In 2006-07, we spent a year away from Ahmedabad, in L&T South City, Bangalore. At that time Dumpy was pursuing his MBA at IIM Bangalore. We were living on the fifth floor of one of the nineteen story buildings. The sprawling 22-acre complex housed approximately 2,000 flats. Residents had access to well-kept gardens and lawns in the complex. Tito had a rough year as unlike at the IIMA campus, he did not have access to lawns or open spaces where he could run around. Instead, we strolled on the roads inside the complex for exercise. I had to keep Tito on a leash because I couldn’t take a chance in a new place. Tito quickly became accustomed to riding up and down elevators.
There was one unusual occurrence that won Tito a new group of pals in South City. I was walking with Tito past the tennis courts in South City when we came across a bunch of youngsters looking for their tennis ball, which had vanished in a vast bed of thick money plants. They were desperately looking for the green-colored ball that was lost in the green foliage. They inquired whether Tito could find the ball for them. I had never put Tito through a purposeful search before. His discoveries were always unintentional. I put Tito near the bed and said, “Tito, ball,” pointing to the money plants. He looked at me, wagging his tail slowly, as if he didn’t understand what I was asking him to do. “Tito, ball,” I kept saying as I led him up and down the flower bed. It suddenly dawned on Tito that there was a ball to be found in the money-plant bed. He buried his nose in money plants and began sniffing as he moved up and down the bed. In no time, Tito was holding a tennis ball in his mouth. The kids were stunned and pleased. The challenge came later. Tito simply refused to let go of the ball. His jaws were clenched tight around the ball. It was his. After all, he had found it! I had to work hard to get the ball out of Tito’s mouth as he protested with low growls.
Tito’s abilities astounded the boys. Even I was immensely surprised. That was the first time Tito had been given the command to search for an object. Not only did he comprehend my command, but he even found the object he was commanded to find. Wow!
After that, Tito had a swarm of admiring youngsters in South City. Whenever we went by the tennis courts, the boys would call out to Tito. For them, he was a prodigy!
