INDIA, February 27, 2011: Indian authorities plan to expel Russian Kirill Pomerantsev from the country. Pomerantsev has spent 15 years in India without a visa or any identity papers. Pomertantsev’s story is unique not only because he has been living illegally in India without identity papers for 15 years, but because those 15 years have been spent as a cave-dwelling hermit near Manali, in Himachalan Pradesh. Neither the police nor local authorities were aware of his presence.
‘Indeed, I have spent 15 years here in India. My mind and heart were immersed in the Indian religion. I was 27 or 28 years old when I made the decision to remain here. Now I am 42 or 43,’ he says. ‘I was advised that if I wanted to achieve progress in my religious pursuits, it would be best to spend 12 years in the wilderness in order to reflect and read Hindu religious literature. This would make spiritual progress possible’, explains the Russian Hindu.
Pomerantsev explains that in addition to the food he was given by local people, he also ate greens that he picked in the woods. ‘I would get up at five in the morning, have a wash, meditate, drink some tea, clean the house, perform puja and study literature. I can read Hindi, a language that I have taught myself’, explains the former hermit, who does not know what he will do back in Russia.