He lives on sunlight and liquids
And he's in US to teach NASA how he does it.
He "eats through his eyes".
For eight years, Mr Hira Ratan Manek, who is also known as Mr Hirachand, has not taken any food. Only sunlight and some liquids.
And US space agency Nasa is getting the 64-year-old mechanical engineer, who lives in the southern stgat of Kerala, India, to show how he does it.
NASA hopes to use his technique to solve food storage and preservation problems on space expeditions, reported the Hindustan Times.
In June 2002, the agency verified his claims when he spent 130 days with its scientists drinking only water.
It even named this subsistence on water and solar energy after him: The HRM(Hira Ratan Manek) Phenomenon.
Mr Hirachand apparently developed his distaste for food in 1992.
In 1995, he went to the Himalayas and when he returned, he had stopped eating completely.
Said his wife, Vimla: "Every evening he looks at the sun for one hour without batting an eyelid.
It is his main food. Occasionally, he takes coffee, tea, buttermilk or some other liquid."
Mr Hirachand said he "eats" sunlight in the evening, when ultraviolet rays are least harmful.
He and his wife claim the technique is totally scientific. Said his wife: "He has a special taste for sun energy.
"He believes only 5 per cent of human brain cells are used by most people.
"The other 95 per cent can be activated through solar energy."
When Mr Hirachand returns from the US, he plans to conduct lectures for young scientists.
He is also writing a book on the science of the brain.
Said his wife: "Here, nobody realizes the importance of his findings.
"He wrote to many organizations.
"But foreigners really admire him."
From The New Paper dated 16th July 2003
