Source: Times News Network

TURUVEKERE (KARNATAKA) - Oct. 25: You won't find a single cloth drying outside the houses at Aralikere, a tiny village, 10 km from Turuvekere. Villagers are not afraid of any thief taking them away, but of a person whom they know very well, and who has taken to chewing clothes as part of her daily diet!

Meet Bangari, the 35-year-old woman who sets out early in the morning looking for "food" hanging in the neighbours' houses. And she is particular about what she eats. She relishes only cotton clothes and eats very little rice.

Bangari does not have any problem with her digestion though her mother Shivamma regularly feeds her with plantains.  Shivamma said Bangari developed this rather unusual habit right from the cradle. At first, the family ignored it as babies generally put everything they can lay their hands on into their mouth.

As Bangari grew, she found it difficult to outgrow her habit of eating clothes. Bangari's two elder brothers, however, are normal.

Having failed to wean her from this cloth-eating diet, the family members started stocking her "imperishable food" in a bag so that she could eat whenever she felt hungry instead of getting her "supplies" from the neighbours. However, when the "food stock" at home gets over, she goes around the neighbourhood in search of food.

This, Shivamma said, worries them though neighbours have not actually protested. Prema, a neighbour, smilingly said, "There is no house in the village which has not lost a cloth. We are very careful now."