The Handwriting Project

Technology sometimes (often!?) kills good, old habits. My handwriting for example. Over time, it has gone from very good (like my father's) to bad, to 'I can't write' and 'I can't read', depending which side of the writing you and I are. I know many bloggers would be proud of their writing, but of their handwriting? I think it is connected to Geetha's offline post today in a strange way. 'Handwriting' almost suddenly sounds like a retronym.

Last week at work, we began this project of interviewing some aviation domain experts, and, as interviewers, one expectation from us is to write fast and fully using good ol' pencil and paper. The loud key taps prevent us from using the computer.

Anyway, so I realized in the middle of the interview that my knuckles were jamming fast with all the writing, and the writing itself quickly becoming illegible.

And so, I'm now working on a personal handwriting project. I've given it a tagline too - writing for better handwriting. On my after hours tours in and around the cities, I write for about 15 minutes with pencil on paper. It's sort of a 'moment capture' using handwritten words.

This may not be the write time to share the stuff that I write (recall - I can't read), but I do take a picture of my journal and pencil at the moment and place of writing. That's what you see here - my trusty backpack, my journal and pencil and the camera cover, framed in Rice Park, St. Paul.

Maybe when I see signs of improvement in my handwriting, I will post scans of the pages that I wrote. I'm quite excited about this new personal project, and desperately hope I can bring my handwriting up to my father's high standards.

Amen.