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<10>.Prolonged Fasting: How is it possible-A hypothesis
Dr. Sudhir V. Shah, MD, DM (Neurology)
Consultant, Neurology at Sterling Hospital, Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and
Head of Research Committee,
Email: sudhirshah@hotmail.com
1. Introduction:
Recently a historical and amazing incidence took place in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. A gentleman called Shri Hira Ratan Manek(H.R.M.) aged 64 , a mechanical engineer residing at Calicut, originally belonging to Kutch., Gujarat, has just accomplished a remarkable record- a world record, by doing continuous fasting for 411 days, as per jain tradition.(i.e. taking only boiled water during day time and just no other food or liquids). He had done similar jain fasting for 21.1 days in 1995-96. This time, he started fasting on 1.1.2000. The unique thing, was that this time he was under continuous day to day medical checking and elaborate medical testing- with a critical evaluation by a team of expert doctors, representing various fraternities of medical science including family physicians, physicians, cardiologist, neurologist, endocrinologist, surgeon, pathologists, genetician, radiologists e.t.c. Also from time to time several teams of physicists, chemists, biochemists, physiologists and several doctors from all different specialities from India as well as abroad have spent time to meet him, examine him. All of them have been impressed with the genuinity of fasting but every body is wondering how this has become possible. You will agree, that as per today's scientific knowledge, this is just not possible and it is extremely difficult to explain this happening, even if the man is taken as superman or genetically a different human being. We now know of about atleast 200 people living without food, on this earth. The author of this hypothesis, was also the part of medical team and must have met and examined him several times during his unique fasting. The author also like any scientist had real sceptic behaviour towards this gentleman and had really taken this gentleman to toughest and most critical - analytic check(keeping in a nursing home more than a month, isolating him in a cube , not allowing any of his relative to stay with him etc) and all other doctors also had scrupulous checking. All of us are fully convinced about the genuinity and really are wonderstuck. Having satisfied fully with the genuinity, the team
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