Can hunger lead you to anger? Is the anticipation towards a good meal a stimuli to anger when disappointed?
Bharat Bhushan - 14 June 2008
Yes. It can. I know from experience and very good experience. My stimuli usually are - not able to get a good cup of coffee, not able to get a decent wholesome meal, and when confronted with badly planned or leftover pushed-out food. That, and much more. There are several other stimuli. I get angry when faced with thick gooey gravy, but I think, who would not? In fact, who would not get angry when presented with badly cooked food, ill-choices, leftovers presented as pretend newly cooked dinner.
And, like a perfect cliche, and I know that this would be absolute manna for psychiatrists and psychologists, I look at my mother as an absolute example. She was in bad health for most of her life, and had her tummy opened up thrice - 2 times for caesarian and once for a badly diagnosed hernia. As a result, she was packed up with all the illnesses possible. Hypertension, bad heart, blood pressure, too much water in her legs, hernia, diabetes, glaucoma, poor aerobic strength and what not. On top of it all, she was a school teacher, and in her later years, a supervisor and much later, a headmistress or a principal. She would consider her work as religion, and would leave the house by 7 am and return by 8 pm or thereabouts.
We were only four of us, parents, me and my sister. And later, when my sister got married, my brother-in-law came to live with us, and when I got married and we had a daughter in Chennai, we moved and thus, there were 7 and sometimes 9 persons living in a 320 square feet house in Wadala, Mumbai. In all my life, I do not remember that I slept with a straight posture, or in a cushioned mattress. But, we did the best we could. My mother was simply the best. And that, is not a cliche.
She would wake up much before 7 am, and get through her preparations while cooking breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. All the foodstuff, mind you, separate dishes for separate meals, would be cooked and kept separately on the dining table. She would be very sanitary - that is, she would boil milk in a dedicated vessel, boil in a different vessel and deep fry in a different one and all that. You get the point. But, before she would get going to the school, there would be all the food that we needed, on the table. Without help from her daughter or her daughter-in-law during the day, who would go through the day, biting and carping at each other and destroying the peace of the family.
And now, after my mother has moved on to the higher temple in 1996, and since then, I see a miserably managed kitchen, without any fresh food, and sometimes, without food. I remember the enormous metabolism that I had before 1996, and when along with my brother-in-law and his father, the three of us could eat out a restaurant. But, my mother planned for it, and there would be enough quantities of food for the three of us, and the others. Now, my distress is that there is not enough food or properly cooked food for my metabolism when it is at 1/20th of what it was prior to 1996.
And I get angry. I see a dirty kitchen, and I clean it up, and WHAM!, its back to being disgustingly dirty. Once, a helper boy, who lived in the really bad slums near Pune, who was helping clean up the refrigerator, got shocked and invited me to visit his slum hut and see how some people cook clean and decent food and how they take care of their health. That was a real shameful moment in my life. And, I get angry because of that.
I am beginning to recognise the stimuli. Hunger pangs, and faced with no food at home - Yes - leads to anger. Needing a cup of coffee in the morning - Yes - leads to anger. Anticipating nicely cooked dinner, and heading home from office, and awaiting some hot meals - and faced with leftover food that was previously badly cooked and now, disguised as fresh dinner - Yes - leads to anger.
What can you do about it? What can I do about it? Nothing. So, if one cannot do anything about it, how can one manage the anger? No good way to do it. So, one should not get angry. Go away, and do something else. Go and get a good meal. Enjoy your life and go and get something really good to eat. But, do not get angry. THAT, is the moral of the story.
Bharat Bhushan - 14 June 2008
Yes. It can. I know from experience and very good experience. My stimuli usually are - not able to get a good cup of coffee, not able to get a decent wholesome meal, and when confronted with badly planned or leftover pushed-out food. That, and much more. There are several other stimuli. I get angry when faced with thick gooey gravy, but I think, who would not? In fact, who would not get angry when presented with badly cooked food, ill-choices, leftovers presented as pretend newly cooked dinner.
And, like a perfect cliche, and I know that this would be absolute manna for psychiatrists and psychologists, I look at my mother as an absolute example. She was in bad health for most of her life, and had her tummy opened up thrice - 2 times for caesarian and once for a badly diagnosed hernia. As a result, she was packed up with all the illnesses possible. Hypertension, bad heart, blood pressure, too much water in her legs, hernia, diabetes, glaucoma, poor aerobic strength and what not. On top of it all, she was a school teacher, and in her later years, a supervisor and much later, a headmistress or a principal. She would consider her work as religion, and would leave the house by 7 am and return by 8 pm or thereabouts.
We were only four of us, parents, me and my sister. And later, when my sister got married, my brother-in-law came to live with us, and when I got married and we had a daughter in Chennai, we moved and thus, there were 7 and sometimes 9 persons living in a 320 square feet house in Wadala, Mumbai. In all my life, I do not remember that I slept with a straight posture, or in a cushioned mattress. But, we did the best we could. My mother was simply the best. And that, is not a cliche.
She would wake up much before 7 am, and get through her preparations while cooking breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. All the foodstuff, mind you, separate dishes for separate meals, would be cooked and kept separately on the dining table. She would be very sanitary - that is, she would boil milk in a dedicated vessel, boil in a different vessel and deep fry in a different one and all that. You get the point. But, before she would get going to the school, there would be all the food that we needed, on the table. Without help from her daughter or her daughter-in-law during the day, who would go through the day, biting and carping at each other and destroying the peace of the family.
And now, after my mother has moved on to the higher temple in 1996, and since then, I see a miserably managed kitchen, without any fresh food, and sometimes, without food. I remember the enormous metabolism that I had before 1996, and when along with my brother-in-law and his father, the three of us could eat out a restaurant. But, my mother planned for it, and there would be enough quantities of food for the three of us, and the others. Now, my distress is that there is not enough food or properly cooked food for my metabolism when it is at 1/20th of what it was prior to 1996.
And I get angry. I see a dirty kitchen, and I clean it up, and WHAM!, its back to being disgustingly dirty. Once, a helper boy, who lived in the really bad slums near Pune, who was helping clean up the refrigerator, got shocked and invited me to visit his slum hut and see how some people cook clean and decent food and how they take care of their health. That was a real shameful moment in my life. And, I get angry because of that.
I am beginning to recognise the stimuli. Hunger pangs, and faced with no food at home - Yes - leads to anger. Needing a cup of coffee in the morning - Yes - leads to anger. Anticipating nicely cooked dinner, and heading home from office, and awaiting some hot meals - and faced with leftover food that was previously badly cooked and now, disguised as fresh dinner - Yes - leads to anger.
What can you do about it? What can I do about it? Nothing. So, if one cannot do anything about it, how can one manage the anger? No good way to do it. So, one should not get angry. Go away, and do something else. Go and get a good meal. Enjoy your life and go and get something really good to eat. But, do not get angry. THAT, is the moral of the story.
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