The
strokes you write hasten your hand. The fingers ride with speaker’s words. It
is a perfect symphony of hand and head, an art which you could master and
chisel to perfection.
There was a time when the profession of stenographer is considered as
middle-class’s breadwinner. It’s charm in 90’s in India is something you can’t
find in this Information Age. The government sector is still the
main stakeholder of stenographers. But no doubt, it is becoming a dying
profession and I doubt its survival in the coming decades as technology
replaces maximum human labour.
If you go back to history of stenography, it is believed that the word stenography
is derived from the Greek words steno (narrow) and graphein (the art of
writing). It is also known as tachygraphy (quick writing), brachygraphy (short
writing), zeiglographia and semography. We find that hundreds of
shorthand writing systems and scripts have been experimented and used for more
than 2000 years.
In good olden days, Notarii (reporters) write the speeches of roman senators.
The famous writer George Bernard Shaw wrote all his literature in shorthand.
Famous novelist Charles Dickens was also a shorthand writer. It is said that
Shakespeare’s plays were preserved by means of shorthand. In Mughal Era, Qatibs
(reporters) were appointed to take down Shahi Farmaan (orders of the king).
These historical traces indicate the
prevalence of shorthand since time immemorial.
Shorthand is no doubt a dry subject. My own impression being a stenographer is
: laborious; uninteresting. The primary qualification to win over this art is, patience.
For initial 2 -3 months, you can’t generate interest to go forward and
you have to blindly follow the exercises with daily practice. Whether somebody
makes it as a profession or not but it is an art that anybody could learn which immensely helps in note-taking,
especially by students in their studies.
The stenographer earns his/ her reputation being exponent in this art. Charles
Dickens, the famous novelist says that ‘’learning
of Shorthand is equal to learning of 6 new languages’’. George Bernard Shaw
felt that learning of shorthand makes him independent of typewriters, of
Dictaphones and of the immediate present of a Secretary. The Father of
Nation Mahatma Gandhi says that Shorthand writers-cum-reporters hold the
prestige of public men in the hollow of their palms….
The most prominent stenographic systems is Pitman Shorthand. Sir Isaac Pitman
published his stenographic work : soundhand in 1837, later called phonography
or Pitman’s Shorthand based on the phonetic structure of the ancient Indian
language Sanskrit. History says that till the advent of Pitman phonetic system,
nearly four-hundred plus systems of English Shorthand had been experimented in
England alone.
There are other stenographic systems in the world as well, like Gregg System
which is based on the longhand letters and became popular in United States.
There was also a Sloan – Duployan System which is an adoption of French system
into English.
The heroic figure for stenographers in contemporary times is Dr. Gopal
Datt Bisht, the first ever Ph.D in stenography in the world, and the Guinness
Record holder for the highest shorthand writing speed of 250 words per minute.
There were also proud moments for stenographers in the annals of history. One
of the stalwarts who did yeomen service is J.J. Goodwin (1870 – 1898). This
British stenographer was initially assigned the task of noting down the
lectures of Swami Vivekananda during his first tour to United States.
The credit for transcribing large portions of Swamiji’s literature goes
to Goodwin who painstakingly translated the Master’s extempore words into
inspiring stuff. Within a short span, Goodwin became Vivekananda’s close friend
and disciple. The amount of love and respect Goodwin earned from Vivekananda is
indescribable. When Goodwin died at a very young age, Vivekananda wrote that : The debt of
gratitude I owe him can never be repaid, and those who think they have been
helped by any thought of mine ought to know that almost every word of it was
published through the untiring and most unselfish exertions of Mr. Goodwin.
In him I have lost a friend true as steel, a disciple of never-failing
devotion, a worker who knew not what tiring was, and the world is less rich by
one of those few who are born, as it were, to live only for others.
The seeds of interest to learn shorthand were first sprouted in me by my father
who is a qualified stenographer. He impressed upon me that the
proficiency of English is linked to learning shorthand. He ignited
a zeal in me to hone my language skills.
Automation, new technological aids and smartphones completely
changed the landscape of present day
office set-up especially in private organizations. Digital devices
replace humans as personal assistants and this indicates a danger
of extinction of this species called Stenographer,
sooner than expected !
