Are you aware of a word ambidextrous which means people who can write with both hands at the same time….both hands of such people have equal strength for motors skills. Remember Virus played by actor Boman Irani in the blockbuster film 3 Idiots, who writes with both hands? It is a rare to see ambidextrous people; according to few researches only 1% of the world’s population is ambidextrous, thus making it quite an exceptional ability to posses. Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein – theoretical physicist, cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, and Le Bron James, Kobe Bryant-Basketball player, Benjamin Franklin-Statesman, Leonardo Da Vinci- painter are some famous examples of ambidextrous people.  

Many people have tried to practice the ability of using both hands with several skills to perform at the same time. Sometimes it’s been taught, or even forced to become an ambidextrous; it’s been around in practice for centuries. Mind you, forcing to become ambidextrous can actually harm our neural development. It comes naturally for some people. Many people who are left-handed can use their non-dominant right hand nearly as well as their dominant one.

To understand ambidextrous, we’ll have to understand how the brain works. Because studies show that there is a direct link there. According to Reader’s Digest, “Ambidexterity indicates that the left and right sides of that person’s brain are pretty much proportioned or symmetrical. The fact is right handed people tend to be left-brain dominant and left-handed are right-brain dominant. It’s said that the way you handle your pen while writing shows how your brain is controlled. Some famous personalities who are artists and players show that because of their ability of using both hands are led equally, and that’s the reason, their creative pursuits are soared. According to Mental Floss which is an American digital online magazine reports that “Leonardo da Vinci, Pete Rose, Richard Feynmen, pitcher Greg A. Harris, Michelle Kwan, Shigeru Miyamoto and Paul McCartney all of these had cross dominant hands. All of them were genius performers in creative art. .

Also, those who are ambidextrous could possibly experience synaesthesia; it is a neurological trait or a condition which results in a joining or merging of senses that aren’t normally connected. The stimulation of one sense causes an involuntary reaction in one or more of the other senses. For example, someone with synaesthesia may hear colour or see sound. Sounds eerie? But, I have a friend who says she hears colours. The colors trigger certain sounds in her ears; for some others who experience synaesthesia numbers and letters, sensations and emotions, for them days and months are all associated with colors. This fascinating brain condition triggers more than one of the five senses at once. It all has to do with sharing the trait of a symmetrical brain. For example to someone with synaesthesia letter “W” appears light brown; “J” is dark green; the number “5” is orange; and July is bluish-green, Monday is violet…..it’s all unexplainable.

One of the most fascinating facts associated with being ambidextrous is that most ambidextrous people probably started out with a dominant left hand. More fascinating than that is to find where the cross dominant handed skill originates from…

Surprisingly, even though this skill is so connected to the brain, ambidextrous people tend to be more in tune with their physical abilities than their mental ones. Perhaps that’s the reason that they tend to perform poorly on general intelligence tests than people who favour one hand. They have difficulty solving math problems; they are scared of numbers as student and are weaker in languages too.

Actor Boman Irani says that in movie 3 Idiots in which he played an ambidextrous Professor, he had to practice for several hours writing with both hands. That skill is of no use to him today but his role of ‘’Virus’’ (he is called Virus by his students)  liked showing off that he is a genius and so he had to learn it. To conclude, there are people who are right-handed, left-handed, mixed-handed (when people prefer using their left hand for some tasks and their right for others), and people who are truly ambidextrous who can use both hands at a time to carry out all tasks with equal proficiency.