The Leopard

Last Sunday, I was on the way to Bangalore from my home. The vehicle covered Karnataka State border. Time was 8.00 pm. We were almost
30 km away from HD KOTTE, a place inKarnataka. I was sitting onone of the front seat of the cab. In the head-light I was able to view
road. Then in the distance, I saw three or four dogs(I thought) standing in the middle of the road. Those animals were almost 100 meters infront of the bus. Slowly the animals started dispersing to both
sides of the road as we neared them. They were four.

Two on each side of the road. The cab driver stopped the vehicle in between those animals .The Kannada speaking man who sat next to me shouted, "nari nari..". Mallus shouted, "puli puli....". Those animals were leopards. The cab stopped for 15 seconds. We were able to view those big cats clearly.

As we made loud noises, those big cats, went further away into the forests and dissappeared in the dark . I have travelled may times across the Karnataka - Kerala border from Wayanad to Ooty, Mysore and Bangalore. But this was the first time, I saw leopards on the way. Elephants, deer, monkey, bison, pea-cock and wild-boar are common across this border. But not LEOPARD!!!