it gives pointers to a person’s character traits, one cannot actually determine the person’s gender, Menon says. “The only things handwriting does not reveal are age, gender and physical attributes.” One of the important aspects of Menon’s job is to suggest corrective measures. “Grapho-therapy is the science of improving one’s personality by consciously changing one’s handwriting.” Professionally applied, it could bring forth positive changes, he says. Menon has been giving training to school students, teachers and parents in positive handwriting. He also conducts seminars at the college and corporate levels on right handwriting practices. “Children accumulate a lot of bad handwriting practices, through their education in school as well as from parents. Calligraphy, for instance, may look artistic. But some of the letters are written in a way they are no meant to be written. The small a and c, for example, do not need the cursive stroke in front.” In addition, he offers recruitment assistance to companies and business houses. Menon does personal consultations too.
Though he works in English, Menon is interested in developing a method to analyse Malayalam handwriting.
