Skip to content Skip to navigation

Northeast author reflects on saga of violence

Guwahati: A lone voice that has undertaken several peace initiatives over several decades in the conflict ridden northeast India has come out with a new book chronicling and reflecting on the saga of violence perpetrated down the ages.

“The book is precisely about the “Collective Anger” that accumulates,” says the octogenarian author.  

The book traces the anger of the primitive man in self-defense to the aggressive postures of World Powers in our own days. Violence has become so frequent these days that Pankaj Mishra has called our age the Age of Anger. 

The President of the Pastoral Conference of Northeast India, Archbishop Dominic Jala of Shillong, released Archbishop Emeritus Thomas Menamparampil’s latest book Stored Anger (Claretian Publications), this morning, 11 September 2018.

The Bishops of the Northeast and all the religious superiors of the region were gathered to discuss this year’s conference theme ‘Current Situation in India’ and its implications for the Northeast.

Stored Anger is a study of violence, its contextual understanding, and related themes like sensitivity, respect and peace seen  in various forms down the ages to our own days. 

The book begins with a brief account of the Paris terrorist attack in 2015 that carried away 127 lives. It comments on Francois Hollande’s call for a “pitiless response,” and Marine Le Pen’s  remark, “There is cold anger in my heart.” 

“I am worried about this kind of ‘Cold Anger’ that gets stored, and remains as a buried explosive, with the danger that it can go off at any time when people least expect it,” Archbishop Menamparampil who has lived in northeast India for over six decades. 

The race-related anger of the African-American may differ from the caste-related anger of the Dalit. Again, the post-colonial anger the Middle East may differ from the post-Communist anger of East Europe, or that of the weak nations that feel that their natural resources are being exploited by stronger nations, or people who feel that their jobs are being taken away by immigrants. But each of them hurts human hearts, and each of them makes human societies unstable. 

Stored Anger says, epics are full of violence, so are historic accounts. The winners boast, and their boasts go into histories. Losers remember, and their memories go into the production of more brutish weapons. The development of Nuclear weapons had some relationship to the Holocaust.

Great conquerors are admired for their achievements. The good they do remains on and bears fruit. The harshness they inflict on others too bears its fruit in due time. In Ayodhya it was after four centuries, in Kosovo after eight.

Arnold Toynbee argues that the Persian excesses on the Greeks produced Alexander, that the Greco-Roman thrust into Asia invited an Islamic thrust to the gates of Vienna and the heart of the Iberian Peninsula. A western response to this aggression took them all the way to world-conquest and to the ends of the earth. A push in one direction in excess invites a push in the opposite direction, says Toynbee.

Too often we study the immediate causes of an instance of violence. Deeper causes, diverse causes, and distant causes are not explored. So the issues do not reach the road to solution. And wrong solutions place you on the path to further violence.

Stored Anger is an invitation to a ‘Contextual Understanding’ of a situation of violence, not in order to assign blame but to share the pain...not only with the victim, but also with the aggressor. Archbishop Menamparampil’s argument is that contextual understanding of anger with sensitivity and respect alone will open out a path to peace. 

Sensitivity brings anger down. Even if peace does not come immediately, some progress can be made. ‘Anger-reduction’ or anger-management is merely the first step. But a helpful conversation can begin. For, all are interested in a common future.

The Archbishop argues that it is in the context of violence that peace-makers also arise: Buddha in his times, Gandhi in our days. Mandela or Tutu or Martin Luther King in their own contexts. The book refers to a number of models and their contribution. But ultimately ‘creativity in context’ alone will give the answer.

Man-created problems definitely have answers discoverable my man, whether they be in Afghanistan, Syria, Dallas, Paris, Saxony, or Muzaffarnagar. Every committed citizen has a duty to contribute his/her share. In global times, it is a global duty.

Add new comment

Random Stories

Confident Gogoi casts vote in Jorhat

4 Apr 2011 - 10:52pm | editor
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is confident that Congress would be able to retain power this time also. Talking to newsmen watihg at the polling booth in Jorhat, he said Congress will get...

Victory for Congress, BPF

7 Feb 2014 - 6:03pm | AT News
The suspense is over. Its victory for Bhubneswar Kalita, Dr Sanjay Sinh and Biswajeet Daimary in the Rajya Sabha polls on Friday.Congress candidates Bhuneswar Kalita and Dr Singh got 32 votes each...

An appeal to the people

5 Aug 2008 - 8:46pm | editor
We, the undersigned urge the people of Assam to celebrate the 61st anniversary of our Independence Day on August 15 in a befitting manner.We, the people of the State have inherited the spirit of the...

Hospital on Wheels now in Hojai Sub Division

26 Apr 2012 - 3:56am | editor
National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) Assam sanctioned one mobile medical unit (MMU) exclusively for Hojai sub division under the administrative control of Jugijan BPHC. The MMU is formally flagged...

Other Contents by Author

Former Chancellor of Assam Don Bosco University is set on a national youth mission experimenting with a new ‘wake up call’ training college students. The first of the seres was held at the School of Social Sciences and Engineering at Rajagiri College, Kochi during first and third week of August. Founder director of Child Friendly Guwahati Salesian Father V.M. Thomas (Vattathara) conducted four 2-day workshops at the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate institution as part of a skilling effort to build up young people in Leadership and in Professional Life. Christened CROSSOVER, the innovative youth program for college and university students “is an intensive 2-day Inner Engineering Workshop...
Salesian College Sonada and its Siliguri campus has launched for the first time Skill Oriented diploma and degree courses starting with this academic session in mid-July. Admissions are going on for Bachelor of Vocation Courses in Retail Management, at Sonada, and Travel and Tourism Management at Siliguri campus. “This skill based program which provides both Diploma and Degree possibilities is the need of the hour to fight growing unemployment in the country,” says Principal Dr George Thadathil who claims Salesian to be the first college to implement the program in the Hills. “Both students and parents are enthusiastic when informed about the new program with three possible exit...
Kalimpong: A Job Oriented Training Institute which has pioneered a Teacher Training Diploma Course in Elementary Education (private) has attracted brighter students to flock to its innovative program. Salesian Br. Lawrence Mondol, Principal of Don Bosco Technical School in Kalimpong situated outside the tourist hill town at its sprawling campus at 14th Mile says, “Our Institute offers 12 job oriented training programs to rural youth including 1 two year course, 5 one year courses and 6 three months courses.” The two year course, Diploma in Elementary Education (D. El. Ed), is mandatory for any one to get a Government job as primary school teacher. Eligibility for this diploma program...
Darjeeling: An inter-faith group in Darjeeling has shown the way to harmonious and peaceful living among members of all religious beliefs amid news of rising incidents of intolerance and religious bigotry in the society. The Darjeeling Inter faith group on May 25 held a two hour session on the theme, “Dialogue and Fellowship: Shared Beliefs and Practices Across Communities.” The group was formed in 2005 under the leadership of Father George Thadathil, principal of Salesian College Sonada who is also secretary of Darjeeling Diocesan Commission for Inter-faith dialogue. Some 50 members of various religious affiliations were present for an opening session by visiting professor Dr Georgios T...
Darjeeling:  A US Educationist who taught 21st century learning skills to Salesian College Sonada and Siliguri faculty last October is back in seven months to teach young faculty of both campuses on Continuous Professional Development. This time, Prof Loren Weybright is engaging young faculty who joined teaching positions in the last five years on a 3-day workshop in what he calls: Building Relationships, Developing Wise Practices, and Integrating Technology. Some 18 faculty members participated in the practical workshop on college level teaching from 20th to 22nd May. Divided into two groups, the participants applied ORID Conversation model in teaching. It consists of:...
Darjeeling — The first college in the Darjeeling hills to under take National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has retained its ‘A’ Grade in the 3rd Cycle concluded on 3rd and 4th May 2019. Announcing the result of the NAAC Peer Team Visit on 20 May 2019, the Director of Bangalore-based NAAC Dr. S.C. Sharma wrote, “I am glad to inform you that the outcome of the Assessment and Accreditation (A&A) exercise of your institution has been processed and approved by the [40th] Standing Committee constituted by the Executive Committee to examine the peer team reports and declare the accreditation results.” Dr Sharma continued, “Your institution has been Accredited with a CGPA...
Guwahati: A Salesian who headed national media offices in New Delhi will now be in charge of the media office of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference (FABC) in Manila from 22nd March 2019. Media trainer Fr. (Dr.) George Plathottam has been appointed Executive Secretary of the FABC Office of Social Communications (OSC) in Manila, the Philippines. The FABC-OSC is responsible for the  Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), the only continental Catholic Radio service  broadcasting in 22 languages of Asia for the last 50 years. The RVA Golden Jubilee celebrations are scheduled for 11-12 April 2019. The FABC Central Committee meeting in Rome on 25 February 2019 appointed 62 year old...
Darjeeling: The Salesian College Publication participating in the 23rd Annual Darjeeling District Book Fair held from 14 to 17 March 2019 won laurels for being the only college publication at the fair. The anuual book fair was organized by Darjeeling Book Fair Committee in Darjeeling's iconic Capitol Cinema Hall - a stone building with a clock standing 100ft high and used to house a 600-seat theatre from 1921 to 1984. The annual feature was hosted under the aegis of West Bengal State Department of Mass Education Extension and Library Services which promotes the Literacy and Library Movements in the State for the benefit of the common people. It is for the third consecutive time...
A priest social worker who has worked in northeast India for some 40 years has come up with a photo journal of his photographic collection chronicling the life and culture of Mising tribe among whom he has worked for some 15 years. Fr Thomas Kalapurackal is the founder-director of Institution for Culture And Rural Development (iCARD) at Jorhat in Assam that focus on training young Mising tribal people in leadership to serve their community. Salesian Provincial of Dimapur province Dr Jose Kuruvachira released Fr. Kalapurackal’s latest book called Tani Cool, on 4 March 2019 at Don Bosco, Baghchung, in the presence of a large number of educationists and social workers from Golaghat,...
Darjeeling: A Darjeeling based Energy Engineering scholar has become the first one in the region to get a PhD degree in Building Thermal Comfort and Environment for his thesis entitled 'Study and Analysis of Adaptive Thermal Comfort Model in Darjeeling Hills’. The above study was undertaken in the School of Engineering and Technology at Poornima University, Jaipur. Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Salesian College Sonada for over 15 years, Mr Samar Thapa from Kurseong in Darjeeling district successfully defended his doctoral thesis early September. “Thermal comfort standards are required not only to ensure good indoor climatic condition, but also to optimize the energy...