by Subhash K Jha

Q: You seem to have got yourself into a bit of a jam over your dog's names?
Trouble...that's me! Wherever I go I'm followed by trouble. I can't understand why I'm always singled out for controversies! This latest one just takes my breath away. Because it's so false and so malicious and ugly.

Q: You mean you haven't named your canine Mustafa?
I don't have a dog, let alone a dog by that name. Am I mad to do such a ugly and sacrilgeous thing? I come from a family where we were taught to love and respect every community and religion. Disrespecting another humanbeing , let alone another person's religion or culture, is alien to me. I'm a Hindu and a Nepali by birth. But I'm as Indian as anyone else in this country. And I believe in all the secular values that Indian democracy is famous for.

Q: But where and how did this story come from?
Listen I may be crazy. But not that crazy. I'd never call my dog by that name. When I read this hideous error in the paper I laughed it off, thinking it was just a printing error. I had gone for an election campaign to Nepal. And my mind was totally focused on that. I came back to Mumbai. And I had this huge problem waiting for me. The police inspector came home to see if I had dogs staying with me. I haven't had any dogs staying in my home for two years.

Q: You actually had the cops inspecting your home?
Not just once, but twice. There is a police officer staying in my building who had already informed the cops that I had no dogs in my home for two years, and the ones that I had were named Tanya and Tweety.

Q: Tanya and Tweety???
That's what they were called. And that was two years ago.How the names got changed in print is beyond me. I don't understand why this trivial story has been made into such a massive problem. Even the person who wrote it must have thought it's just one of those easy-come-easy-go stories that are forgotten the day after publication.

Q: It seems someone is trying to cash in on your name by proving you non-secular?
That's how it seems. I've never had any problem with any individual or community. I believe the newspaper and the writer who wrote the story have clarified. But there's a lot of trouble now. I thought the problem was sorted out after the cops checked I had no dogs at home.

Two days ago a designer-friend of mine Shahid Amir who lives closeby and who's a pet lover like me, wanted to know if I had named my dog by a particular name. He also told me that people from a sensitive Muslim area in Mumbai were coming to my house to ransack it. I asked Shahid if as close friend, he thought that I was stupid enough to do such a thing.

Q: You sound very upset.
I am! If one section of the Muslims believe I'm capable of such stupidity why not the rest? It's scary. But I'm being hounded for something I've never done .