OM !OM! OM!

OM …OM…OM…

I interact with children ages 8 to14 as a part of my job

A boy studying in class 4 (around 10 years) seemed to be angry all the time. He was huge… much taller and heavier than his class mates. That also made him stronger than the rest of the class. He often got teased by his peers and that obviously made him angry. Since he scored over his peers in terms of his strength, he would get even with them by harming the little ones physically. Depending on his mood, he would either catch the child by his collar and bang his head against the wall or just lift a child and drop him down. The ‘culprit’ may have laughed at his awkward way of running during the games period or just refused to include him in the football team!!!Efforts to make him realize that the consequences of his actions could be fatal were futile.
After one such incident, he was sent to my room along with the little girl who was crying inconsolably…..she looked scared and shocked ….I’m not sure which feeling was more pronounced. She had laughed at him when he fell off from the slide while playing in the garden and he had twisted her hand to get even!!!
I thought he looked guilty…perhaps he was feeling bad since the girl was crying continuously interspersed with ‘See my hand it is so red it is paining he beat me etc etc’
Probably he realized that he had used his strength disproportionately on her delicate hands. He confessed that he had not imagined that the consequences would be so grave. In that vulnerable moment, he expressed that he usually lost control when he was angry and that he wanted to become ‘good’ Could I help him? I was not expecting this. Nevertheless I was impressed but I must confess that I was at a loss as to how I could help him since it was not my arena. I quickly thought about the strategies (to shoo away the anger) that I had given to my own children when they were young. All this while the boy and the little girl were looking at me expectantly…..
Then I came up with an idea and told him with all my wisdom ‘Whenever you are angry, clench your fist and say Om, Om, Om three times in your mind. Your anger will slowly go away’. I just could not think of anything else. He seemed to like the idea and went away with a promise to follow the strategy in future. The little girl had also stopped crying by then and she too seemed to approve of this idea. I also felt happy at having disposed of the matter successfully (I thought)
A few days later when I .chanced to pass by his class I noticed that a boy had opened my hero’s pencil box and scattered his pencils all over the place. He was very ANGRY!!. I waited with bated breathe and watched expectantly…what would he do?
He got up from his place, stomped to the centre of the class, clenched his fists and screamed loudly three times OM, OM, OM.There was pin drop silence in the class. A few boys hurriedly picked up the pencils and put them back in his box. The timid ones were taken aback with his roaring voice and were quietly scared. He went back in a huff and sat down on his seat seemingly satisfied with his performance.
He had followed my strategy!!! At least he had not physically harmed anyone I thought to myself.Every time I think of this incident, I cannot but help laughing loudly