Gold-Obsessed Man Shows Off Solid Gold Shirt, Takes Pimping to a Whole New Level
Datta Phuge, a chit fund businessman from Pimpri, India, refers to himself as “The Gold Man of Pimpri” and in order to live up to this image, he has recently commissioned a 22-karat gold shirt weighing 3.2 kilograms that’s bound to make some Western rappers green with envy. According to India Today, gold-obsessed businessmen and […]
Indian Believers Roll in Food Scraps of Higher Caste to Cure Their Illnesses
A century old ritual in India dictates that those considered low-caste Hindus must roll in the remains of food eaten by members of a higher caste. But it’s not the ritual itself that’s strange. The strange part is that while social activists are actually seeking to outlaw the practice, the ‘low-caste’ Hindus don’t want to […]
The Gulabi Gang – India’s Pink-Wearing Female Vigilantes
The women of Bundelkhand, in Uttar Pradesh, India, do not need superheroes to come to their rescue. They depend on a group of their own clan – The Gulabi Gang – during times of distress. The gang members are vigilantes who go above and beyond the duties of a local neighborhood crime watch. Their chosen […]
Indian Men Get Trampled by Cattle in Traditional Ritual
In villages around the Ujain region, in India’s central state of Madhya Pradesh, men lay down on the ground and have their cattle trample all over them, as part of a bizarre centuries-old ritual. There are a many things people will do in order to have their prayers answered by their gods, but until today, I […]
Dashrath Manjhi – The Man Who Moved a Mountain
Dasrath Manjhi, a landless farmer from India, made history after he spent over two decades chiseling away at a mountain with rudimentary tools, in order to create a road for his community, when the Government refused to. If you’re looking for some motivation, stories don’t get much more inspirational than that of Dasrath Manjhi. 53 years […]
Gotmar Mela – India’s Centuries-Old Stone Pelting War
For over three hundred years, the residents of Pandhurna and Sawargaon, two Indian villages located on the banks of the river Jaam, have been engaging in a bizarre stone-pelting ritual called Gotmar Mela that leaves hundreds critically injured and even dead. The stone war of Gotmar Mela, as its sometimes referred to, takes place every […]
World’s Smelliest Man Hasn’t Bathed in 38 Years
A lot of people can’t imagine going through a day without taking at least one shower, but 66-year-old Kailash Singh, from India, hasn’t taken a bath in over 38 years, and says he’s happier than a lot of people who wash their bodies every day. But what can possibly make a man give up the daily […]
Banking Is Child’s Play – Indian Street Kids Create Efficient Financial System
They say the banking system is very complicated, but try telling that to a bunch of Indian street kids who set up a model bank with tens of branches all over South-East Asia. In order to save money for a brighter future, a group of Indian children have created their own bank, where they can […]
Dining with the Dead at India’s New Lucky Restaurant
In a land like India, where life and death intertwine so naturally, and reincarnation is such an important part of religion, what better place to build a restaurant than in the middle of an old Muslim cemetery? They say the milky tea and buttery rolls at the New Lucky restaurant in Ahmedabad, India, are to die […]
Agni Keli – Unique Indian Tradition Encourages Fighting Fire with Fire
Agni Keli, also known as the Fire Fight of Kateel Durga Parameswari Temple, in Mangalore, India, is a unique ritual which has hundreds of devotees throwing burning palm fronds at each other, to appease the Hindu goddess Durga. Each year, the Festival of Kateel Durga Parameswari Temple is celebrated over 8 days, in the month of April. It commences on the night before […]
Unique Animal Art at the Bikaner Camel Festival
If you thought your hairstylist was amazing, wait until you see what living masterpieces these Indian camel enthusiasts can create with just scissors and a lot of patience. Every year, the desert city of Bikaner, in India’s state of Rajasthan, hosts one of the most colorful events in the world – the Bikaner Camel Festival. […]
Indian Woman Has Been on a Hunger Strike for the Last 12 Years
When someone famous, like the former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, goes on a hunger strike, the whole world knows about it, but Irom Sharmila Chanu, an ordinary woman from India, has been on a political fast for the last 12 years, and hardly anyone even knows she exists. Irom Sharmila Chanu, also known as the Iron […]
India’s Controversial Baby Dropping Ritual Is Back
The devotee scales the high walls of the religious shrine on a rope, a bucket dangling off his back. Once he is at the top (typically about 30ft high), he miraculously retrieves a baby from the bucket, handing it over to a bunch of men standing on the balcony. One of these men takes hold […]
Indian Man Bathes with Boiling Milk Once a Year
India is a land of ancient culture, with practices that date back thousands of years. It is hard to trace the origins of any particular ritual, let alone remember the significance behind them. With no logical explanation available, several Indian practices seem superstitious and sometimes even a tad foolish. However, this does not deter the […]
Who Needs an Education When You Can Eat Hot Coal
People will eat the weirdest things. In the past we’ve featured strange eating habits like munching on bars of soap, gobbling handfuls of sand and eating sponges, but Ambuli Abu, from Coimbatore, India, is the only man I know of who can actually eat red-hot coal. I’ve seen people consume some of the hottest foods on […]