Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca)

[Spalea]

Shaaz Jung: " Today, on World Photography Day, I’m going to start with celebrating the leopard who shaped my destiny as a photographer. My journey began with Scarface. He was fathered by one of the most powerful leopards and mothered by a leopardess with eyes as blue as the summer sky. His parents withered away in the winter winds of 2009 but in those winds of change, something stirred. Twilight beckoned and on an eerie summer evening in 2010, a new king was born. He wore a scar as deep as the woods and little did I know, he would grow to be my mentor and rise to be one of India’s most iconic leopards. Over time, he introduced me to his kin and I started to learn more from these leopards than I did from humans.

Scarface taught me patience, compassion and most importantly how the flow of time is not cruel but beautiful, if you allow it not to control you. As humans, we are obsessed with chiming the hour and I as I counted the years and watched him age, I feared his loss. He on the other hand cared not for the passing of time and lived with absolutely no fear of time running out. He taught me to live by the day and not measure the hour, he showed me how to find a little slice of eternity in this enchanted forest where we both dwelled.
Today he is 12 years old and still as agile as he once was. I know he doesn’t have long but it’s about the journey not the destination what a journey it’s been. What a magnificent cat. "

Reply