MEMO FROM SUZI

Our friend and supporter Suzi Marsh is in India travelling through the Western Ghats. Richard asked her to see if she could find any information on the Pogeyam - the rumoured mysterycat from the region, and we have been awaiting her results with enthusiasm...

Just a quick update on my findings...

Unfortunately I didn't have much luck with the pogeyam. I stayed at Vattakanal, which is about 2 days trek from Anamudi where the original sightings took place. I asked around many people, using both the pronunciation you gave me and the alternative 'poggy-on' which I found online, and also giving a description of the animal, but none of the locals were familiar with it. It may well be that the legends are very localised, as it seems they have not spread far across the western ghats. Interestingly, a fellow traveller I met reported having seen a 'mountain lion' on the way from Munnar (which is near Anamudi) to Vattakanal; however, further research suggests they are not common to this area. I have tried to get in touch with her to get a more detailed report of what she saw - I will let you know of any developments.

I did hear another story while travelling which I thought might be of interest... in the town of Varkala in Kerala, a number of locals related the following story: that recently (a date was never specified, but it was implied that this event had taken place in the past weeks/months) a 'living god' had been found in a local stream. When asked to describe this further, the locals described something 'shaped like a human, but not a human'. Curiously, they noted that its hand was broken. This 'living god' was removed and placed in a local temple, but when word got round that it could bring great fortune to whomever possessed it, a local businessman bribed the watchmen and removed the relic to his own home. The story went that great ill fortune soon befell the man, and that his wife hung himself in the room that had contained the body. No one seemed able to say what had happened to the relic after that...

Anyway, I thought that these incidents were worth reporting! Let me know what you think about the whole 'mountain lion' thing...