Dr Br Brendan MacCarthaigh is a passionate spokesman (and writer) for the students of India, among whom he has worked at every level from prestigious universities to backstreets, lanes and railway-platforms in many places throughout the country. He is the ceo of SERVE, an ngo he co-founded twenty years ago in Kolkata, unique in that the three founders were Hindu, Muslim, Christian, committed to the elimination of suffering by the students of the country. Among those sufferings is the issue of fear and, though not of course confined to students, they too experience it, so he hopes that these pages will help them as well as everyone else cope more confidently with this strutting bully.

An Irishman by birth, Brother Mac (as he is fondly called by his students) is an eminent educationist, a practicing psychologist and a noted columnist. He has many qualifications and has received many...