For Adi Swaroopa, lockdown was 'write' thing to happen

Bengaluru: It is a talent that very few possess. The chances are that if you have ever tried writing with both hands same time what ends up in front of you is an illegible scroll. Not so if you are 15-year-old Adi Swaroopa. Her remarkable ability to write with both hands same time is amusing people in her hometown in Mangaluru.

Adi Swaroopa was born right-handed but learnt to write with her left hand at an early age. She can write a sentence in Kannada with one hand while simultaneously writing the same sentence in English with the other.

Very few people posses such talent like the country's first President Dr Rajendra Prasad, Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci or even Bollywood actor Sushant Singh or probably watched Boman Irani write with his both hands in Three Idiots. While ambidexterity is a rare trait, it is more uncommon to be able to write at the same time in two different languages. Adi has perfected the art of mirror writing.

She used the five-month lockdown period to learn several writing techniques, including reverse running, hetero linguistic, mirror image, hetero topic, exchange and blind folding. The first instinctive reaction those who hear about her ability is disbelief. The second reaction when others in her hometown see Adi write with both hands is that they want to try. The third is when they are unsuccessful.

Talking to The Hans India over phone, Adi Swaroopa said, "I want to be an IAS officer, but my passion is writing. So, I aspire to become an author. I write novels and short stories." Adi had published a collection of short stories titled 'Aadiya Kathe Anthya Neeve Heli' while as a 10-year-old. She also gave a solo art exhibition of her illustrations she drew in her book 'Aadiya Kathe Anthya Neeve Heli' at Prasad Art Gallery. The 15-year-old is a mimicry artist, Yakshagana performer and loves painting portraits, landscape and creative art.

"During the lockdown, she has increased her pace of writing. The last five months, she had ample time to practice speed writing. I had observed that she has become more creative now. She writes more poetically. Her talents extend to writing poetry using different hands to write consecutive sentences at the same time.

She writes poems and short stories. She can write Kannada with one hand and English with the other," says Sumadkar, Adi Swaroopa's mother, who runs Swaroopa Adhyayana Kendra with her husband Gopal Gopadkar. The couple were former lecturers with the Teachers Training College in Mangalore and quit their jobs to start Swaroopa Adhyayana Kendra in their hometown in 2017.

"We have realised that every child can be ambidextrous. We have encouraged Adi to practice writing with both hands. It is a myth that only 10 per cent of the population are left handed and only one per cent can write with both hands. Two years back, we encouraged like all other students in our school to write with both hands and many of them are doing exceptionally good," says Sumadkar.

Rote learning is a big NO at Swaroopa Adhyayana Kendra, says Sumadkar. The informal school, run by Gopal Gopadkar and Sumadkar, train students at an early age to comfortably write with both the hands. "We don't give textbooks immediately after joining the school," says Sumadkar.

Adi Swaroopa's 60-year-old father Gopal Gopadkar, who grew up Adkar in Sullya Taluk in Mangalore, himself is an exceptionally talented artist who neither uses a chisel nor a brush but his fingernails to create works of amazing art. He is perhaps the country's few people who mastered in nail embossing art. "I have been doing this nail embossing art for more than 20 years.

Most of my work in nail art, but I do paintings," says Gopal Gopadkar. He says he can create a portrait on a sheet of paper in just two minutes with his fingernails and less than 20 seconds to paint. Gopadkar is also a miniature artist who is equally adept at writing and painting with his both hands. Small wonder then Adi can write with both her hands simultaneously.