What did I see on my run today? Where do I start?

In the interests of full disclosure, today’s 13km was a judicious mix of running, lots of walking, and quite a bit of sheltering from torrential rain.

Got crazy soaked but had a crazy amazing time, so that all worked out well!

But the focus of “what I saw on my run” this morning is wildlife.

I was running in my local park in New Delhi (where I live) and it is a Biodiversity Park, so I expected to see peacocks and squirrels and doves. Luckily for me, they are par for the course.

But there were 2 encounters that defined this morning for me.

One very sad.

And one lovely.

The sad one first.

There was a badly injured nilgai (blue bull) lying just off the track. When I first saw him, I actually thought he was dead, but then his eyes flickered.

Awful.

I took a photo, as did 2 people I stopped to show him to, and then the man and I both ran together to the closest guard post, where the guard knew about the poor creature. His leg was damaged, apparently, and a vet had been called.

You must give him some water said the man.

Done, said the guard.

The “doctor sahib” was due later in the morning.

So with a heavy heart I continued my run, feeling almost disloyal. By my second round it was pouring down, and I felt so bad for the poor creature:

It was a pretty traumatic sight, and I really felt so sad for him.

I didn’t actually have the courage to pass him a 3rd time, so took a different loop, where my spirits were rewarded with this encounter:

I refer to the jackal a “he” without any proof whatsoever, but the more I think about it, I think it might actually be a “she” – so shame on me for the misgendering.

I think the jackal was expecting food from me – I’ve seen a bloke a while ago feeding sliced white bread to 2 jackals in this stretch (I know, I know) and I suspect she/he has become quite habituated to humans as a result.

She (I’m going with this, I’ve decided!) allowed me to get very close, but was always wary.

I reckon at one point I was about 18″ from her, which is amazing:

So, yes, after the sadness of the poor injured nilgai, I had my very own Delhi version of “Dancing with Wolves”!

I’m heading to the park again tomorrow, and am secretly dreading the thought of the nilgai…let’s hope the park staff have indeed rescued him and sent him off to the “hospital” as the guard said they would.

Said it before, saying it again – no such thing as a dull run in India.