Life is Healthy

Fox News, Monday, May 10, 2010

An Indian holy man has amazed a team of doctors by not eating or drinking anything for two weeks.

Prahlad Jani, 83, who says he has not had a bite to eat for 70 years, was put under constant surveillance to test his astonishing claims by a team of 30 military medical staff.

During a 15 day stay in a hospital in the city of Ahmedabad, India — he astounded doctors by not eating, drinking or going to the bathroom.

"We still do not know how he survives,” neurologist Sudhir Shah said at the end of the experiment. "It is still a mystery what kind of phenomenon this is."

The yogi was sealed in a ward for the study initiated by India's Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).

The DRDO hopes that findings from the experiments could help soldiers survive without food and drink, assist astronauts or even save the lives of people trapped in natural disasters.

Jani returned to his village near Ambaji in northern Gujarat after leaving the hospital, where he will resume his routine of yoga and meditation.

He says he was blessed by a goddess at a young age, which gave him special powers.

During the observation, which ended last Thursday, the doctors took scans of Jani's organs, brain and blood vessels, and conducted tests on his heart, lungs and memory capacity.

"If Jani does not derive energy from food and water, he must be doing that from energy sources around him, sunlight being one,” Shah said. "As medical practitioners, we cannot shut our eyes to possibilities, to a source of energy other than calories."

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang | Tue, 04/06/2010 6:20 PM

Customs and excise officers have arrested another Indian national at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport for attempting to smuggle 15 kilograms of ketamine, worth Rp 15 billion, from India to Indonesia.

Airport customs chief Bahaduri Wijayanta said Tuesday the suspect, identified as Baskara Narayafami, 55, who flew from Chennai, India, arrived at the airport on Monday aboard a Thai Airways airplane.

Bahaduri said the suspect mixed the drug with food stuffs such as sugar, rice and powder, and wrapped it in 15 silver-colored plastic bags in his luggage.

“The suspect testified he was asked by a Malaysian citizen called Alam in India to carry the luggage to Indonesia and was promised Rp 15 million if he could submit it to someone in Jakarta,” Bahaduri said.

Working in cooperation with police, customs officers took the suspect to the alleged drop off point where he would submit the drug, but no one came to pick him up from the promised location.

“This is the fifth Indian national we have arrested smuggling drugs into the country this year,” Bahaduri said.

The suspect had violated Articles 196 and 197 of the 2009 Law on Health, which bans illegal distribution of ketamine. Violators face up to 15 years’ imprisonment.

Bahaduri added that the suspect and drug evidence would be handed over to police for further investigation.

The Jakarta Post | Tue, 02/23/2010 11:30 AM | Jakarta

Customs office at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta announced Tuesday that they had arrested an Indian national for allegedly smuggling seven kilograms of ketamine into the country.

Gatot Sugeng Wibowo, the Customs office chief of investigations, said Tuesday that the suspect, identified as Najamudeen Kamaludeen, had been arrested on arrival on a Singapore Airline flight on Monday afternoon.

X-ray scanning found that the suspect had hidden the drug under 10 wooden picture frames and six leather bags.

Earlier this month, customs officer at Ngurah Rai Airport in Denpasar, Bali, arrested a 35-year-old Indian national for allegedly carrying 9.8 kilogram of ketamine inside a water heater.

Ketamine is an anesthetic used for animals and humans, but its psychedelic side effects make it a popular recreational drug.

The Jakarta Post, Sat, 02/13/2010 9:59 AM

Customs officer at Ngurah Rai Airport in Denpasar, Bali, arrested Saturday a 35-year-old Indian national for allegedly carrying 9.8 kilogram of ketamine inside a water heater.

The man, identified as Rangaswary Mohammed Umar, had refused officers examining the water heater before they found the drug.

“He said it was a donation for an Islamic school,” Bagus Endro, head of investigation at the airport customs office, said as quoted by kompas.com.

Umar claimed that he was only a courier and was paid 5,000 rupees (around Rp 1 million or US$ 107) to bring the drug to Bali.

Umar arrived in Bali on a Thai Airways flight from New Delhi via Bangkok.

Bagus said they would hand the suspect to the local police. Umar is facing up to 15 years in jail if convicted in the crime.

Ketamine is an anesthetic used for animals and humans, but its psychedelic side effects make it a popular recreational drug.