There is something to be said for routine. It’s predictable. It’s secure. It keeps us balanced – equilibriated. We hate being un-equilibriated. And the past four months have been rather rude.

Life has changed. Just when we had got our vocabulary together and trained our Folks (The New Wooford Guide to SnuZatalk – Our Expression), they did things that got the wind knocked out of us. We had no bark / whine / growl for for these things. From our high lecterns of teaching, we were placed in positions of learning. Totally out of routine. Totally upset equilibrium.

Big Bro fell in love. At first it shook us up. We have grown up thinking we are his only love. So we first had to wrap our heads around the fact that there was Someone Else who could charm him. Our pride took a severe beating. It was not pleasant. Until … Until we met his Lady Love. And then – we fell in love. We graciously acknowledge now that there is this one (only one) person in the whole wide world who is as charming as we are. We are learned and wise, we have a way with words and expression. But it’s been months that we have been scratching our chins, heads and ears for reasons other than doggie manners – for coming up with a name by which we refer to Her. We can’t. Nothing is good enough. We humbly accept that there is someone in this world who can leave SnuZa stuck for words …

A month sped by in meetings, introductions family to family, planning. We travelled to Dada – Dadi house where there was tons of excitement over dinner where more and more family from both sides joined in. It was holiday time (Holiday – top five observations) but with an extra zing. We gaped at a grown-up Big Bro looking so dapper out of his pyjamas and tracks although we hated we could not stick to him the way we could when his clothes were not so neat. Mom said he reminded everyone of Daadu in his suit and yes, Daadu, we, along with everyone else, missed you (Of dark days and silver linings). We were left breathless. Thrown out of routine, thrown into the lap of another Very Important Member (VIM) of the Family Whose Name We Still Have to Come Up With, we lost our equilibrium. But the lesson learnt was that on very special occasions and for very special reasons, an upset equilibrium is worth it.

Saying goodbye to Big Bro is never easy and we once again went through the pain of watching him throw things into a big box and go off. We know that big box and the late night exit means we don’t get to see him for a long time. This time was no different. One evening the doorbell rang and our VIM of the Family walked in. She got our usual uproarious welcome, which consists of yaps, entangled tails, the Za of SnuZa hogging the show and the Snu of SnuZa running for cover before the Great Za — in short, a perfect chaos of bad manners.

Once the show was over, both of us in perfect synchronisation looked towards the main door expectantly. The cheerful greetings of our Folks faded away, and for a split second there was a beautiful silence, ruined by Mom’s burst of laughter. She understood: we had assumed Big Bro would follow. It had taken us a little over a month to learn something significant: the two – VIM of the Family and Big Bro – now go together. We see one, we look for the other. Since then, we have met VIM of the Family by herself on a couple of occasions but each time, we hope, just hope, in our hearts that Big Bro is somewhere around too. While we are quick learners, we are grappling with a bit of confusion: do we think of Big Bro as 2 now or can it still be 1 + 1? Our numbers are not too good, so we’ll just wait for his return to sort this out.