At an office party in June 2008, all of a sudden I found myself sounding saintly as I muttered in anger: “Why do people drink so much when they can’t handle liquor?”
I made the statement because I saw one of my colleagues was obediently returning to Mother Earth probably a few pegs more than she had consumed that night.
Not her fault, I guess. The party was remarkable, the drinks…irresistible, the ambience…delectable and the atmosphere…unpredictable.
Like most others at the party, she thoroughly enjoyed the bash, the vomiting notwithstanding. Who cares if the end was a fine blend of sickness and bliss?
Even I did not on two occasions I had found myself in the same situation – one was about three years ago in Calcutta, and the second, a year later in Mumbai.
During the one-hour train journey on my way back home that night, I allowed my thoughts to drift away and recall what had happened on that party night in November 2005 in Calcutta when I was sloshed for the first time in my life.
How I got drunk that day was simple: I was too thirsty before reaching the office party venue and I began drinking rum like water (First-timers’ goof-up, you see). And I don’t remember when exactly the liquor hit me so badly.
It was funny. Much to the consternation and shock of others, I had snatched the microphone from the DJ’s hand and had begun to sing an odd song. I think it was a ghazal! Everybody had started booing me.
Thoroughly embarrassed, I gave the mike back and then let myself loose on the dance floor, scarcely knowing which way I swung. I shook hips almost with everyone. It was a complete disaster. In comparison, the young lady at the party last week was an apostle of elegance and poise.
The morning after my Calcutta party was horrifying: it was the first hangover of my life and I puked, puked and just puked. Somehow I had managed to reach the office.
No more flashback. Circa 2008. When I came to office the following day, people were tattling about the party and comfortably swimming in who-did-what chats.
One of the colleagues then told me about a man whose behaviour after getting drunk was shockingly different from his normal conduct. “Some people, who are normally reserved and introverted, become outgoing under the influence of liquor?” she said.
It’s true that after a few pegs, many quiet, aloof, silent, reticent, distant, uncommunicative people transform into garrulous and gregarious bums. I know some of them and I am sure you are also acquainted with a few such people.
Let me help you identify such people: more often than not, you will hear them say: “After a few drinks, I feel more open and relaxed. Liquor does so much good to me!”
Have you ever attempted to find out how why such individuals behave so differently when they are high?
According to psychology, they are self-conscious people who feel they are being watched by others all the time. From the moment such a person enters a public gathering or party, she or he feels that everybody is looking only at them.
They find extreme difficulty in getting over this feeling of being observed. As a result, the behaviour of such people is always calibrated and modulated under normal circumstances.
But as soon as they are under the influence of intoxicants, which temporarily suspends their self-consciousness, they behave like an unshackled animal; they feel free to do and say what they actually like, and not what will be liked by others.
In handwriting analysis, self-consciousness is seen in the rising humps of lower case ‘m’ and ‘n’ (see the picture below).
American graphologist Bart Baggett says:
When one is feeling self-conscious, one becomes aware of even the smallest of one’s own actions. Such awareness can impair one’s ability to perform complex actions. For example, a piano player may choke, lose confidence, and even lose the ability to perform the moment they notice the audience. As self-consciousness fades, one may regain the ability to ‘lose one’s self’. A person especially prone to self-consciousness may be labelled shy or introverted…”
Okay, but not all self-conscious people who are quiet, introverted and focused (shown partially by the small size of handwriting) explode after drinking. Here, we are talking about the self-conscious people who attempt to snap all self-restricting strings under the influence of liquor.
Therefore, the presence of rising humps in ‘m’ and ‘n’ alone in an individual’s writing are not sufficient for a graphologist to conclude that a writer will go berserk after getting drunk. The handwriting should have other strokes and a particular style.
Besides the rising humps, such an individual’s handwriting may some strokes reflecting the desire for attention — shown by three things in handwriting analysis.
First, a signature much larger in size in comparison to the rest of the writing; second, circles in place of i and j dots (see picture B); and finally an exaggerated upswing in the ending stroke (see picture C).
Despite secretly nurturing desires to be outgoing, friendly and chatty, writers who are self-conscious desist from doing what they like, because their principal fear is: What will others say? What will they think?
Handwriting analysts say the other possible reason why an individual does not do what he or she likes is lack of confidence and self-worth (often indicated by the low placement of t-bars as seen in picture D).
An individual who thinks low of himself will think that people might not like what he or she does. For instance, a study says many men and women in the West desist from hitting the dance floor because they don’t like their physique.
If any of you reading this feels restricted by such baseless fears, try writing with descending hump and higher t-bars for a few weeks. I am confident you will feel much better.
Disclaimer: One element of handwriting may be analysed at a time, but always look at the entire handwriting sample before arriving at any conclusion.
