The know-all mirror

This year a Christmas gift has gone out from Assam to the Pope. Twenty-nine year-old Uttam Das has dispatched six volumes of the Bible, written in a 8216;mirror image8217; version, to the Vatican.

Das first made news last year when he wrote the Naam Ghosha, a book of hymns of the Assamese Vaishnavite faith, in this reverse fashion. The books he writes can be read only when their pages are held against a mirror.

Das has been practicing this 8216;special form of calligraphy8217; since his school days.

8216;8216;The idea struck me when I was in school and I thought why shouldn8217;t I concentrate on this as a form of art,8217;8217; says Das. 8216;8216;I chose the holy books because then I can also contribute to the spiritual aspect of human activity,8217;8217; says Das who worked for a few years with the Goodricke Group before taking to full-time writing.

After writing the Naam Ghosha in Assamese and Aasho Manush Hou in Bangla, Das took on the Bible, with an eye on international attention.

But writing in this singular fashion can be a lonely business. There are few readers and even fewer fellow writers.

Das has, in fact, searched the internet extensively but found his obsession has no company.

But not many people are clear over the purpose of this form of writing.

Das has an answer. 8216;8216;It will certainly improve the general intelligence and IQ of an individual. You will become more attentive,8217;8217; he says. At present, he is busy writing the Gita in Hindi, and has also started learning Urdu in order to take up a project to write the Quran.