The school bus was going to arrive at any moment. Parth hurried to drink his milk, but just then Bhakti, Parth's younger sister arrived. As she reached across the table to get a plate, she accidentally knocked over the glass of milk which split all over Parth's uniform.
"Look at what you have done!" Parth shouted at Bhakti, his face red with anger.
"I am really sorry, Parth. I really did not mean to…" Bhakti said regretfully but Parth did not even let Bhakti finish her apology and stomped away to his room.
His other uniform was still in the wash. ‘Now, what will I wear? How can I wear this stained uniform?’ thought Parth. With no other option, Parth decided to wear his milk-stained uniform. The series of unfortunate events led to Parth’s mother having to drop him to school that morning.
He prayed during the whole journey that his class teacher would be in a good mood and pardon his tardiness. His prayers were futile, as Mr D.K punished Parth to run one mile in the blazing heat. As Parth ran, his rage grew, he blamed Bhakti for his punishment and was thinking of how to get revenge.
Exposure to both the external and internal heat exhausted Parth. When he returned home, he saw that Bhakti was studying for her geography test. "Chennai is the capital of Tamil Nadu", Bhakti mumbled to herself.
"You fool! Madras is the capital of Tamil Nadu", he snatched her geography notebook and tore her page. Shocked and scared, Bhakti collected the torn pieces of paper with tears in her eyes. This was Parth's way of getting even with Bhakti.
"Kids, dinner is ready. I have made pav-bhaji today", called their Mom.
"What? Pav-bhaji? I had asked you to make pizza tonight! Why don't you ever listen to me?" Parth exploded. However, a stern state from his mom was enough to silence him. Parth finished his dinner without a word and retreated to his room.
Upon returning home from work, Parth’s father popped his head into Parth’s room and asked "How was your day, dear?". Parth broke down.
His father listened to him attentively and then calmly said, "Spilling milk was just an accident. You became angry because you felt that you incurred a loss and were embarrassed to go to school in a spoiled uniform. Have you never spilled anything in your life before?”
“I have,” responded Parth.
“Then you felt insulted because you were punished. But, tell me, would you have missed your bus if you packed your bag the night before? You were burning with anger and you tore Bhakti's notebook page and hurt her. Then you exploded on Mummy because you did not get pizza for dinner. Did you notice a pattern?”
“I got angry because things were not going the way I wanted them to. What should I do now?”, Parth responded solemnly.
"You should ask for forgiveness from Bhakti and Mummy because you have hurt them with your anger and you should resolve never to get angry again". Papa said. "By the way, the new name for Madras is Chennai!" He winked as he left the room.
Related links-
Videos on Anger
LMHT session : Anger
Mythological story : Surdas
Quiz on Anger
Experiment Corner : Is Anger a strength or a weakness
Mythological story : Story of Chandraraudra
