At over three years of age, Tito had grown to his full size. He weighed over 30 kilos. I still recall the day we witnessed the gentler side of Tito’s nature. Both Alka and I were standing out on the front veranda after Tito’s afternoon meal on a winter afternoon. Tito was standing on the paved path that connected the house to the tar road that connected the row of houses. From nowhere we heard the excited shrieks of a little girl who came in from outside and rushed towards Tito. The girl’s mother who was following her a few steps behind too was taken by surprise. Neither she nor we could have stopped the girl from reaching Tito. We literally froze in panic, uncertain how Tito would react. The girl was barely as tall as Tito. As she reached Tito, all excited, Tito stood absolutely still. She started patting Tito’s head and fondling his ears. Tito did not react, realizing that the little girl would be unable to cope with his usual exuberant reaction. We were completely taken aback by the maturity displayed by Tito. We were totally unaware of this side of Tito’s nature.
After that incident, when we sat on the campus lawns with Tito, we would be more relaxed and let children on the lawn play with him. Earlier we used to be very vigilant and would ensure that the children did not get too close to him, not knowing how Tito might react. The children would take lot of liberties with Tito, patting him all over, pulling his ears and playing with his tail. He was patience personified with them. And whenever, he thought he had had enough of the pestering friends, he would quietly get up, and sit down some distance away from the children. We never figured out how Tito learnt that the kids would be unable to deal with his hyper exuberant show of affection. He was so careful that he never hurt any child even unintentionally. The patience shown towards children was also evident while dealing with the elderly. He was always very careful with my mother and Alka’s father, ensuring that when they were close by, his movements did not inconvenience them in any manner.
Tito’s relationship with stray dogs on campus too was one of quiet indifference. When he was very young, he had wanted to play with them. On every occasion however, his overtures were met with aggressive response from the strays. Fortunately, either Dumpy or I was always around to intervene and pull him away. After growing up, he was much larger than the strays. They would therefore bark at him only from a respectful distance. He however would show no interest in their barking and nonchalantly continued with whatever he was doing.
