Kailash Bagban, a resident of Maina village of Sehore district in Madhya Pradesh, is renouned as ‘the poison man’. The reason is good enough as to why people call him the ‘poison man’ or ‘vish purush’.
He has an (un)usual habit of eating lizard recepies, yes you read it right, he eats lizards!
He eats about 10 lizards every day. From among the recipes, lizard soup is his favourite. He even eats the reptiles alive, when he is in the mood of a salad recipe. Wherever he finds a lizard crawling on walls or ground, he doesn’t jump like a lot of people do; instead he hunts it and happily relishes the juicy flow of the blood from his kill.
Not only lizard. He has so far digested about 60 other poisonous insects and reptiles.
When asked how and when the habit got him, a Class VIII drop out, Kailash says, “When I was a child, I loved to play with insects. While playing with them, I accidentally put one or two in my mouth; I liked the taste and later started eating them regularly.”
Now a lizard has become more important than medicine for me. Before going to bed, I need a lizard otherwise I can’t sleep,” he informs.
In case of snake bite incidents in his village or nearby villages, Kailash’s help is sought. He has saved many lives by sucking venom. His habit may sound unusual, but his neighbors like him for being the saviour.
“People love me as I save lives. At the same time it hurts me when they treat me differently. They usually keep aside the utensils I have used,” he adds.
PNN/Agencies