Updates from Derren Brown and the Enigma Crew

NEW DELHI – An Indian man who fathered seven daughters has not washed for 35 years in an apparent attempt to ensure his next child is a boy. Kailash “Kalau” Singh replaces bathing and brushing his teeth with a “fire bath” every evening when he stands on one leg beside a bonfire, smokes marijuana and says prayers to Lord Shiva, according to the Hindustan Times.

The grocery store that he used to own closed when customers stopped shopping there due to his “unhealthy personality” and he now tills fields near Varanasi airport. Kalau, who wears two pullovers all through the Indian summer, said his pledge not to wash was a commitment to the “national interest.”

“I’ll end this vow only when all problems confronting the nation end,” he said. But his neighbours in the village of Chatav said there was another reason for Kalau’s washing boycott. ”A seer once told Kalau that if he does not take a bath, he would be blessed with a male child,” a man called Madhusudan told the paper.

Most Indians prefer sons, who are typically regarded as breadwinners, while girls are seen as a burden because of the matrimonial dowry demanded by a groom’s family and the fact that their earnings go to their husband’s family.

Yahoo