Bijli Wale Baba' sleeps on live wires
They call him Bijli Wale Baba and not without reason either. Baba Mangal Das, a priest at the Ram Janki temple Bamhorisar village in Lalitpur district, takes electric shocks regularly and actually feels comfortable with a live wire placed on his body. Explaining his bizarre liking for electric shocks the intensity of which can kill an ordinary mortal, the Baba says, "I have been accustomed to this since the past three years. At night, I plug in the wire and place the other end either inside my mouth, ears or under my armpit to sleep well. If I do not take these shocks, I cannot sleep." He claims that he actually feels better after taking the shocks. The 52-year-old priest confesses that he was addicted to opium, smack and marijuana for several years but his craving for intoxicants remained unsaturated until he accidentally touched one end of an electrified iron rod in 2004. "The electric shock that I received gave me a strange kind of satisfaction and then I trie