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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Voltaire who wrote (23785)	12/10/2000 10:49:26 AM
From: abstract	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

We may think this election matters - but there are important things going on in the world ! Man Puts World-Record Fingernails on Auction Block HONG KONG (Reuters) - A retired Indian photographer who has grown his fingernails for almost half a century is finally calling it quits and will auction them off to the highest bidder. Shridhar Chillal from Pune, near Bombay, has been a permanent fixture in the Guinness Book of World Records for the last 20 years as the man with the world's longest nails. Each one measuring over one meter, they sprout like snakes from a misshapen left hand, which is permanently disfigured from the extra weight that Chillal, now 64, has been carrying around. Unsheathing them recently for Reuters from what looks like an oversized protective golf club case, Chillal's five precious appendages hardly resemble fingernails upon close examination. Thick and uneven, they appear more like bumpy antlers or oddly-crafted walking sticks that twirl at their ends and are tortoiseshell in color. Measuring the longest at 4.836 feet, his thumbnail is a giant coil and wrapped around the root of the nail is clear plastic tape to give added support. His index finger nail is 3.75 feet, middle finger 4.003 feet, ring finger 4.252 feet and little finger 4.167 feet. Ever cautious of even the slightest threat to his lovingly cultured and fragile appendages, the slightly built man firmly keeps at more than arm's length of anyone and anything in sight. "When I see a car, scooter, a cow or a bull, a child or even adults, before they come my way, I have to make sure I'm out of the way," Chillal told Reuters in an interview this week. "Even when there is a big gust of wind, I turn my back and position my body so that the wind takes my back and my nails are secure. I shield them from the wind." TEENAGE CHALLENGE TURNS LIFELONG OBSESSION Despite taunts from friends and threats from family to snip off his nails during his sleep, Chillal spoke of how a teenage challenge turned into a lifelong obsession. "When I was 14 in 1952, I read about a Chinese priest who grew his fingernails till they were 22 inches," he said. "I was amazed and I decided I would do that, and I could beat that. My family said it was not possible but I made up my mind." More amazingly, he proved to his family he would not need to beg for a living but could find employment -- as a freelance photographer between 1957 and 1973, and as a government press photographer from 1973 till he retired in 1995. But Chillal says he is now exhausted. Constant vigilance has meant he has not had a single night of proper sleep in almost 50 years and cannot risk being in crowds or hug his grandchild for fear of breaking his nails. "I don't have deep sleep anymore. I can't move, can't turn sides, can't pull over the covers. I'm afraid they'll get covered by the pillow or get under my wife's pillow," said Chillal, who despite all his woes looks surprisingly fresh. "I have so much tension as a result of the worry that my nails are going to break, that with every heartbeat I'm tense." Worse, the weight on his left hand has meant constant pain in his left wrist, elbow and shoulder, and not using his left hand has killed off vital nerves and left him deaf in one ear. "I've lost 100 percent hearing in my right ear. My nerves there are dead because my left hand is unused," Chillal said. "I'm much older now, so I feel I can't take this inconvenience for much longer. That's why I'm ready to give up." NAILS FOR SALE Chillal, who was in Hong Kong to announce the sale of his nails, wants at least $200,000 for all five combined. "I prefer a museum or a curator preserve them and I also get reimbursement for all those years of inconvenience," he said, caressing his nails. "I'll miss them. But I'll be happy knowing they are preserved and that my name will carry on." He is philosophical when asked if it was all worth it. "What does man not do for fame? He jumps from boats, dives from planes and does stunts on motorcycles. This is also done for fame," Chillal said. "So, yes, I will do it all over again if I were to have another life," he said with a laugh. (To bid for the fingernails: abwebplus.com