Book review The Gift Of Anger

The Sunday Times Bestseller 2017

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"ANGER IS LIKE FIRE: YOU CAN CREATE SOMETHING FROM IT OR DESTROY EVERYTHING"

AUTHOR Arun Gandhi

GENRE Guide, Self Help

PAGES 292

YEAR OF PUBLISH 2017

About the Author

Arun Gandhi was Gandhi's fifth grandson. Citing the examples from a conversation with him, the author learned that anger can be regarded as a positive force. The world knows Mahatma Gandhi as the epitome of peace, a messenger, who taught us a revolutionary weapon to fight "Ahinsa"(Non-Violence). 

The story of India's freedom struggle looks soulless in the absence of his name. "The Gift of Anger" is special in the sense that, it has portraited Mahatma Gandhi (Bapu) as an individual rather than Father of the Nation. The issues discussed here are on a personal level.

 

 

Summary of Gift of Anger

“It is an energy that compels us to define what is right and wrong,” As an obvious question, Arun asked him " How he can take the side of anger being positive when he himself never seen him angry"? 

 

Gandhiji told him how he has channelized his anger for good. " It is like what fire does to food- If it is in control, it can cook otherwise burn".

These are memories of the two years that Arun spent with Bapu. As Mahatma Gandhi went on making changes on the world stage, the author learned to make changes in himself and overcome his own emotions.

 

 

The teachings began when Arun, during his football match, ends up in a fight. As he was running to hit another boy with a rock, a soft voice of 

Bapu comes asking "Don't Do It".To Arun, the man who fought for India’s independence and was the country’s beloved and preeminent philosopher and the leader was simply a family member. 

Bapu told him how he stole money from his father to buy cigarettes. How he once shouted at Kasturba (his wife) and tried to physically throw her out of the house when she questioned his practice of Swaraj in Sabarmati Ashram.

 

Apart from anger, the book contains lessons on other equally important subjects such as family, dealing with depression, loneliness, self-discovery, friendship. 

 

While every chapter contains a singular, timeless lesson. The Gift of Anger also takes its readers along with the author on a moving journey of self-discovery as he learns to overcome his own failings, to express his emotions and harness the power of anger to bring about good.

  

 

An honest time should be given to this book. It explains how leaders who were aggressive in their initial days suddenly change their approach in encountering problems. Although their internal flame is burning at the same rate, the direction of this gifted energy changes, from complaining to completing.

 

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