The Leopard that Walked into the City

I didn’t want you to see me, I take pride in my stealth.

I like to be by myself. I am an evanescent flash of striking pattern then, retreating up into the trees, down into the caves, fading into the night. But this jungle where I crossed your path, isn’t like the one my family have told me about. My great-great grandparents once walked this way, banyan trees, bodhi trees, chital deer and elephants on their trail. This jungle I found, had become so bright.. even in the dead of night. Bright with glaring yellow, even more striking than my coat. It's almost as if something other than nature had made it. Open space, dusty air and strange hard rock-like ground under my feet. Where is the earth? There is not enough space to search here, no dense, green, tangled covering to hide by myself, nor for that matter is there the food for me to eat. But all eyes on me. I am the leopard that walked into the city.

There were hundreds of you, you were all so frightened of me. And as was I of you. Once upon a time, I know, we lived in the forest together. We were all given the same chance back then, but all this while your intelligence has grown and grown. Yet the forest has weakened and weakened. I can sense change in the air. I can smell change and see change, and my family can feel change. Yet, although you’ve been gifted with this intelligence, the change feels.. uneasy. My family and I have our feet grounded to the earth, our instincts are fine tuned to the changes of life. This is a gift, one that you had too, but seem to have forgotten. This jungle is strange.

It may well never be the same again. But we must share. I need to feed my family and so do you. I depend on the earth that you’re taking away, and.. so do you. So does everything in this circle of life. You are not worth anything less and neither are we. So be smart. I am the leopard that walked into the city. You let me go, took me back into the forest. Some of my brothers and sisters suffered a different fate in your jungle. So now, here I am, roaring for the natural world. For every creature of the forest that you once lived amongst. You must be smart. You must care about all of us, every last inch of jungle that you take and those of us that disappear with it.

Use your gift of intelligence, give us all back our forest and we can work with each other.

You owe it to our past together, but most importantly to our future together.

I’m the leopard that walked into the city, and I’m roaring out, to you.