India, Aug. 23 -- The leopard is not easy to spot in the foothills. The implacable vegetation shrouds the big cat which exhibits a proclivity for the ways and manners of Greta Garbo's reticence. Leopards tend to get active towards darkness and take great pains to avoid humans, slinking away or sinking into the natural cover without so much as a subdued snarl. The leopard's restraint is evident in the fact that there has been no case of man-eating for decades in Haryana, Punjab and UT of Chandigarh, though leopards cornered/hounded in villages or fields did attack in self-defence. If a roving leopard is spotted by chance, the observer/villager may not have a camera/cellphone or be close enough to record the 'guldar' (cat of a rosette mosaic). A providential sighting of a leopard in broad daylight materialised in March 2025 in the reeds clustering the rivulet of Jainti check-dam north of PGIMER. That leopard revealed itself because it had been tempted beyond discretion by the presence of young calves of feral cattle. It was captured for posterity on a cellphone by Sneh Sekhon. But such records are few and far between, apart from those yielded by 24x7 camera traps. Last week, wildlife photographer Gagan Gyan bagged one from isolated Badi Sher (Morni Hills). He got a tip-off about the leopard's presence from Gourav, a Morni bird guide. Gyan sped to the spot from Mohali. Upon reaching, he exercised patience and spent three hours with Gourav scanning the hillsides. Just as he was about to give up-a critical factor in wildlife sightings-lady luck flashed a fleeting smile. There was the leopard for a few seconds gazing upon them with curious eyes of amber and pale-wash jade, the head poking from vegetation. Eyes of such allure that a Paris supermodel would trade her limbs for the pair. "It was a brief, unexpected encounter, but one that made the three-hour search worthwhile - a reminder that in the wilderness, patience and a little luck can yield unforgettable moments," an elated Gyan told this writer....