I think everybody on Earth has tried to write with their non-dominating hand and with both their hands at the same time. (Because, face it, telling people you're ambidextrous is pretty cool!) We've probably all laughed at how terribly unrecognisable it looks once we've tried it. But here's someone who didn't suck at it, actually she's so good at writing simultaneously with both hands that she set the Lata Foundation's Exclusive World Record for writing 40 words in one minute unidirectionally. Meet 15-year-old Aadi Swaroopa from Mangaluru.
Aadi, who attends an informal school run by her parents in Mangaluru, says, "I started writing with both hands when I was only two and a half years old. The speed and style of writing increased and improved over time. This year, I made the best use of the lockdown period and learnt different styles of writing. I can write unidirectionally, in opposite directions, right hand speed, left hand speed, reverse running, mirror image, dancing, blindfolded and so on."
While all this sounds unbelievable, another thing that Aadi is good at is that she can write two different languages at the same time — Kannada and English. Isn't that amazing! But her parents are the reason behind her being perfect at this achievement. Her parents Gopal Gopadkar and Sumadkar, who runs informal school, Swaroopa Adhyayana Kendra are against rote learning and they encourage children to develop these unique habits, giving way to learning more. Gopadkar says, "I encourage all our school kids to write with both their hands and even paint this way. Every child can be trained to adopt these unique practices when taught to do so at an early age."
Apart from writing with both hands, Aadi is being trained in Hindustani music by Pandit Ravikiran. She is also a Yakshagana artist and has performed more than 50 shows so far. With her father being a great painter who uses only his nails to create art in 20 seconds, Aadi is also good at painting. She also writes stories and poetry. The 15-year-old has even held a solo painting exhibition of her illustrations created for her storybook Aadiya Kathe Anthe Neeve Heli.
