By Michael Makri
I guess we are familiar with the phrase, ‘Barking dogs, seldom bite’. I am not sure if any of us have tried making a dog bark and then gone towards it in order to prove this English idiom correct. Nay, for most of us the experience is just the opposite; a barking dog frightens us and we try and move away from such dogs. Our instincts fail to inform our brain that since the dog is barking it will not bite. This is one instance where our feelings get the better of our reason. I am not sure how psychologists and philosophers would come to term with the, ‘barking dog,’ experiment. But barking dogs certainly frighten people. When and where does the dog normally bark? Definitely, when someone or something unfamiliar enters into its territory! The dog has no reasoning power to know why that someone or something invades its space. Its only instinct is to bark and frighten others. If that dog is not trained, later on it will keep barking even at the owner who is away from home for a long while. Hence the dog will guard its territory as a, ‘NO ENTRY’ zone for anyone and anything.
When this happens, it leads to two things. Firstly, this sort of behaviour is dangerous for the dog as it could lead to the dog having to starve by alienating its own master/mistress. Secondly, someone who is clever could befriend the dog by giving some bones or meat and then win over its protective instinct. So, even if that person is a thief, the dog will not bark anymore. And this is more dangerous.
Meghalaya, with its rich cultural heritage, decked with myriads of flora and fauna is indeed the ‘Scotland of the East.’ But sadly enough, that glory of the past has remained only a piece of history. And the future for Meghalaya is very bleak. Neither can we retain its past nor could we make it better for the future. In fact, we are now having to eat our own excreta. This is a sad and shameful to say the least. There are reasons galore that force us to eat our own excreta, although not all are responsible, but definitely some barking dogs in the state are. Talk of any developmental work for the state whether initiated by the government or private institutions and the barking dogs are always there making their presence felt. For what? To be won over through some bones and meat. And this phenomenon is too common in our state, thus turning it into a corruption zone for ages.
Have we heard of the railway project that was supposed to connect Meghalaya, especially the Khasi Hills with the rest of India? Yes, it’s in the distant past now since it was initiated. The development that this project is supposed to bring could not be actualized because the German shepherd breed was barking even at noon. Another episode that gives opportunity for various dogs to bark is the Umroi Airport. The old breed were fed with enough bones in the past, leaving the present young puppies clueless on how the bones were eaten. This is more interesting as the barking between the parent dogs and the puppies gain momentum frightening even the false masters that had befriended the parent dogs earlier. Talk about the Uranium issue or the NGT issue and there are too many dogs blindly barking for the sake of getting rotten bones. Why the roads especially in the countryside and villages are as bad as having no road is due to this constant barking dog which seldom bites but is simply waiting for bones and thereby halting all development in the state.
It is over a decade now that Meghalaya is a state without an Assembly House. Let me be clear here, Meghalaya government definitely has got enough money to build an Assembly like the White House of the US, or else who would think of building a Times Square at Polo market. But why is it that a even a thatched Assembly House could not be erected? There are dogs barking there; frightening every one. They are waiting for some false master to throw bones and rotten meat. I once had the privilege of attending the assembly session and believe me I would never think of attending such session again. The barking and howling literally left me discouraged although this scene is common even in Parliament. How could we think of anything else except to run for life when such barking happens?
These past few weeks, we came across another breed barking for a secular Meghalaya by shunning Christianity and its literature. Well, many things could be conjectured from the tone of the howl. For many of us who have watched different breeds of dogs being trained to bark this is nothing new. It is enough to give them bones and they will stop barking and they will obey the one who befriended them by feeding them with even rotten meat. This is more dangerous – befriending some false master who gives them rotten meat just to tame the dog only to skin it alive later. This is not a distant dream if we look at some of the states in our region where we will not find dogs within a mile because they make a good meal. Sadly, those who bark for secularism in Meghalaya don’t realise they are being used. A day will soon come when we will be searching for such dogs and not find them anywhere.
So, shall the dogs stop barking then? Definitely not. Let them not just bark but bite for the right reasons. Why are the dogs not barking for cleanliness of their kennel? Why are not dogs barking for roads and connectivity? Why are the dogs not barking for flyovers in many places to ease the traffic especially in the towns? Why are not the dogs barking for improving the standard of living especially the means of communication? Let us bark for the right reasons and not just for bones and rotten meat.