After Tito joined the family, Alka and I avoided being out of town at the same time as much as possible. Whenever it was unavoidable for both of us to be away, we would engage someone from Nagpur to come and stay home to look after Tito during our absence. We made several road trips with Tito to Nagpur (1000 km from Ahmedabad) and Bangalore (1500 km from Ahmedabad). As it is difficult to cover more than 500 km per day on Indian roads, finding suitable places for night halts with Tito was a major challenge.
On these journeys, our first halt would invariably be at the government guest house at Dhule (500 km from Ahmedabad). Ramesh’s son, Parikshit had located the guest house for us. Dhule being a small town, the guest house was always available for a night’s stay at a reasonable tariff. The large bedrooms of the guest house included an anteroom and provided plenty of room for Tito to move about. We could also walk Tito in the guesthouse’s large, neglected garden. In addition, the caretaker of guest house was happy to provide us hot dinner that was so welcome after the tiring journey of almost twelve hours.
We had perfected the arrangements for our road journeys using our Wagon R car. We’d pile up the luggage on one half of the back seat’s footrest area to create a wide platform for Tito to sit with his front legs on the luggage, facing the road, while I sat by his side on the other half of the back seat. Alka sat on the front seat next to the driver. We’d carry Tito’s food and water, as well as his favorite toys, brushes, collars, leashes, and the feeding bowl for the journey.
The biggest challenge was keeping Tito’s exuberance in check during the travel. Though he could sit comfortably, he would constantly move from one window to the other, across the back seat, trampling over me. He would meaninglessly poke his head out from each window for a few minutes, before going across to the other window. We’d also have to stop every couple of hours for Tito to relieve himself. Every time the car came to a halt, I would have to restrain Tito from jumping out of the car. Fortunately, our drivers grew accustomed to Tito’s behavior and between the two of us, we could ensure that Tito did not hurt himself in his hurry to get out of the car.
The travel to Bangalore required two overnight stops. With the assistance of the field officials from a huge public sector corporation on whose board I served, I was able to locate a guest house about 1000 km from Ahmedabad for our second night’s halt. Because of the three-day trip duration, food for Tito had to be planned, particularly for the second day. The journeys to Bangalore were particularly tiring. Tito would be ‘dog-tired’ from the constant movement across the back seat from window to window, and I would be done in by Tito’s trampling over me as he shuttled between the windows.
The tough road trips we undertook with Tito are now cherished memories for us.