"Finally it rained here, keep going Chennai". I thought as I stepped out of office.
As usual I started late for catching the train. Lots of scenes were dancing in front of me as I sat in the metro bus to the railway station: "Will I be able to take the pain, how am I going to manage , how momma, dad and sister are handling the situation, I should give them a round of applause."
A "sudden break" brought me back to my senses and after sometime I got down and was running towards the railway station with lots of questions marks just in front of my eyes." Which platform am I supposed to go? Would the train have left from the station? Do I need get something to eat?".
These questions seemed valid to me as I easily had missed my train once.
Somehow I managed to get into the compartment number four and stood as if I conquered the Mount Everest and decided, "Next time onwards I will start early from office" and I realized with a fake smile that "next time" never comes.
I relaxed after keeping the luggage and thought," How can I decide at that split - second that I am going home, By the way going home for what!" suddenly as new set of tears sprung to my eyes and I dropped my head to hide it from others!
Good that I managed to catch this train as it will reach early morning and I can spend the whole weekend with my family and will be off to Chennai on Sunday evening; I thought as I was climbing the upper berth and was trying to act normal.
An idea of taking leave on Monday suddenly stroked my head. "Nah! I don't want my boss to start giving me lecture on recession. Coming to that, will I be loosing my job, who knows! Why to worry about things which are not in my hands. Come out of it, Sanatha, you know you are smarter than that!" as I was keeping things for me to settle down in the top berth.
As the trip was planned just like that, I didn’t carry any book to read. I carry books with me all the time and usually not because I want to "make the most of my time", normally because I just want to get rid of my "Thinking attitude". I thought about "Pluto" as I was lying down in the top berth and tried to recall the whole conversation which happened over phone with momma. Suddenly I felt out of place when I remembered about the one percent of chance of Pluto's survival.
I hesitate to tell my colleagues or acquaintances about Pluto's condition as the end of the conversation will exactly be like "Its ok Sanatha, it’s a dog right". HM! May be yes! We –"the emotional morons"- have treated him as the fifth member of the family. Everything is my fault, I thought. We never needed a Dog. Now we are suffering only because of the reason that we have one.
Things were not so bad in life; suddenly Pluto is down with a tumour in his belly. May be it wont be that bad, I thought as I adjusted my pillow, it will be momma's fear. I will reach home and make everything right. This is what exactly my problem, I think I have solution for all the problems, were as it’s a false impression which I have about myself.
At last I reached Trivandrum railway station though it took 19hrs to reach the destination. it was raining that morning in fact for the past couple of days. Beyond doubts, drizzling rain and cloudy atmosphere added charisma to Trivandrum's beauty. I was thinking "where is momma?" when I saw dad at the other end of the station and suddenly realized about Pluto ;which reminded me about the things I need to do after reaching home.
I opened the main gate thinking that everything will be alright and Pluto will come jumping over me! But it never happened. Sapna– My sister- came and opened the door and I plodded towards Pluto after keeping the luggage.
I still remember my first glimpse of him and the tears that glimpse awakened...I KNEW something wasn't "RIGHT". But had no idea what was "WRONG". It was elusive for me to explain the scene, except that he neither wagged his tail nor yapped. As usual momma and Sapna were crying. Dad tried to be bold.
Finally I managed to open up my mouth and scolded my Dad with a feeling that I am the "Miss. Perfect in the world"." Everything is your mistake Dad; you would have taken him to the vet earlier".
Momma, wiping the tears from her eyes, said "It's not his mistake "Poppy"; the vet who came was not good."
"Was it a funny situation for momma to call me by that name, phew!", I wondered,
I turned towards Sapna as she was my next target. "Being a well educated idiot, how can you act like a clown, Ms Topper?" From class one she used to top her exam, so no wonder why everyone used to call her by that name.
If she was in her senses, I would have got earful, but it never happened as we all were in another world.
Pluto was in medication from the past one week and situation didn’t change much.
I was pretty much moved by the scene in which momma was feeding Pluto and thought of rephrasing Marion C. Garretty' best quote about a mother. "Mother love is the fuel that enables "ANYONE" to do the impossible" and I was glad that Pluto proved it right.
I was unable to bring any real lasting change that would really make a difference to that situation. Pluto was in the very same condition on Sunday evening as I was set off on my return journey.
I reached back on Monday morning after providing zero input for improving the condition at home. In short my trip was "Waste of Money!"
Momma, dad and Sapna were in hospital since morning as Pluto's appointment with a "so called" best vet was at 9.00am. After a series of check-ups, they confirmed that the tumour was the size of a lemon and as it was near to the liver, it can't be operated; so the result of first diagnosis was "one percent chance"
Nothing much happened to all the four of us during that fortnight except for a perturbed mind and a couple of things which I learnt:
1. The beauty with which Pluto handled the situation without showing any slightest signs of pain.
2. Everything happened or happening or yet to happen in life are important. There is nothing called "Not important" in life.
After seeing our love towards Pluto and since he is of only 1.5yrs, doctors thought of going for another round of check-ups which happened on the following day and they promised that, the tumour can be cured with the intake of medicines.
Now one week down the line Pluto is recovering to his normal state and we-the four people- are thanking God for that, still unable to come to terms with those two weeks.
Tears rolled down my eyes when I saw Pluto trying to say "thanks to momma and dad" in all the possible ways.
GET WELL SOON, PLUTO! That's an order.
"Louis Vuitton bag, Golden Cartier watch, my list is never ending, right etta..?"; turn around to acknowledge a strange look from the Man of the house and silently expecting he will get me either of those soon ;)
