A leopard is jailed for man’s fault
The sips of coffee in the evening in the lap of hills were my favourite pass time that I always enjoyed. The chilling breeze in winters added more joy to this activity. I loved watching the sunset between two hills which was a soul touching moment. The grandeur of the sun increases many times during sunset; this is what I personally feel perhaps because at that time of the day we can very well appreciate its look. It looked like a very mind-soothing reddish golden ball full of energy that is capable of inducing new energy inside.
Whenever I felt short of ideas or energy to write, I have always looked forwarded to the setting sun for getting freshened up. The time of sunset was so dear to me that I never wanted to share it with anyone, not even closest of my friends.
In the evening during the winters hills covered with white snow looked very beautiful and also imparted a kind of white blue sheen during sunset. It was such a cool experience to take in this aura into the tired eyes.
On a Sunday evening while I was enjoying my evening with my sips of coffee, I saw some animal walking through my lawn and entering into a house nearby. Soon the two ladies came out shouting…..leopard, leopard. In a short duration of time about fifty people have gathered on that location after hearing the shouts of ladies. They have locked the house from outside so that leopard couldn’t come out.
There were people who were of the opinion that the animal is dangerous and should be shot by the gun, while others wanted that he should be given a safe passage silently. The debate was going and the two parties began to exchange the hot words.
As the quarrel was going up, I interfered in between but none was ready to listen. I silently went inside and telephoned the local forest officer. Within half an hour a team of forest officials and vets reached at the site. Very carefully and skillfully they anaesthetized the leopard with darting gun and then it was carried away to be kept in zoo.
It was very painful to see the beautiful animal, a roamer of jungles to be jailed in the boundaries of zoo.
More painful is the decreasing deforestation that is leading these poor animals to penetrate into our houses because we are destroying their habitats.
Victim of the dictatorship and greed of man, the wild animals have to be jailed to save them and their existence for future. This was what coming into my mind when I was sipping coffee in the evening in the lap of hills. Perhaps the hills were not that an enjoyable place for the wild animals now as used to be in the past.