Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen, beautifully quoted by Orhan Pamuk. When, I read this the first time, I did not quite understand or believe it, until Alonzo practically taught me its true meaning.

Alonzo was not a dog, but a beautiful soul that embodied all the core values of spirituality. To my misfortune, I realised this only very late in my life.  

Alonzo was our third pet, for me she was no different than the earlier two. She barked when she was hungry, barked when wanted to go out, barked when she wanted attention and barked when I came too close for comfort; just like Bonzy who passed away a couple of months before Alonzo and Snoopy whom Maa decided to give to our neighbor, who found him too adorably cute.

In the beginning, Alonzo and I did not have a strong bond; we both found each other annoying and avoided each other. Because each time I would bump into her, I was given a task, to take her for a walk, give her a shower, cut her nails or feed her and she disliked me because I loved pulling her tail and whiskers.

Her only true love was Maa; she would sit outside the washroom when she went for a shower, sit and hear her recite Gurbani from the Guru Granth Saheb, wait next to the window if Maa stepped outside and be restless until she came back. And if she happened to go for a walk with Maa or dad, Oh God, all hell would break loose. She would be more ferocious than a lion; this puny little Pomeranian would go and bite our neighbor’s dog Sherry a German Shepherd four times her size, scare any passer-by or stranger and once she went completely overboard, she bit a horse’s tail and hung on to it, swaying side by side, just because it happened to come in their way, blocking their walking path just for a few seconds at Juhu beach. Oh my, she had a temper, worse than mine for sure; until she transformed completely.

This was the same time; my parents met our spiritual mentors and changed their course of life completely towards spirituality. Every single day we attended spiritual congregations and had them regularly at our place too. Alonzo was a crucial part of those; she would sit in my Dad’s lap, while he played the Tabla and my sister sung hymns from the Granth Saheb; enjoying every minute without moving an inch until the satsang would be over. And at the time of Kada Parshad, she always wanted to be the first to get it and communicated it clearly to our Veerji, who always smilingly obliged.

I was amazed to see how the same dog, which would furiously scare away strangers, would be so affectionate towards Sangat members some known and some new attendees. And loved to see the way the Sangat members reciprocated, she developed a special bond with my God mother and each Sangat member, not using words, but through gestures and the look in her eyes.

At times, when there would be a bigger gathering of over a 100, we had to lock her in one of our rooms, coz someone could object a dog attending satsang. Unfortunately, still some saw her as a dog and not as a soul enjoying the divine aura. On those days, Alonzo refused to take Parshad and would be very upset.

As they say time flies, it actually did, 10 years had passed and before we knew Alonzo grew old and got very sick. After several tests, it was diagnosed that she had multiple complications, had lost most of her memory and will not make it this time. We were shattered to say the least and decided to take her home. The next few days, what we witnessed was nothing less than extraordinary.

That morning she was in pain; got some kind of an attack or fit, she crawled outside the house door and almost collapsed. We all shrieked and thought it was the last of her; she saw a tear in my dad’s eyes and somehow fought for her revival and miraculously continued to breathe. We rushed her to the vet, who put her on some drips and strong medication. Alonzo could barely move or respond; but she battled for each breath because she knew it was difficult for us to let go of her and for her to let go of us.  

Over the next two days, her attacks got more frequent and unbearable to watch. Initially, we thought of putting an end to her misery and ask the vet to put her to sleep. But it was not something we could do, this decision was not ours to make, it’s the Lord who brought her to this world, blessed us with her presence in our life and when it is her time to go she will go.  

Our God mother came to our house with some other members to see her. When they were leaving; Alonzo who lay semi-conscious on her pillow, got up and started to limp towards the door, I ran to pick her or comfort her, but she gave me a look communicating she wanted to do this on her own, convey her gratitude to all of them for paying her a visit. This was when I could finally understand what Alonzo spoke. Before my God mother left, she looked at Alonzo and Maa and said she will come the following day at 1230pm to meet Alonzo.

Later that evening, she limped to the room where we had kept The Guru Granth Saheb and at the entrance she bow her head the way human’s do and stood in that stance for quite a while; paying her respects to all the Gurus and the source of true knowledge. We all stood watching her, filled with emotions.  

The entire night, we were by her side, watching her helplessly in pain. At the crack of dawn, Maa told my sister to get the Harmonium and start singing hymns, Alonzo immediately responded, she jumped from Maa’s lap and circled around my sister a couple of times; in a way communicating that this is what she wants and went and sat in her favorite place, dad’s lap, while he played the Tabla. By 0800 am our Sangat members started showing up at our house, some looking after Alonzo, some preparing breakfast and some setting up the house for a congregation. By 11 am our house was filled with Sangat members and we were singing verses from the Granth Saheb in high pitched voices; and exactly at 12:30; Alonzo’s soul left her body amongst the people she loved, her family and Sangat members. 

The events that proceeded are a complete blur; I have no clue of who got a Red Mata ki Chunni or holy Vaishnu Devi Vermilion or shawls to cover her. All I know everyone who all showed up that day; was not called by anyone of us, but Alonzo, she called them to be with her that one last time.

We never had a spiritual congregation or that aura in our house ever again; Alonzo came to our lives and transformed it completely. She only knew how to give and expected nothing in return; gave us conditional love, joy, made us witness beautiful realms of divinity that still gives me goose bumps. She spoke in a way that no eloquent speaker could.