31 May 2014

Amoo


Who is the world's dirtiest old man? Is it the Angolan holiday resort magnate Tom Gowans or perhaps a certain infamous resident of the city of Canton in Georgia USA? No - apparently it's the fellow pictured above. He is called Amoo Hadij and he lives on the outskirts of  Farashband in Iran. Of course I discovered this claim on a short internet surfing expedition.

Amoo Hadij, is "a peculiar 80-year-old man who has not bathed himself once in more than sixty years. He lives in a small abandoned brick hut in the village of Dezhgah, completely alone, surrounded by garbage, dirt, and animal faeces. A bit of a loner, Amoo likes to keep to himself, and rarely has the opportunity to interact with other people. This is probably due to the fact that he smells to high heaven and has the outward appearance of a troll."

"However, Amoo Hadij has no idea he’s so dirty. In fact, his less than sanitary but simple life is completely by choice. He is dirty because he has refused to bathe – not because he does not have a way of cleaning himself."

"Looking at Amoo, one can see that his skin is as thick as leather and a bit scaly, most likely due to the layers and layers of dirt and grime that have accumulated over his body over the last sixty years.

His face and beard are covered in black soot because he is a constant smoker, with his most prized possession being a broken steel pipe, which he uses to smoke animal dung on a daily basis. Though he’s technically not homeless, he often sleeps outside of his simple shelter, preferring the “fresh air,” as well as the warmth of his fire pit.

No one knows why Amoo has refused to bathe in over six decades. However, he seems to be doing fine. While it is difficult to understand why anyone would choose to live the way he does, he appears to be completely content with his primitive but personally satisfying lifestyle."

You have to feel sorry for Amoo. He clearly has mental health issues that haven't been addressed. Nonetheless his filthy lifestyle brings western obsession with personal hygiene into sharp relief. The television often seems to be bursting with commercials for various shampoos, grooming products and indeed germ busting cleansers. If you believed the legend you would imagine that little green gremlins live under every toilet seat threatening the annihilation of the human race.

When I was a small child, it was common for people to bathe just once a week and families would often share their bath water. In northern England, nobody had showers at home. They were reserved for public swimming baths. My family were lucky - we had a functioning bathroom but both my mother and father remembered tin baths on the kitchen floor - filled with hot water from their old black kitchen ranges.

Nowadays - like  most of us - I shower and shave* every day. Blessed with aroma-free armpits I nevertheless insure myself with roll-on underarm deodorant from "Lidl" (currently on offer at 55 pence). After shave spray, combing of the leonine locks and I'm done. The old tushy pegs are brushed morning and night come what may. (*Yes ladies!)

In all of this, I must admit that I am just a teensy bit jealous of Amoo. After all, his personal hygiene is much closer to the habits of our ancient ancestors who had different priorities from us. Maybe I'll join Amoo for a while in his cave in Iran - I have heard that Iran is becoming increasingly popular with package holidaymakers, eco-tourists and cruise liners. Mind you, I'm not so keen on the idea of smoking animal dung!

20 comments:

  1. You find some interesting people in your web trawling YP. do you really think he has mental health issues, or just oblivious to the rest of the world?

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    1. No - I'm not sure. I have never met Amoo and maybe he is just sticking two fingers up at the rest of us.

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  2. I once saw something on TV about an experiment that a woman had carried out in which she didn't wash her hair for several months. After a few days of looking lank, it seemed to improve and soon looked as if it had been washed regularly. However, it doesn't seem as if this 'self cleaning' property kicks in where the rest of the body is concerned, certainly not in Amoo's case. :/

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    1. You could have your own experiment Jenny - just to check your theory about body washing. I am sure that Keith and the hounds will be most supportive.

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    2. I have quite long hair. I have noticed that if I use soap on it it is less manageable.

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  3. After we moved away from the city when I was 7, I spent the rest of my childhood and youth in a house without plumbing, You might say we had four rooms and a path. I drew water from a well using a bucket on a rope. A tin tub filled with soapy water that sloshed onto newspapers spread in the middle of the kitchen floor was how we bathed in our family. It hasn't affected me at all, affected me at all, affected me at all, affected me at all....

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    1. Ha! Ha! I loved your ending Robert! How did you draw the water? Pencil or charcoal?

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  4. I have gone long periods without washing. After a week my skin and hair seem to be self cleaning. If I use those baby arse wipe things I come out in a rash and my armpits smell awful after an hour. There is a whole industry devoted to cleanliness, it's overrated and unhealthy.

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    1. I prefer the little microbes to get a toe hold on me and do the clean up.

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    2. It doesn't surprise me that there's a bit of Amoo in you Adrian! (Speaking metaphorically of course!)

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  5. You are all "grossing me out " as the younger generation would say. I imagine Amoo has developed a wonderful resistance to germs and never get tummy wogs etc.
    With 24 hours plus till my next opportunity to shower I can tell you what the first thing I will do will be when I get home.

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    1. So you are on your way back to Oz Helen. I wonder what you will do when first you get back home. A little more patchworking? Give Tony a sensual oil massage? Make a beef pie? Phone your father? No - I just can't guess.

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    2. Ha, ha. Shower first, washing machine on, ring Mum and Dad then sleeeeeep !

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  6. It's interesting. If I had read that Amoo was from India or Tibet, I would think his habits had some deep religious significance. Because he's in Iran, I think he's just another self-centered male arse who doesn't care what anyone else thinks. On a smaller scale, my grandfather was like that. He would lift one cheek and fart at the table and there was hell to pay if anyone commented or reacted. To his credit, Amoo at least does not subject others to his actions. Or lack of actions.

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    1. If there had been You Tube in those days you could have submitted a clip of an orchestral family farting tune - led by your grandfather. I suspect your own farting would be more high-pitched - possibly soprano...."I Wish I Was in Dixie".

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  7. I was in a quandary. What to do? Ask Mr Pudding? Just stay uninformed? Finally, after 10 minutes of wandering around and wondering, I "googled" it and now, at last, I know what tushy pegs are! Thank goodness it has nothing to do with your tush, Mr. Pudding!

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    1. Naughty MT! So naughty I shall spank your tush - in a cyber manner of course.

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  8. His power bills, water bills, laundry bills...money spent on soap and all things to do with hygiene, personal and otherwise would be non-existent...as well as friends, I'd imagine.

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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