We are familiar that some children have natural talents to draw pictures, spell words, playing a sport, special interest in math and/or science, natural flair for languages, vocabulary, writing, observing the sky, photography, identifying the plants, playing a musical instrument, singing, dancing, acting, writing poems, composing tunes, and many more. Not many get to pursue their natural interest as their main career. Many never get a chance to even identify such natural talents for a while until they become adults. Some have great analytial skills and use their talents to invest in stock while others become a coach to teach some specialized skills. Let us all share here in this thread the special talents or interest that each one of us have. Only caveat is, it should not be the main profession of the individual and it should be something different than the career they currently pursue. I will begin mine first. When I was a teen, I had a natural interest to look into the handwriting of people and analyze their personality/character of those individuals, the study of which has a technical name called "Graphology". I ended up gathering books to understand more about graphology. This has become almost redundant now as we no longer write anything in a paper except signing documents. Even signatures reflect the attitude, behavior and character of the individual based on their tendency to sign in a particular way. Many specialists in graphology have anaylized the handwritings of dictators, world leaders, and even serial killers to understand their mind. Please share your special interest here. We will make this thread become a single source for all the talents/special interest ILites have in one place.
Interesting thread topic, Viswa. I would call this skill of mine more a special interest than a talent -- the ability to listen to a person's spoken words and unorganized thoughts and convey those appropriately in writing. It started off with our hired help (feels bad to call her this, she was more like a grandma to us). Her grandson was studying in an English medium government hostel. I used to write letters to him on her behalf, first on postcards and later on inland letters. The one time he came to our house, I was at college. So, never met him. Later, as those afternoons writing letters seated on the low wooden stool in the kitchen (pitta? chowki?) as the lady washed the dishes became distant memories, I was glad it remained that way. We siblings were also forced by our parents to write to cousins, uncles and aunts who lived far way or in other continents. Especially during school vacations. I used to write a draft for my siblings to write onto their "fair copy." Good Lord.. I am using the term "fair" copy or "fair" writing after eons. As my siblings left home, I became the official writer of letters from home. Lot more to write.. but don't want to be cited for humble bragging. : ) One last thing: more recently, I wrote a 48 line poem (ode?) on a young person's milestone birthday and .. ahem... got it printed on a scroll. I researched literary devices in depth and managed to use 26 of them in it. As part of the effort, I came to know that predictably there are people who will write a poem or tribute for you if you give them some context and information. There were times I came close to paying for the service. Now, I can sort of offer the service. Shameless plug for a fine custom scroll business: Handmade scrolls and wedding invitations by ArtfulBeginnings run by a hard-working and extremely professional lady.
What a lovely thread @Viswamitra! I had never heard of Graphology but it very much interests me. I am going to look for some books! I always had an eye for writing. In every lab I have worked I have been an official "sample identifier". I can easily tell part handwritings of different people. But I never thought it more than that- interest in handwriting! @Rihana - What lovely memories! I recall writing letters for our domestic helpers (for the lack of a better term). Most of them were from UP. I loved putting their words in writing for their loved ones. My parents never expected us to write letters but I was the one who wrote letters to my older sisters when they were in a hostel and stayed in touch with my aunt after they moved to the Dominican republic. I was only 5-6 when they moved and had no particular memory of them but they sent letters and I always replied (not sure what I wrote but my parents sent those international blue envelopes anyway). Years later, my cousin, her husband, and my aunt came to visit India and at that point, our only connection had been my letters and my cousin's reply. It was an emotional meeting. Coming to my interests- I love designing clothes and sewing. Throughout college, I designed my own patterns and my mom/ tailor bhaiya sew the outfits. I still design dresses for my daughter and me (and as cheesy as it sounds, many times matching mom-daughter dresses). My other interest/skill has been learning geography. During school, I knew almost all the countries- their location on the map and capitals. (There....humble bragging ). I don't remember all of the capitals now. My dream is to travel to 100 countries by 50 and the rest after retirement.
Now that the kids have moved away or are planning to do so, things that were shelved into the background are coming to the fore. Or there are moments when new desires spring up. The latest desire I have had was to visit all the states in India. Having been to quite a few Indian cities for work and to quaint old Kerala a number of times, I was determined for once to visit all Indian states. And I did by visiting Odisha on my own pre-Corona. Although the nerves were there at travelling solo but things went quite smoothly. Some say Odisha people are friendly and can be trusted. But all in all, had a wonderful time. Plan to visit each state one by one post-Corona. Have always enjoyed handiwork and with YouTube everything seems game. The first project was lampshades. Although it looked unnerving messing around with wires and fabrics, but hey presto, step by step five old lampshades transformed into beauties. Plus, I got a hang of working with pliers and wires. There are quite a lot of things I have always wanted to do and have managed to tick off my checklist. That includes making pickles, baking all kinds of biscuits and cakes, gardening, and sewing. Have always enjoyed writing and am currently doing content writing for external agencies. Another plan is to take up music seriously for which I will give greater thought to when my youngest and last one leaves the nest.
