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A DOG OF A DIFFERENT COLOUR

. This is another story about dogs - one dog at any rate - so, if you feel you9ve had your fill of Bali dogs, skip to the next chapter.
Who can blame you .

True, the dog in this story is not your usual Bali dog - a mass of assorted bacteria held together by the mange. Far from it. This dog - But, hold on We're getting off the track. Let's start at the beginning.

And, at the beginning of every culture, comes religion. Christians rely on the Bible. The Balinese, on the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Now, while Sita and Rama frolic through the Ramayana - the Mahabharata is of sterner stuff and concerns itself with the adventures of the Pendawas, five intrepid brothers who had a life-and-death struggle with the Kurawas - a family apparently unaware of family planning because they had 100 sons. (Maybe the fact that their father was blind had something to do with it) Whatever the reason, 100 sons they had, and when the five brothers, after many a gory skirmish, finally vanquished the 100 Kurawas, not unreasonably they thought they qualified for Heaven.

"Not so, said the gods. "Only Yudistira is pure enough to enter Paradise."
As Yudistira, the eldest brother, was an inveterate gambler who had, in his youth, gambled away not only his entire kingdom (did I forget to mention he was a King) but also staked the freedom of all his relatives, and lost - committing them to years of bitter slavery - the family were a little startled to learn that of them all, only Yudistira had Paradise- potential. But not to worry. So Yudistira set off. Barely had he begun his journey when, approach