Your horoscope, your palm, your genes, all give indications of your personality, your future. But Dr.Na.Maghudeeswarran, Ph.D., of Chennai has only to look at your signature to interpret your personality and even predict your future. What is more, he says you can change your fortune (misfortunes?) by changing your signature. Maghudeeswarran's interest in the subject was aroused early. While studying in the seventh standard, he noticed that one of his brilliant friends had a clumsy handwriting while another with an attractive handwriting ranked at the bottom of the class. He wondered why. He took his queries to their logical conclusion by becoming the first in India to receive a doctorate in "Signature Analysis and Research". For the last five years, he has been giving a weekly half-hour consultancy programme on RAJ TV every Saturday, which itself is a record of sorts for a non-film programme.

According to Maghudeeswarran, the signature reveals a person's personality, character and behavioral pattern. Apart from what he terms Unique Character Analysis, on the basis of a specimen signature, he says he can project a person's future. He is categorical and definite about the strokes and style that describe the temperament, character and future and indicate the colors that can be recommended for use. He says all signatures come under the purview of only 250 strokes and they would be either slanting towards the left, right or vertical.

Graphology is the science of analyzing the character of a person or the condition of his mind by seeing his signature, but Maghudeeswarran goes a step further in suggesting changes to the signature to bring about better fortunes. According to him, the signature reflects the mind and the thought process while the hand is only a robot obeying the commands of the brain. Maghudeeswarran has done extensive research to find a link between the signature and the state of a person's health and blood group. Dr. C. Natesan, of Bharathi Raja Hospital, sponsored his research for more than three years and according to Dr. Natesan, Maghudeeswarran's accuracy rate was about 95 per cent. 

It is worth mentioning that Maghudeeswarran chose his wife not by seeing her photograph, but after analyzing her signature. He has made not only correct predictions about the fortunes of famous personalities - politicians to cricketers - but also explains changes in their fortunes with changes in their signatures.

He offers some tips:

1. Generally, as one's life style changes, the writing style also undergoes change. 

2. Illegible signatures belong to economically sound persons especially business magnates and successful industrialists.

3. To avoid major problems never underscore or place dots under your illegible signatures.

4.  80% of those who underscore continuously to left and then turn right will have a bad personal life and reversal in fortunes.

5. Never sign at angles of 15° to 30 ° 

6. Signatures at 45° angle without dots or underscore indicate a strong, determined, success oriented personality. They always surmount the impossible.

Though it is difficult to convince a questioning mind of the relationship between one's signature and one's destiny, it would seem equally true that Dr. Maghudeeswarran's research cannot be just written off.

Akshaya