 |
He eats live lizards and snails for the main course, snacks on tree leaves and jumps from highrises for his daily workout — all this to earn a place in the Limca Book of Records
Meet Uttam Das, a 28-year-old “stunt artiste” who lives and breathes for his dream to make it to one of the record books some day.
Das developed a fascination for the “world of thrills” when he was working at a private nursing home in Tezpur.
“I ran away from my home in Biswanath Chariali after my father abused me for failing in the matriculation examination in 1993,” he said.
At 15, the AXN fan jumped from the three-storeyed building of the nursing home “without suffering any bruises”. “Then I consumed a lizard and remained unconscious for 24 hours.”
After recovering, he began “practising” eating various poisonous creatures to “develop a taste for them.
“I can live on 7 kg of earth for two days and tree leaves for a whole week,” he said.
His “18-course menu” includes live lizards, frogs, earthworms, snails, cockroaches, rats, millipedes, centipedes, caterpillars, poisonous snakes, bricks, blades, glass, soaps and a few other “unconventional” items.
Now, he is waiting for a call from Zee TV’s popular reality show, Shabaash India. “I have already sent video recordings of my eating feats for this purpose,” he said.
On his “unique selling point”, Das said he has 21 “tricks” up his sleeve.
“In addition to eating a variety of things, I can lift a 60-kg weight with my teeth, jump from great heights, keep myself afire for 42 seconds and even ride a motorcycle blindfolded.”
Das’s one-and-a-half-year-old baby Monalisa also eats tree leaves. “In fact, she has been living on leaves and milk alone,” said the proud father. “Even the doctors who have examined me have marvelled at my digestive powers,” he said. “They have certified me and my daughter as totally no-rmal and healthy otherwise.”
How does he manage to pull off these “wild” feats? “With tremendous courage,” is his confident reply.
And this Tezpur youth is ready to stop at nothing till he gets recognition for his courage. “I shall strive for a place in the record books even if it takes me another 20 years to do so,” Das said.
There is good news for modern Manipuri song artistes. A group formed by veteran singers and lyricists in Imphal has announced annual cash awards for the best singers in as well as outside Manipur.
“We have decided to give Rs 50,000 as awards to the best singers of modern Manipuri songs, especially those who are promoting the art in Manipur and in other parts of the country,” said singer Hamom Naba Singh, who is also the chairman of the award committee.
The award has been instituted by Apunba Manipur Matam Eshei Kanglup (Amik), an organisation founded by late Nongmaithem Pahari Singh, better known as the “king of modern Manipuri songs”.
It is said that the essence of any culture lies in its folklore. Handed down orally from one generation to the other, it is also a tradition that is fast vanishing from most societies.
In a bid to save this rich heritage from extinction, a two-day workshop on Northeast folklore was organised recently at the Balmukund Development Government Music College, Imphal.
Experts from Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram took part in the conclave.
Bendang Nangshi, a noted Ao writer from Nagaland’s Mokokchung district, spoke on the folklore of his tribe, whereas Ruth Lalremruati from Mizoram University presented a paper on Mizo myths and folktales.
