Anand Mahindra's tweet on handwriting of doctors is an instant hit

'Exactly!' That's what many of you would say when you see this tweet by Anand Mahindra.

The industrialist's tweet on Sunday morning is a 15-second video which shows how the handwriting of a doctor progressively deteriorates over the years.

The writing in the video is well-rounded and very legible in high school and secondary school; by the the time the person gets to MBBS, the handwriting starts becoming scraggly; by PG the crests and troughs of the letters start evening out; by the time the person becomes a junior doctor, the writing becomes a series of illegible waves; several years into the profession the waves smooth out into ripples; and by the time the doctor becomes a specialist, the handwriting is an undulating line that makes no sense to the uninitiated.


Many of us who have cracked our heads over what the doctor has prescribed would completely relate to this. Many would even have anecdotes to share about how even the neighbourhood medical store guy - normally the best interpreter of such scrambled codes - threw up his hands at particularly difficult ones.

In just an hour after posting the post was viewed more than one lakh times, with over 6,800 likes and 900 tweets. Many of those who responded , posted emojis agreeing with him.

"It would be like shorthand used in secretarial assistance! After taking notes, even the secretary will have trouble deciphering it," commented a user.

Another user joked that it was the doctor telling the medical store ,"My job is over now, yours begins."

Another user shared a code of scribbles which stood for medicine commonly used, like paracetamol

A doctor was among those who responded, pointing out how the prescriptions get so badly written: because they have so many of them to write every single day.