Kicking the habit: Putting his best foot forward

Ghulam Hussain’s ‘indestructible’ feet have become famous in the village.

RAJANPUR:

A man in Fazilpur has gone without wearing shoes his entire life.

Fazilpur Mohallad Goray Shah Darbar resident Ghulam Hussain said that he had never owned or worn a pair of shoes. “Locals in the village said that Ghulam was a village celebrity because he was able to crush nuts and kill snakes with his feet. He doesn’t feel any pain and we have seen him stick nails into his soles,” said a neighbour Shamim.

Ghulam is 50-years-old and said that the skin of his feet had become so hard that he easily killed scorpions and snakes with his feet. “I haven’t felt any pain in my feet for almost fifteen years. I can stick nails in the soles and they don’t bleed,” he said.

“It isn’t uncommon to see people walking on the baking asphalt barefoot here but their feet still hurt. Ghulam feels nothing. He snuffs out cigarettes with his feet and it is a surprising sight,” said village local Babar.

Ghulam has earned money for several years by ‘performing’ at a local darbar. “I used to walk over burning coals and nails and I never felt a thing,” he said.

Rajanpur THQ hospital Dr Saleem said that he had examined Ghulam and found that his feet had developed layers of dead skin. “It is rare to see the skin of soles become so hardened but it is not impossible.

Ghulam has poled his feet with glass and nails but this does a lot of harm in the long run. If this pierces his skin he could be severely infected.”

Ghulam Hussain said that his feet had swollen to such an extent that he cannot find a pair of shoes that fits his feet. Ghulam Hussain said he wanted that his name be included to the Guinness book.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2011.