September 17, 2004

Another crazy old Indian guy with superpowersNews

I like to follow the exploits of old Indian men that do crazy things. Earlier I brought you the misadventures of a man that survived upon a diet of staring at the Sun. Now I bring to you the Rolling Saint. I saw this guy on TV many years ago (there is a 1994 documentary on him). From Outside Magazine:

October 1994: Covered in blisters from lying down and rolling along the roadside for 2,485 miles, Indian holy man LOTAN BABA reaches Jammu, in Indian-controlled Kashmir, eight months after departing his home, in Ratlam. Now, he’s on the roll again, covering 1,500 miles on his way to Lahore, Pakistan.

Well, it seems Baba has run into a little hitch. As reported at NewKerala:

A maverick saint who travels by rolling his body along the road has vowed to enter Pakistan Saturday to visit several religious places in the neighbouring country.

But there is a serious hitch in Lotan Baba’s plans to roll into Pakistan through the border check post at Wagah, 30 km from here, and the saint from Maharashtra knows it well.

For the record, he cannot cross into Pakistan easily as he has neither a passport nor a visa.

“I have appealed to the Indian government to issue me a passport and visa. It is up to them to complete the formalities so that I can undertake my journey smoothly,” he said Friday.

The saint, who claims to have rolled over 25,000 km, said he would start rolling from this Sikh holy city to reach the Wagah border Saturday morning.

Roll on Baba. Roll on.

abhi on September 17, 2004 02:48 PM in News · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post