IN THE NAME OF DOG.....

By Manas Paul

They always said, ‘give a dog bad name and, hang it’. And I knew some characters like Black Leclere who had given his wicked eyed dog a name ‘Batard’- a distortion of ‘Bastard’, in fact –whom he would also often refer to as ‘devil’. Both Black and Batard matched with contempt and hatred for each other until the end came for the both. The ‘un-heavenly’ bond between the master and his dog –that the ‘hell might have also paid for’ - in the story 'Batard' was not only ‘unprecedented’ but in all sense ‘terrific’. But then, Jack London was a master storyteller especially when it came to canines with ‘Buck’ leading his packs in ‘Call of the Wild’.
On November 8, 2008 I was, however, in for surprise when I came across a positively bizarre expression, ‘First Dog’ of America, referring to the USA President’s pets in newspapers. The Times of India enlightened us with precious tidbits on George Bush’s pet and outgoing “First Dog’ Barnie- who may be, in a bitter mood at the prospect of leaving the cozy confines of White House for ever, bit a journalist’s finger when he sought to play with the dog. The Telegraph on the same day dedicated its editorial for the Americans’ ‘First Dogs’ only, while on the previous day they had carried the names and breeds of a galaxy of VIP canines loved and cared for by a succession of US Presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush.
The Indian newspapers evidently picked up the word ‘First Dog’ from American media.
I am not sure whether this is for the first time the American newspapers in their Obama inspired ‘United’ voice wanted to popularize the word ‘First Dog’ or ‘First Puppy’, attributing a new meaning and a respectable connotation to the canine denizens of the White House. Many would opine they had temporarily secured rehabilitation from people who had acted more often as ‘Dogs of War’ fighting out their own selfish battles in places like Afghanistan or Iraq.
Or, was the Americans’ new found respect for the dogs anyway related to Chinese authorities’ cynophobic (Sinophobic !) decision during Beijing Olympics to quarantine all the city dogs so that the foreigners were not ‘disturbed’?
Whatever it is, I would certainly love the people who had coined the nomenclature ‘First Dog’. After all to give a dog a good name has always proved a tricky matter.
President Washington seemed to have also had tough time with his 10 dogs as he had christened some of them with ‘Forester’, ‘Captain’, ‘Madame Moose’, ‘Searcher’ and even ‘Sweet lips!’ while Lyndon Johnson seemed to have played safe with his two dogs calling them ‘Him’ and ‘Her’ only. And Gerald Ford had his Golden Retriever named as ‘Liberty’.
Reportedly one of our own top political functionaries also- in his own unique style, of course- had ‘baptized’ his dog with a name that expressed his anger against ‘castism’ quite bitterly.
I still remember during my private tuition days in Kamalpur one of my students had a dog which was called ‘Pundit’. I did not like the name.
In fact, to choose a name for your dog is all the more problematic when you have small children at home. You may have some good names in your mind –like ‘Tiger’ ‘Jackie’ ‘Tommy’, ‘Jimmy’, ‘Badsha’, ‘Begum’ etc but at the end it is your children who would come up with some name that would ultimately stick.
When I first brought my black Labrador puppy home many a good name passed by my mind. Since I do not have children at home and my wife would prefer to stay away from undertaking ‘arduous exercise’ in finding a name for the pup I was given a freedom of sort. I looked at the pup sitting comfortably on a towel and playing intently with a toy. He would often look up at me –stare for a while as if to reassure himself about my presence near him-the only human smell he got used to for the last few hours in an alien environ far from the care of his doggy parents and playful siblings- and then would go back to his games.
I thought of many names like ‘Cujo’ and even once almost zeroed in on baptizing him ‘White Fang’. I am not superstitious but when I remembered the rabid end of ‘Cujo’-the huge St Barnard of Stephen King’s book I discarded the idea. I would have really loved to call him ‘White Fang’ but it sounded a little ‘too much for a reporter’s dog in a city’.
I was aware Bill Clinton had a Labrador-the same breed of my pup- but I did not know his name was ‘Buddy’ or else, perhaps, I would have chosen the same name.
Ultimately I did not choose any name –but started calling him ‘Pocha’ unwittingly out of love, of course, which by the way is no better a Bengali name for a dog than ‘Batard’ in Jack London’s story. The pup happily responded to the name little knowing the rotten meaning but Dr SS Debbarma, a compassionate pet lover Vet surgeon who gave him all the vaccinations seemed disturbed. So in official health cards ‘Pocha’ has been named as ‘Sultan’. He now responds to both the names.
Labrador is a well-known family dog- extremely intelligent and cool, a hunter’s delight, actually used for retrieving the kill, but he is also famous for sniffing out explosives worldwide. After Agartala Bomb Blasts people here also know the dog very well - and that had once created a small embarrassment for me.
Like every dog owners I take out ‘Pocha’ at night for a walk. He would stroll along with me for sometime calmly and then all of a sudden some queer smell from the roadside would always hit his nostrils and then he would pull me to this direction. He would sniff around for a while until he is satisfied before resuming the walk. This was the regular exercise and none took much interest except the children who would look at the dog with wide-eyed amazement.
Last week the situation was, however, different.
I had to take ‘Pocha’ to Dr Debbarma at Banamalipur. My car was given to a garage for some repairing and was not available. As neither Pocha was ready for a rickshaw ride, nor were the rickshaw pullers willing to allow the big black dog on his rickshaw, I decided to have a long walk to the doctor’s chamber.
It was by then night and at a roadside Pocha went for sniffing something and ironically it happened to be a ‘paper box’. I let him sniff the box until he was satisfied –little aware that behind me two persons were looking at him intently. They were soon joined by two more and within minutes there were about six or seven.
“What is it ? Is it a bomb”, as some one asked I immediately came to know big problem was in the offing. The queries would soon give way to panic and then I would be in big trouble.
I hurriedly sought to convince them “No, No, not at all. He just wants to pee, you see. It is not a bomb squad dog. It’s nothing, It’s nothing...” I said and pulled the chain hard and started walking straight. May be, by this time it dawned upon the onlookers also that the cops –with bomb squad or wherever they are- do not sport beard or go alone with their sniffing canine.
As I walked an idea struck me-what if the CID thinks of ‘out sourcing’ their dog squad? The threat of bombs would linger for sometime over Agartala as evident from state government asking for central fund for seven more bomb squad spots in the state and people finding some suspicious objects time and again. Out sourcing Bomb Squad dogs would save the police department a good amount of money from what they spend for bringing a trained dog from Tikenpur or other places. In that case I may also get my Pocha trained for explosive recovery by some means and earn some good money. After all fishing in the troubled water is an old practice... By this time I shall also be eagerly awaiting the breed and name of the pup Mr Obama would give to his small daughters when he enters White House. As suggested by some media I also believe it would, indeed, be a good idea if he adopts an abandoned dog to show his concern for the ‘underdog’.

Written on November 9, 2008