Look, if it ain’t broke…
The news broke this morning that a hermit from the Iranian village of Dejgah, known as “Amou Haji” (a Farsi term of endearment for an older man) has died at the age of 94, a few months after what was reportedly his first bath in nearly 70 years.
Haji gained the nickname “the world’s dirtiest man” (and news curio status) over decades of (literal) soap-dodging. He was of the belief that soap and water would make him ill — and maybe we’re forced to concede that the guy knew what he was talking about. He lived to nearly 100 eating largely meat (porcupine was his favourite), drinking unsanitary water from an old oil can, and sucking back up to five cigs at a time.
He never married — despite dubiously sourced tabloid stories on his search for love — and had no known family. But local villagers apparently viewed him with affection, and reportedly built him a cinderblock shack so he would stop sleeping in a hole in the ground. Indeed, apart from the “broken heart” that apparently led him to live in the wilderness as a young man, doctors who examined him earlier this year found him in good health, and villagers reported him to be relatively happy.
Vale to a real one.
Amou Haji” (a Farsi term of endearment for an older man)
That is the interpretation according to the linked article in the Guardian – however, the term “Haji” is a title given to those Muslims who have made the pilgrimage to Mecca and “amou” appears to be a Persian word for uncle
Although strictly true, ‘haji‘ is commonly used as an honourific, with as much meaning as ‘Colonel’ Tom Parker.
“Vale to a real one.”
I took this to mean an admiration for those very few of us who just go their own way. I hope I’m right.
Wasn’t Elizabeth I in the habit of taking one bath a year whether she needed it or not?
Okay, the question that should be asked, is ‘Did the bath actually kill him?’
Nah, the question is, “Why did he have a bath, knowing it could?”. Either way, the air does seem fresher now.
The story has a family resemblance with the Athenian philosopher Heraclitus who believed everything is ultimately comprised of fire, and to that end earth resembles fire, and by token rocks glow red but water evaporates, so it follows humans should have contact with the earth, aka dirt.