Isis and his chain Take 1

My name is Arul, and I live in Gurgaon with a dog named Isis. Isis is a genetically challenged Dalmatian. He grew up and spent almost all his life in the company of an overweight bachelor. I guess the nature vs. nurture phenomenon coupled with his not having too many doggy friends to interact with, has cast a predisposition on his world view- he thinks that he is human and believes with all his heart that I am his pet. I call him Isis and he calls me “Bow Wow”. I guess Isis has defined me with the best faculties of his vocabulary because most of what he says is “Bow Wow”. This is a parable about the chain that comes between us.

Isis has a strained relationship with his chain. He hates it and feels limited by it. However; the fact of the matter is that the chain comes into play only in occasions where his freedom would be hazardous to him and the rest of the universe. In such moments he fails to realize that the chain is not the story of his life. The limits of the chain often save his life. The length of the chain and the amount of freedom he gets is determined by how much freedom is safe and good for him in the given situation.

Isis looks at other dogs in the neighborhood, dogs that do not have a chain attached to their necks and he asks them with the questioning eyes; “Why don’t you have a chain? Why don’t you have a “bow wow” attached to you? Does your life without a bow wow make you happy??? ” When the other dogs ask him what the chain is for he explains that it is a widget he uses to bend my will to match his, to make me go where he wants to go. To drag me around and showoff to the world that he has a 2 legged pet that is fully under his control and dogipulations. I guess, he even feels called to make a public display of how he can use the chain that holds him back to take me where he wants to go. I have to admit that he does do a great job of it. He exercises an effort that would compel a super laden caravan through the eye of a needle.

Every morning Isis loves the sound of me picking up his chain. He argues with every nerve in my body that tells me to go back to sleep. He performs a gleeful prance between me and the door to urge me to go against the laws of the universe which clearly state that: more sleep is equal to a better option than walking a hyperactive cross between a Dalmatian and a creature of unknown origin. He loves to take me for a walk. On days when it is sufficiently early and the traffic is less, I take Isis for a walk without his chain and that makes him the happiest dog in the Dogdom. He runs about the street looks at other people and tries to jump on them and invite them to also be his pets. The people, for some strange reason, do not exactly respond the way he expects them to. Slowly and surely he seems to be learning to face rejection with his tail. He understands that not all potentially competent 2 legged pets are willing to dedicate their entire existence to the singular purpose of his happiness, but he has the dogged persistence of an insurance sales man. He leaves the non-respondents with an attitude of, “it is ok if you do not want to be my pet, I am not losing anything, I guess you have thought about it and I guess your ok with the consequences of not being my pet.” He proceeds to display enjoyment of freedom by zigzagging around me across the road. Isis loves it when I let him enjoy his Dogness without restraint.

Now when he is bounding about in carefree abandon he occasionally meets another dog that seems to speak his language. Isis sees something louche in this. He cannot handle another creature sharing his language, I guess it makes him vulnerable and maybe it also affects his sense of significance; which is obviously that he is the only terrestrial creature that can declare to the world the unique message; “Bow Wow”.

Isis is a brave dog; he will bite and dismember anything that threatens his Dogness. Cell phones, TV remote controls, pens, rugs, bones and numerous members of the harmless material world have crumbled between his jaws for the simple sin of not satisfactorily affirming his Dogness. Isis will not tolerate any creature questioning or challenging his doghood. He charges and gets into a fight. Isis is very clear about the healthy way to fight. His fights are all about I win and you lose. Somehow Isis has again been learning the hard way that, some dogs fight back, especially if they are dogs that have lived their lives with out a human in their house. I do not know if Isis resents the protected environment I have given him but I know that when the war of dogs gets beyond what he can handle he whimpers and comes running to me with his tail between his wobbly legs. The other dogs back off when they realize that Isis has a human attached to him with a chain. The moment he hears the snap clasp of the chain on his collar; he is transformed. His dropping tail starts wagging, his frightened eyes sparkle with confidence and his whimpers turn into aggressive declarations of his dogly message to the world- “Bow Wow”. He declares to the chainless quadrupeds with an improvization of David’s discourse with the uncircumcised Goliath. “Look you chainless fauna”, he says. “I have bow wow with me, don’t you dare challenge me”. He keeps turning around to check if I am there to support his claims and the more he see me around the more confident he gets. Once again he strains at the chain to take me where he wants to go but I also believe that in his heart he is happy to have a chain that holds me close to him.

The chain that confines him, defines him. It defines his existence in the universe and affirms to him that he is; and yes that he is the one and only Isis and he is reminded that I am indeed his one and only pet “bow wow”.

Contributed by: ~Arul Baliah

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