Author: Kimberly Dias | Oct 02, 2016
It was a difficult moment to watch Azhar’s mum cry in extreme desperation. She felt bad for him as he would often get scolded at and picked on at school but at the same time, she began to fear his anger, as he would repeatedly stare with vengeance. Azhar would often come to hit her or just scream really loudly when the anger came and would take a while to cool down.
When I met Azhar, the little 8 year-old boy, he had the sweetest smile with big, bright eyes. We had a wonderful conversation about school and home and he shared that it was usually the teasing that allowed the anger to take over. Azhar also spoke about his love for cricket and football. His favorite players are Virat Kohli and Lionel Messi. Azhar admired Virat’s style of playing. Since Azhar wanted to be like Virat, it was important that he maintained a good reputation too. We then came up with the Virat way of dealing with anger. After providing him with a series of anger management techniques, Azhar chose the techniques of crushing paper and counting numbers backwards as a way to keep the anger in control.
2 weeks later, Azhar came to meet me again. His elder sister escorted him this time. Azhar told me very excitedly that the anger was better. His sister confirmed that there weren’t any complaints from school in the last 2 weeks, which has been such a relief. However, the angry episodes at home continue but their extent has decreased too.
Through our conversation, Azhar shared that he usually made a tight fist and crushed paper at school when the anger came. He compared his anger to Brahma Rakshash! He knew when Brahma Rakshash was around, he would usually make him hit others. He then remembered the Virat way of dealing with anger, which helped him stay calm.
Azhar stated, “Mere paas theen power hai! Mera, Shiva aur Virat ka. Mein Brahma Rakshash ko Go to Hell bolega!” So I said to him, “Aise toh Brahma Rakshash one way ticket leke zaroor bhagega.”