By V.N. Balakrishna, IANS
Jamnagar (Gujarat) | Boredom, said the 19th century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, is just the reverse side of fascination. It was indeed sheer boredom that made Dineshbhai Laljibhai Anadkat take to a new hobby – writing scriptures in reverse.
Anadkat didn’t have much to do as he sat beside his mother’s bed in Gujarat’s Jamnagar civil hospital one afternoon in 2006. He then began reverse writing the Hindu holy scripture “Bhagvad Gita” and completed it in just 28 days.
Reverse writing or mirror writing is the ability to write from right to left, reversing each letter so that when held to a mirror the script appears normal, the 46-year-old man explained.
“However, mirror writing as an art form may not have many aficionados to speak of as it is not a recognised form of art and very, very difficult,” Anadkat told IANS.
An employee of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), Anadkat has been fascinated with reverse writing for years.
“I wrote the ‘Gita’ in Gujarati daily for one hour from April 2 to April 29, 2006. It comprises 700 stanzas that make up 18 chapters and it came to 78 pages.
In 2007, he wrote the epic “Ramayana” in reverse in two parts totalling 673 pages. His reverse “Ramayana” has eight ‘khands’ (chapters) and 1,389 ‘dohas’ (couplets). This mammoth task took Anadkat six months between February and July 2007.
After the “Ramayana”, writing the “Hanuman Chalisa” in reverse was like a cakewalk for him.
So how did this fad come about? “I was inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci as he was famous for writing most of his personal notes in mirror image,” he said.
But the roots of his unusual hobby can be traced to his teenage years. He says he wrote a letter in reverse when he was 13 or 14, but forgot all about it until he read about Da Vinci.
All his works have been in Gujarati so far, but plans to do reverse writing in English also and wants to start off with the Bible.
V.N. BALAKRISHNA 