SUMMARY OF CHAPTER-4.

In spite of realizing his dream, Dawa remained dissatisfied. The post of a leader was fraught with danger and in that capacity he had to work in close proximity of other dog leaders he was not particularly fond of. The three most important dog leaders were the Leader of Territories, the Leader of Warnings and Signals and the Leader of Howling. The area of the Leader of Territories extended from the dzong to the National hospital and from lower Motithang to the Vegetable Market. But the boundaries changed with the change of leaders. His job was also to chase away the intruders. He had a band of trusted comrades, some well-muscled veterans for the purpose of fighting dog-wars – which were often ruthless, bloody affairs with many dogs injured, blood shed and lives lost.

Once there was a proposal/move that the Leader of Territories be assigned the extra responsibility of being the Leader of Population Expansion. Dawa opposed the move as he did not want the future generation of dogs to be cold-blooded murderers. As a result, he became the enemy numero Uno of the Leader of territories.

Similarly, the Leader of Warnings and Signals was a young, ambitious dog who did not want to make the same mistake having witnessed the poor plight of his predecessor. He was edgy and added on to the existing sense of tension and insecurity of the dogs. The previous Leader of warnings and Signals was the underdog, the fallen leader, left at the mercy of all and sundry. He was the butt of ridicule and torture. Even the puppies did not spare him. He was reduced to a pulp with terror writ large on his face.

His situation made Dawa wonder about his own prospect, which did not look promising either with the Leader of Territories always scheming behind him and breathing down his neck. He wanted to get out of leadership but leadership provisions did not allow voluntary resignation. A leader either died or became an underdog. He rued the fact that he had become a leader by circumstances, but what about the others? Why did others become leaders in spite of all the gloomy eventualities?

Dawa found the leadership rules of Thimphu stifling. He was appalled at the condition of the Leader of Warnings and Signals. Once he was a very popular leader with a lot of fan following. In fact he was entertaining a group of his comrades when he failed to notice the dog-catchers and warn the dogs in advance. No sooner had he become an underdog than his friends and fans left him. Dawa did not like being followed around by a bunch of self-appointed opportunists. He not only felt uncomfortable in their presence but also got weary of them.

Once he asked three of his ardent followers how they felt about a fallen leader. Two of them kept quiet as they were unable to think. The third one replied that a fallen leader should be treated according to the rules. Dawa knew what that meant.

Dawa was worried of his own end ('drying up of luck' in dog parlance). Consequently he howled longer due to fear, till the early hours of the morning. The immediate result was human beings became more annoyed than ever before. The only difference between Dawa and the other leaders was while they enjoyed their positions of power, Dawa did not.

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