International Left-Handers Day 2023: Embracing the left-handed experience; challenges and innovations in India's niche market

Brinda Mehta, a city-based publicist, grew up facing an array of challenges due to her left-handedness. Despite initially being ambidextrous, her school teachers pressured her to choose one hand, leading her to become a left-handed individual. However, this was just the beginning of her challenges. She recalls, "Coming from a Gujarati family, my grandparents and parents wanted me to use my right hand. Yet, I ended up as a lefty. Whenever I dined out, my family and friends would ensure I sat on a specific side of the table to avoid elbow collisions while eating." The prevalence of right-handed equipment in schools added to her difficulties.

Mehta's experience is shared by countless left-handed individuals worldwide who find themselves grappling with a right-handed-oriented world that often overlooks inclusivity in civic, educational, and domestic settings. Each year, International Left-Handers Day on August 13 celebrates the distinctiveness of left-handed individuals. Approximately 10 per cent of the global population is left-handed, leaving the majority as right-handers. For those who are left-handed or know lefties, it's evident how they struggle with tools and services designed primarily for right-handed users, such as scissors, doorknobs, sharpeners, and work desks. This often leads to ridicule for being left-handed.

The left-hander's dilemma
Mehta is among those who have been urged to perform tasks with their right hand. "I was made to believe that being lefty is associated with demons, evil, or simply 'not right'," she reflects. Similarly, this author has faced constant adjustments - from seating in classrooms to handing money to rickshaw drivers and even mundane chores. "Even basic tools like scissors, can openers, and kitchen utensils are typically designed with right-handed users in mind. I would get frustrated since I couldn't use these tools efficiently. People around me weren't aware of specialized left-handed scissors, so I'd simply say, 'It's a left-handed issue, you wouldn't understand.' It was irritating to have others try to 'fix' me for being a lefty," Mehta expresses with frustration.

Illustrator Vijith Shetty, based in Mumbai city, has similarly grown up encountering difficulties and misconceptions. "People have asked me, 'Tu konse haath se dhota hai?' (indicating hand usage in toilets)," says the 30-year-old. He even had to abandon his dream of learning the bass guitar due to a lack of left-handed options. "When I recently looked for a left-handed bass guitar, I couldn't find any. And the ones I did find were much more expensive than the right-handed versions, so I had to give up on that plan," Shetty laments.

In response to the scarcity of left-handed essentials, Shetty has adapted to using right-handed scissors, as have many others. However, he still encounters challenges, such as opening a refrigerator door designed for right-handed use. Mehta, on the other hand, has adjusted in her office. "I've customized my computer settings to change the mouse button orientation for left-handed use. But using the mouse is still a bit challenging. So, I've learned keyboard shortcuts to streamline tasks and reduce reliance on the mouse," she explains.

Getting used to the practice of sitting in a particular section of the table while growing up, the city-based left-hander says she even sits in a corner in the office so that her hands don't clash with the right-handed people. "While writing with the left hand, ink pens tend to smudge. So, I have changed the way I write. I curve and turn my wrist, so I don't end up smudging the ink on the paper."


Being a left hander herself, Bengaluru-based Maitri Wadher started a store exclusively for left handed people called The Left Out Store; Chennai-based Amrita Venketakrishnan started keeping stationery for left handed people five years ago because otherwise they have limited choice. Photo Courtesy: Maitri Wadher/Amrita Venketakrishnan

Taking matters into your left hand
Bengaluru-based Maitri Wadher faced similar struggles growing up but decided to act. While pursuing her post-graduate diploma in management studies, she participated in a festival where she pitched the idea of producing equipment for left-handers. Encouraged by venture capitalists, Wadher pursued this concept further.

The judges, who were venture capitalists immediately loved the idea and pushed her to pursue it further. With such encouragement, the Bengaluru-based entrepreneur took it a step further. "I then took up this idea as my project for the Market Research subject while pursuing my PGDM, to see the feasibility and to know if there is a potential market for this. The odds worked in my favour, and that was it".

It resulted in the creation of "The Left-Out Store" in 2018. The store offers exclusive products for left-handed individuals, ranging from writing tools to kitchen utensils and merchandise.

She shares, "Left-handed people have always thrived and struggled to survive in a world which is biased to the right-handers, and the struggle is real. It's about time that their problems are catered to with the perfect solutions. So, it is time to put an end to the social norms against using the left hand as the dominant hand and make left the new right." The store has everything exclusively for left-handed people or for parents of left-handed children to make daily tasks simpler. "Ranging from left-handed writing tools to scissors, kitchen tools to merchandise for left-handed people, we have got it all," explains Wadher. While there are some of the products are sourced from the UK, other products like folders, scissors, books and mugs are made in-house. She explains, "The spiral notebooks are made for left-handed. These left-handed notebooks are spiral bound on the right, hence easy for left-handed writing."

Unsurprisingly, she says among all the products, which range between Rs 15 to Rs Rs 2,499, the scissors and pens are the most popular products. Other than these, geometry sets and spiral-bound notebooks are also popular among children. While the products are still highly priced now, she hopes to cater to people with other things such as golf sets, guitars and even exam desks in the future, once there is more awareness, leading to an easier production process due to the demand. This is a challenge because there are very limited brands catering exclusively and extensively to left-handers and The Left-Out Store is one of them.

Elsewhere in India, the Hindustan Trading Company, an art supply and stationery store that's been operational since 1974 in Chennai, has taken an effort to cater to left-handers in the last six years. Amritha Venketakrishnan is a third-generation member of the family who currently runs the business in Royapettah, which specialises in niche items, fine art supplies and imported stationery, and stationery for left-handed people is one of them. "We have stationery for right-handers but have started catering to left-handers in the last few years. However, it would account for less than 1 per cent of the stationery at the store," says Venketakrishnan, who says the demand is comparatively lesser and can be tracked only when people enter the store and specifically ask for left-handed stationery.

The 34-year-old attributes this to the lack of awareness in terms of statistics in India about the number of left-handers to be able to cater to them properly. "People have recognised that there is a need for left-handed supplies, so particularly for scissors, it is definitely a need because the way you hold it is different. So, we got it from a Finland brand called Fiskars, which is quite an expensive scissor, but we felt that it is a definite need in the store because left-handers usually don't have many options in the market. Apart from that there are left-handed pencils, pens and sharpeners too. It is heartening to see that there are more supplies available."

However, she says it is nothing compared to what is available out there for right-handers, but she is happy to see that there is at least some selection available. Interestingly, the use of right-handed products by left-handed people has been normalised so much, that Venketakrishnan says she hasn't noticed her brother, who is a left-hander, have any issues, and neither has he mentioned anything to her. The Chennai-based entrepreneur says most of their left-handed stationery is imported because there are not many people who make them in India.

Need to turn left
Venketakrishnan believes this has happened as there is an over-generalisation because people don't know how many left-handers are there since there is no registered statistic out there. Growing up, she says, one doesn't see as many left-handers, so we assume that it is a very small percentage of the population, so she emphasises the need for statistics to get clarity. "At the end of the day, companies look at sales, so unless they don't know the demand, they will not gear towards it." Something like scissors, which is very basic, should be taken up by local manufacturers, she believes.

On the other hand, Wadher adds that there is a need to generate awareness very early on for individuals in society about accepting people using their left hand as their dominant hand to avoid psychological and physiological issues that they might face if they are forced to use their right hand.

While Shetty says he has seen more educational institutions cater to left-handed individuals, Mehta, who is a proud lefty, believes there has been progress but there is a lot more to be done. It is also the reason why she puts the onus on civic and government authorities to take the lead. She explains, "They need to establish guidelines and regulations that encourage businesses, schools, and public institutions to be more inclusive and considerate of left-handed individuals. By taking necessary steps, civic authorities in India can help create a more equitable and welcoming environment for left-handed individuals, fostering a society where everyone's needs are considered and accommodated."

At the society level, she says people can do a lot more. "There needs to be an increase in public discourse, promoting inclusive designs, and encouraging industries to prioritise the needs of left-handers are crucial steps toward creating a more considerate and equitable world for everyone, regardless of their dominant hand. It's high time we recognise and celebrate the diversity of left-handers and make our world a place where they can thrive with ease," she wishes.

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