Southpaw Advantage, Celebrating Left-Handers

While 10% of the world’s population is left-handed, most of the world assumes that everyone around them is right-handed, so every product is made with a right-handed person in mind, including a school desk. Left-handed people struggle with things as simple as using a pair of scissors. Even writing can be a challenge. Most languages even require you to write from left to right, which means a left-handed person smudges everything they write, forcing them to alter the way their hand moves across the page.

At Champak, we wanted to help our readers understand that left-handed people often have to navigate a world not built for them. But they also develop qualities that are unique only to them, and this can give them a different kind of advantage. 

In our Champak August (First) 2026 issue, Southpaw Advantage is a beautiful story about Kavya, who is left-handed and learns that being left-handed can also be an advantage. In the story, we see Kavya decide that she wants to learn karate. And that is where she learns that she now has an advantage as not a lot of people can fight with a left-hand stance. This is called being a ‘southpaw’ in karate, boxing and other sports like baseball. Only a small section of society is left-handed and when fighting, it means that they can take their opponent by surprise. 

The author, Manoshi Roy, recounted an incident where a boy at her daughters’ taekwondo class, who was left-handed, was struggling with his stance and fighting tactics. So his coach taught him how to favour his left leg while fighting. And something the coach said stuck with her. He had said that if the boy was learning karate, it would have been a problem. Not for him but for his opponents. This statement made her wonder why that was and that inspired her to write this story.

In the story, we see Kavya accepting being different and even joking about it. But we also see her experience the tiredness of explaining that she is left-handed. Finally, we see her rejoicing in her newfound passion that also allows her to take advantage of being left-handed. While writing this story, the author drew on her own experiences of interacting with her left-handed classmates in school and how she admired them, explaining that they were an inspiration to her. 

This Left-handers’ Day on August 13, it could be interesting to ask your child if they know anyone who is left-handed. Ask them if they can imagine how a left-hander might experience daily life differently from them.

Our story, Southpaw Advantage, invites readers to think about the world in a different way and appreciate the people around them.