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October 2017 Edition of Power Politics is updated.  Happy Diwali to all our subscribers and Distributors       October 2017 Edition of Power Politics is updated.   Happy Diwali to all our subscribers and Distributors       
Issue:Sep' 2017

BOOK BAZAAR

Anger management, as Gandhiji saw it

M.R. Dua

Let's first ponder over the title of this book: can the 'anger' be termed as a gift? Yes, says the author. But, he doesn't go very far in telling us what he means by calling 'anger' a gift. The author, Arun Gandhi, grandson of the Mahatma, father of the Indian Nation, quotes Bapuji: "We should not be ashamed of anger. It's a

The author quotes his grandfather: "Use your anger for good. Anger to people is like gas to the automobile – it fuels you to move forward and get to a better place. Without it, we would not be motivated to rise to a challenge. It is an energy that compels us to define what is just and unjust." And that, the author infers, is a 'gift' for us.

very good and a powerful thing that motivates us. But what we need to be ashamed of is the way we abuse it."
When barely 12-year-old, Arun came from South Africa to live in Gandhiji's Sevagram ashram in Wardha, in Maharastra, and stayed there with his grandfather for over two years.
Though Arun came to the ashram 'as an angry young boy having difficulty expressing his emotions… during the two years he lived under his grandfather's wing, he learned to harness his anger and see it as a 'gift' to motivate him and help him bring about good in the universe.'
In this tiny-sized volume's short 11 chapters, Arun narrates personal experiences, and entwines these with grandfather's short spans that he spent in South Africa and India. In almost all chapters, Arun recounts his grandfather's those historic events and incidents that initially created anger, but when sorted out peacefully, led to establishing significant doctrines that 'strike a universal chord' about selfdiscovery, identity, depression and anger, loneliness, and family deemed vital for tumultuous life in modern times.
The author quotes his grandfather: "Use your anger for good. Anger to people is like gas to the automobile – it fuels you to move forward and get to a better place. Without it, we would not be motivated to rise to a challenge. It is an energy that compels us to define what is just and unjust." And that, the author infers, is a 'gift' for us.
In fact, in his own book, 'My Experiments with Truth,' Gandhiji has at length enumerated several incidents of his life that birthed his own anger, but as he had tactfully handled these, that transformed him into a 'great man'.

Arun Gandhi Arun recounts some of these in this book: For instance, though Bapu carried a first class ticket, he was thrown out of a rail compartment; or, while going to meet the British King in the Buckingham Palace in a loincloth.
Arun refers to Mahatma's reaction: 'Use your anger wisely. Let it help you find solutions of love and truth.' And that's why 'Bapu never lost temper,' and it helped him to find amiable solutions to knotty imbroglios.
In fact, chapter headings of Arun's book sum up how anger can be deemed a 'gift', e.g., 'use anger for good'; 'you will be tested', etc. These chapter titles, says the author, relate to Gandhiji's 'life as a golden thread of stories and lessons that continue to weave in and out through the generations.'
Most of the book's content is born of the author's intimate interactions and association with Bapu on different occasions when the struggle for India's freedom was at its zenith.Arun has strung these trivial happenings in such mesmerizing style that reader's interest stays sturdily until the end. However, at the same time,

In the last four chapters, Arun Gandhi touches peripheral issues and controversies emerging after Gandhiji's murder in Delhi's Birla House. While 'anger' envelopes him and the family, he counsels peace and love for humanity; befittingly recalling his grandfather's message of treating 'anger' as 'gift' and abhorring 'thought of revenge' against Gandhiji's assassin that sheathed him and the entire Gandhi clan.

one wonders how did Arun recapture all these so lovingly, (lively) and distinctly several years after Gandhi's passing away— unless he had noted these down? Reminiscing Jawaharlal Nehru's affection, respect and shoulderto- shoulder association in the freedom movement with Gandhiji, Arun contextulizes his personal respect for Nehru's 'moving speech' the day Bapu was assassinated, and even during long period in later days. Arun also talks about his own career as a reporter in a newspaper where he worked for 30 years.
Candidly, the author dwells upon the not-so-illustrious legacy of his famous grandfather's family…Gandhiji's four sons, Harilal (who converted to Islam),Manilal (author Arun's father), Devadas and Ramdas 'who tried hard to emulate Bapuji and follow his instincts'. But he was profusely 'hurt' as he sadly found them totally lacking in spirit, will and determination, and finally gave up.
In the last four chapters, Arun Gandhi touches peripheral issues and controversies emerging after Gandhiji's murder in Delhi's Birla House. While 'anger' envelopes him and the family, he counsels peace and love for humanity; befittingly recalling his grandfather's message of treating 'anger' as 'gift' and abhorring 'thought of revenge' against Gandhiji's assassin that sheathed him and the entire Gandhi clan.
Ingenuously edited, the book's wordage could be easily reduced to half its present size. However, Arun Gandhi is able to draw the attention of Gandhiji's audience to Bapu's vital personal effects that made a tremendous impact on his life and career.