Varanassi- When was the last time you were angry?

I am currently in the most holy city in all of India. Varanassi is considered the birthplace of their mighty god Shiva. It is approximately 4000 years old. The holy river, Ganges River, runs through the heart of the city. This river is their life. Every night they would have a large ceremony where they thank the Ganges. All along the city, they have these steps down to the river which are called "ghats". People wake up at 5 am to go to these ghats so that they can bathe themselves in the river during sunrise. I hear it's an amazing feeling and I'm planning on doing it at one point! The traditions and customs are rich in this holy town and I have a lot to learn from the river!

When was the last time you were angry?

This was my dad’s favorite question that he would ask to young people during an interview. I love this question because it really throws people off balance and they have no immediate reply. They would sit there nervously trying to remember if they had rehearsed the answer to this question. hmmm… I know I practiced the answer to ‘What’s

The Gangas river at night

your strength and weakness?’ But this one’s hard… And to buy some more time to think of an appropriate answer, they would ask my dad, “What do you mean by angry?” Then my dad would just ask the same question again,’ When was the last time you were angry’? No further explanation because he wants to know how the person’s mind interprets this simple question of his. The hardest questions we ask ourselves are usually in the simplest forms.

The young person’s mind starts racing Does he mean really mad like when I lost my phone? Or does he mean a little bit angry like when somebody said something bad about me? Or maybe he wants to know the angriest moment in my life? But wait… he said ‘LAST time you were angry’ The young person confuses himself even more and quickly answers the questions. From my experience, most of the answers that they give are pretty crappy and the story always ends up with them self-justifying their anger. But who can blame them? It’s so difficult to be self-aware and it’s even harder to be able to answer that question under pressure. My dad never expected a good answer but that wasn’t his intention. I could tell that he was looking between the lines of the answer and learning more about them with the way they answered the question. I never really figured out what my dad was looking for in those answers because there obviously wasn’t a right or wrong answer. My guess is that whenever somebody tells a big story about their anger it means that they have a strong attachment to that anger and the individual can’t seem to let go of things. Or if somebody tells a story about something small it means he’s easily angered? I never really found out what my dad was looking for behind the stories. Perhaps he could share with all of us in his reply? Maybe, for fun, we could all write an answer to “When was the last time you were angry?” and he could share his secret behind what he’s looking for in the answer! This is considered the ‘make or break’ question in his interviews and I just want to know how it is relevant to employment.

‘Vic, when was the last time you were angry?’

I was a little bit angered about 20 minutes ago when I was writing this blog. I’m in the car right now on the way to Bodh Gaya from Varanassi and we stopped at the state border. While I was waiting, I witnessed a few policemen abusing their power. They would stand in the middle of the road with this long bamboo and would stop freight trucks from passing if they didn’t give them money. They would hold the bamboo out and start hitting the windshield if the driver complained. I saw this one person give ‘too little’ and the police started yelling and hitting his truck but then the driver just sped off. The police just ignored him and stopped the next freight truck to yell at him and intimidate him for money. Even though this has nothing to do with me, this still angered me a little bit because there was serious injustice. Worst of all, I couldn’t do anything to help the situation and so I could only bottle up the anger.

Like I said, the answer to my dad’s question is usually pretty crappy and I ended up justifying my anger in the end, hehe. But this is the answer I would give if I only had a small amount of time to reply. So dad, you think you can share your secret and tell us what you’re truly looking for behind our boring answers?

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