The BOOK of Emotions
OTHER LOTUS TITLES Ajit Bhattacharjea
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah: Tragic Hero of Kashmir
Anil Dharker
Icons: Men & Women Who Shaped Today’s India
Alam Srinivas & TR Vivek
IPL: The Inside Story
Amarinder Singh
The Last Sunset: The Rise & Fall of the Lahore Durbar
H.L.O. Garrett
The Trial of Bahadur Shah Zafar
Kiran Maitra
Marxism in India: From Decline to Debacle
M.B. Naqvi
Pakistan at Knife’s Edge
M.J. Akbar
Byline
M.J. Akbar
Blood Brothers: A Family Saga
Maj. Gen. Ian Cardozo
Param Vir: Our Heroes in Battle
Maj. Gen. Ian Cardozo
The Sinking of INS Khukri: What Happened in 1971
Madhu Trehan
Tehelka as Metaphor
Mamata Banerjee
My Unforgettable Memories
Mohammed Hyder
October Coup: A Memoir of the Struggle for Hyderabad
Nayantara Sahgal (ed.)
Before Freedom: Nehru’s Letters to His Sister
Nilima Lambah
A Life Across Three Continents
S. Hussain Zaidi
Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia
Sharmishta Gooptu
Revisiting 1857: Myth, Memory, History
and Boria Majumdar (eds) Shashi Joshi
The Last Durbar
Shashi Tharoor &
Shadows Across the Playing Field
Shaharyar M. Khan Shrabani Basu
Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan
Shyam Bhatia
Goodbye Shahzadi: A Political Biography
FORTHCOMING TITLES Imtiaz Gul
Pakistan: Before and After Osama bin Laden
Preeti Monga
The Other Senses
The BOOK of Emotions Salman Akhtar
Lotus Collection © Salman Akhtar, 2012 ‘Envy’, ‘Hope’ and ‘Love’ were first published in Housecalls in 2004. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the author. First published in 2012 The Lotus Collection An imprint of Roli Books Pvt. Ltd M-75, Greater Kailash II Market, New Delhi 110 048 Phone: ++91 (011) 4068 2000 Fax: ++91 (011) 2921 7185 E-mail:
[email protected] Website: www.rolibooks.com Also at Bangalore, Chennai, & Mumbai Cover & Layout design: Bonita Vaz-Shimray ISBN: 978-81-7436-953-6
To My beloved cousin NASSER HARVANI without some of the emotions mentioned in this book
Contents Prologue: Why this book? Anger Boredom Courage Disgust Envy Fear Greed Hope Ingratitude Joy Kindness Love Mourning Nostalgia Obstinacy Pity Querulence Remorse Shame Tenderness Unease Vindictiveness Worry Xenophobia Yearning Zest
Epilogue: What aboutAnxiety, Happiness, Jealousy, and Regret? Translation of Urdu/Hindi Poetry Acknowledgments Sources Index About the Author
Prologue Why this Book? Practising psychiatry, psychotherapy, and psychoanalysis for over forty years and being an avid reader of books pertaining to the human mind has convinced me that most good books in this realm are difficult to read for lay-persons. Matters are made worse by the fact that books that are readable succumb to oversimplification and glib advice-giving. As a result, the seeker of knowledge about the intricacies of emotional life finds little that is meaningful to read. It is this lack that I am trying to address here. Only the reader can tell to what extent I have succeeded in offering a textured, nuanced, and yet engaging discourse in these pages.
Anger Anger is a pillar that rises from the floor of humilliation. Anger is not a ‘primary’ emotion. It does not arise de novo. It is a response to fear, betrayal, humiliation, and other sundry injuries to s