India's tallest man struggling to find love: 'I have never found anyone to look up to'
Dharmendra Singh the worlds tallest man is finding it hard to find love
Picture: Arkaprava Ghosh/Barcroft India
India’s tallest man is struggling to find love because of his height.
At 8ft 1in tall – only two inches shy of the world record – Dharmendra Singh stands head and shoulders above his fellow countrymen.
But because of his height the 32-year-old, from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, he has yet to find The One.
Mr Singh said: “In terms of marriage, the main problem is my height. It will be very difficult to find someone who is tall enough for me. I think it is impossible.
At over 8ft tall Dharmendra Singh can not find a match
“So this is also the reason why I haven’t had a girlfriend. Women are very much interested in me. They talk to me and giggle but I have never met anyone who I could look up to.
ADVERTISEMENT
“In college I was a very shy person. Like other boys, I never approached girls to have a chat. I had great respect for them but never met the woman of my dreams”.
Mr Singh’s height has also made it hard for him to find paying work.
He said: “Whenever I went for interviews for jobs, people asked how will do the work if I was so tall.”
Reluctantly, he took up work as a freak show performer at a local amusement park, where he spends his days in a cage-like structure selling photographs to paying punter for 10p per pop.
“After completing my studies, when I could not get a regular job, I got an offer saying that I will be paid 30 pence per day at the amusement park,” he said.
“I charge 10 pence for one picture. Some people pay, some run away without paying. I get hurt when people run away without paying me.”
Mr Singh also gets a monthly salary of 10,000 rupees (£100) which enables him to survive.
“With that kind of money, I manage by life,” he added.
While most of Mr Singh’s family are a normal height, his maternal grandfather was 7ft 3in, suggesting his size could be genetic.
As a child he was always taller than his peers and was often bullied in his youth.
He said: “I was ill-treated by many people who would call me names like ‘giraffe’ or ‘camel’.’
“Some people would say that I have grown too tall and I have become useless. People would say I have become hopeless. I used to feel bad about these things.
“I was not very friendly with the children in my neighbourhood and I didn’t make many friends. I have a problem – I can’t make friends. And that holds true for women also.”
Dharmendra Pratap Singh poses for a picture with Suman Devi, a relative
Mr Singh, who holds a master's degree in Hindi, said his height poses some real problems for him.
“I have to face a lot of problems in my day to day life because of my height. I need a helper to help me with smaller things. I have trouble even walking,” he said.
"I need someone to go to market and buy things for me. I don’t go to the market very because it is very crowded and people harass me.
"I have to face a lot of hardships which a normal person does not have to. It is a terrible feeling when I am unable to do normal things."
Nevertheless, he said being tall was not completely terrible.
He said: “I feel great when people look at me and get happy. I make their day. They want to know about me and get photos clicked. I am immensely popular and it is all because of my height.”
Mr Singh said his height did cause health problems.
“I few months back, I had fractured my hip bone. I got myself treated in Delhi. I have a plate in my hip, and I have to bear pain because of it. I have to use a stick for support,” he said.
Suman, Mr Singh's neighbour, said: “Neighbours used to talk a lot about his height as they had never seen someone like him before but he never paid any heed to what people said. He was always a very optimistic and cheerful person.
“He is like a son to me and I wish he finds a suitable girl for himself and gets married.”
No comments:
Post a Comment