Column

Barney, poor dog, is being given a bad name for doing what dogs must do: be loyal to their masters

Pessimism comes easily in these times of strife — economic, political and social — but as cricket writer Peter Roebuck reminded me last week in between watching the final Test between India and Australia in Nagpur, there also much that is worth cherishing.

“Despite the gloom, we've haven't done too badly,” he said twirling a glass of red wine as if in some sort of celebration. “A coloured man is Formula One champion, the number one golfer in the world, and now also President of the United States. Did any of this seem possible even 15 years ago?''

Sport, of course, is used here merely as a metaphor for the change that Barrack Obama's election to the highest office in America promises. In the literal sense, this was one man winning a major election overcoming extraordinary hurdles, but in several other ways this must rate also as perhaps the most significant development in human society over a couple of centuries.

The race factor is hugely significant in the context of American political and social life, of course, but that alone cannot remain the hallmark of Obama's triumph and presidency. The world yearns for a change that goes far deeper and broader. Not since the early late 1960s has there been so much universal existential dejection. Such is the mess created by some previous US presidents, so huge is the disillusionment with America, that Obama will now be expected to becalm not just his nation, but also the world.

While the United States remains the most powerful nation in the world, there has been a dramatic shift in the way it is perceived everywhere. In many ways, it is now seen as the ‘outsider' to the collective good of the human race. Obama, whose stated policies of ‘inclusiveness’ won him the presidency, will now have to expand the ambit of this philosophy globally.

What are the most important things he has to address? The current economic meltdown obviously demands immediate crisis management, and the war on terror will remain high priority obviously. But in the long run, there are other equally compelling issues that he must aim to address straightaway. The senseless other wars perpetrated by his predecessor have driven the world to the brink of an orgy of violence.

Some bold initiatives at rapprochement would go a long way in relieving the tension. A policy of disarmament would help in this. I also believe that preserving the sanctity of the environment is a war of a different kind for which a lot of noise has been made, but precious little done. There a whole lot of issues that imperil this planet and its denizens apart from wealth creation. Human life becomes meaningless without a psycho-emotional belief of well-being.

President Obama has been blessed by history. Can he change the world?

Barney, poor dog, is being given a bad name for doing what dogs must do: be loyal to their masters.

With the muddle-headed George W Bush's tenure in the White House drawing to a close, the Scot terrier must have been under as much pressure as his boss; perhaps more. For, dogs are trained to be not only uncomplaining, but also accommodating of the nonsense that their masters inflict on themselves, the world.

While there may have been countless occasions when Barney would have thought of biffing Bush Jr on the head to prevent him from being silly or sinister, he was bound by the code of the dogs. So, rebellion was ruled out, and he had perforce to do what his master could not — bite reporter John Decker when he came visiting the White House.

Meanwhile,my 15-year-old Dacshund, Asterix, now virtually deaf and blind and otherwise resigned to fate, behaved rather extraordinarily last week. When the result of the presidency became clear, I thought I saw him get up from his slumber, do a sort of weak jig as his weary limbs would permit, wag his tail weakly, then go back to sleep under the sofa.

Both incidents have convinced me more than ever that a dog is man's best friend.

Email: ayaz@dnaindia.net