A new beginning

It has always been at the back of my mind to start blogging about Graphology but so far it had not happened. So, just getting up from an unusually sleepless night today, i am kicking off this blog. Honestly, at this moment i don't know if this blog will have followers or not but i would rather to resolve to write about the subject so close to me just for the sake of self satisfaction and hence getting all that important feel that i am doing my little bit to contribute to this special skill that i acquired years ago.
I feel it is apt to share the recent interview of mine (related to Graphology) that got published in my current organization's newsletter. I hope you enjoy this and the later posts as well. Here's to a new beginning!


Q: Hey, we came to know about your interests in Graphology. Please help us understand what is it ?
Anuj : In simpler terms, Graphology is Handwriting Analysis. To be more elaborate, Graphology is a scientific method of identifying, evaluating, and understanding a person‟s personality via the strokes and patterns re-vealed by his handwriting.

Q: That sounds interesting, How did you first get involved in this subject ?
Anuj : I first got interested during my college days when I incidentally got to read a book in the library. It really caught my imagination. After college, got busy with work and didn‟t get to do much towards this subject but I be-lieve that some interests just cling on to the heart and mind and get surfaced at appropriate times in our lives. This is what happened with me. Till 2003, I had almost forgotten about it but it again surfaced with a chance encounter when I came across a book on Graphology in a book store in Bangalore. After that I spent quite a bit of my free time exploring new horizons of this amazing science.

Q: Do you hold any professional qualification in Graphology ?
Anuj: Yes, I am a Certified Handwriting Analyst from Handwriting University International based out of US.

Q: So, Graphology seems like more of an art form. What is your take on that ?
Anuj : Graphology is also called Handwriting Analysis. In Latin, the prefix “Graph” means “to write” and the suffix “ology” means “the science of”. It is thus a scien-tific study of one‟s personality based on the way a person writes.
Graphology does not work on intuition or guess work- it is a science. The Library of Congress in US categorized it as a credible social science in 1981.
“It has helped me immensely to connect to people and develop a rapport. There is always that initial hesitation that people have about the subject. Most of the people whom I have met share their hand-writing with an intent of fun but what‟s most satis-fying for me is to see the expression of disbelief on seeing the accuracy. In my experience, the results of analysis are 90-95% correct.”

Q: Is there really a scientific basis to it ?
Anuj: Graphology is where the conscious and subconscious mind meets. When we write, we use our conscious mind to think about the content. Whereas the subconscious mind influences the way the text is written, i.e. the letter formation, slant of writing, strokes etc. You never really think before writing certain letter such as "t", or "m" or "o" or anything else, it just flows. This is what gives vital information about personality. In fact, the word handwriting is a misnomer; it should be actually mind writing, as the brain is involved in guiding your hand to move.

Q: What kind of personality traits does Graphology re-veals?
Anuj : Handwriting reveals hundreds of elements of the person's "personality and character," which include glimpses into the sub-conscious mind, emotional responsiveness, intellect, energy, fears and defenses, motivations, imagination, integrity, lying tendency, self esteem issues, procrastination tendencies, issues of trust, social orientation, and much more. There are over 100 individual traits revealed and an unlimited number of combinations.

Q: What are your future plans?
Anuj : I am working on writing a book which details real time Handwriting and Signature analysis of famous as well as notori-ous personalities which would provide insights into core person-ality traits of these people and at the same time the book would use their handwriting samples to teach the nuances of handwrit-ing analysis to novice learners. Also, looking to earn a few dollars in the time to come. I hope a copy of this newsletter doesn‟t get leaked to Income Tax folks. ☺
Anuj has delivered a presentation about Graphology and its use in Software Testing in QAI's Interna-tional conference, it was titled- "Software Testing and Graphology- the complementary sciences", which was well received.
He has also authored an article in TheSmartTechie magazine on the subject- "Managing software personnel by the stroke of the pen" published in Feb 2008