I confess, I was very nervously excited when Mithun finally said “All done ra annayya, Vito is on his way” my hands and in fact my entire body was trembling, and to this date, 4 days since all this happened I cannot term what I felt at that exact minute, when I heard ” Vito is on his way”…But I will tell you what it meant a great deal…Mithun made it possible, Sundeep made it happen! Like a relay race!! I called Sundeep (The guy who made the last lap happen) and said Thank You…but english as a language is so poor, that the word Thank You did not seem to convey how much I really meant to Thank him….. I was short of words…For the next few minutes I just stood in the patio, making gestures with my arms, and celebrating like a bowler does when he gets Sachin’s wicket…all this at 4AM …That part, that little part of that night was happiness…I had tears in my eyes, I was at a loss for words, I was walking around the apartment in what seemed to be moon walk…I couldn’t feel a thing, I was pumping my fists, punching the air…Felt like I had achieved what I wanted and there was nothing in this world which could spoil the moment for me, I was living the moment…The moment me and Punnu were waiting for since the day I decided to stay back in India for longer than what was planned…At that moment it struck me, if I am sitting in a cabin well above the engines, and I feel the vibrations and the noise as much as I do, how would Vito be in the belly of the aircraft…My heart sank…I remember Diwalis were a nightmare for Saathi, my little pommie, as I know for a fact that Dogs hear much more than us humans do…I said to myself, what the hell did I get Vito into, he’s going to hate it…
I did not say a word to Punnu, I just said am very excited and happy…Punnu was down with fever all day, and was resting…The count down started with Punnu looking at her i-Pad for the flight status every few minutes, and we were like, why is 20 hours taking such a long time…It felt like an eternity…We weren’t hungry, we weren’t thirsty, Punnu did not care about the fever, or medication…It almost seemed like everything else had little to no significance at all at that moment…Me and Punnu started slowly getting ready for that ride to the airport which infact felt like eternity…Hitech city to the new airport is about 15 minute drive – Just FYI…Just as we were getting close, the call came…It was Sundeep – to tell us that they had arrived safely…I then confessed to Punnu that I was indeed very nervous..and she agreed…
I parked, walked / ran toward the arrivals, waved my little NOC for Vito and lied, the guy needs it inside and wants me to bring it in…I was allowed to go past Customs, to the baggage claim area…I went and found Sundeep, who told me that Vito was doing fine, and pointed me in the general direction where Vito was…I walked over, ever so slowly…peeped into the crate, and found Vito lying in between his toys, breathing heavily, I called out to him, “Vito Gaadu” Instantly like he jumped and turned in the crate facing me, and started squeaking and planting his trademark wet kissed through the crate and moaning and making sounds only a parent can ever understand…the look we exchanged is something I can never forget in my entire life… Tears rolled down my eyes…and he happily licked them away… People gathered around me asking me all sorts of questions about him…I answered most of them anyway, met Sundeep gave him a man hug, and Thanked him…Went out side and gave Punnu a simple run down on the expressions and the sounds from him…saw a tear trickle down her cheek…
We waited for 12 whole minutes, and finally the Don Vito of Dallas, TX arrived after passing Customs and we unlock him out of his crate and the first thing he does is he leaps onto punnu for a bear hug, then me…I lift him off the ground and hold him for a couple minutes, instantly following which he jumps into the open trunk, slides to the far end of the trunk and refuses to come out….Thats when I realized how much the plane ride had freaked him out…Strangely the first thing I noticed oddly enough is, his Black nose has turned pinkish…:) Never mind he’s still Vito ;)…
Can you beat it the crate was clean and fresh…Vito held his bowels for 24 straight hours…and let loose once we forced him out the trunk…I was proud of my boy..
We arrived at home, and he started going into each room, “Aachi thoochi adugulu vesaadu” for the first few minutes, then the Master Bedroom, and sprawls across on the bed, waits for me and punnu for a huddle…I turned to Punnu and said, The Family feels complete now!
He has been acting very insecure for the past 3 days, during which he was completely under Punnu’s Vigil and last night finally, I got to see my boy The Vito Singaraju I know!!! Like a Lion, all Grace all Elegance!
The Family indeed feels complete Now!
Singaraju 