India: a 64 year old engineer, Hira Ratan Manek, it has been claimed, has spent the last 8 years of his life without eating regular food, dining instead upon the sunlight and some liquids.
It was in 1992 that Manek decided he didn't really like eating food, and stopped eating completely in 1995 after a pilgrimage into the Himalayas.
When questioned, his wife told investigators that he looks directly into the sun for about an hour a day. It's been described as "totally scientific" by one news outlet, and "baffling" by another.
"Every evening he looks at the sun for one hour without batting an eyelid. It is his main food" his wife explained.
To prove himself, for the past 130 days he has been monitored by scientists who have witnessed him eat only the light that there burning orb we call "Sun" and drink little else than water.
Scientists do warn that looking into the sun can cause damage. Doctors are on standby for blinded and dazzled copycats.
NASA has invited Hira Ratan Manek to show them exactly how he performs his feeding time.
Written on Monday, 30 June 2003