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This is Indian builder Pakkirappa Hunagundi and he is addicted to eating BRICKS.

The 30-year-old became hooked on devouring non-edible objects after first developing the acquired taste when he was 10-years-old.

For 20 years he has consumed up to three kilos of debris a day, including mud and gravel, he finds lying around his village in Karnataka.

But despite his strange eating disorder - thought to be caused by a condition called Pica - he insists he hasn't suffered any ill-effects.

And he wants to use his strange eating habits to make some money for his family by travelling across India showcasing his talents.

Fussy eater Pakkirappa said: "I love eating them. It has become a part of my life.

“I started at the age of 10. Now it feels like a necessity to me. I can skip meals, but not bricks or mud.

"I have suffered no side effects.

"My teeth are absolutely fine.

"I can bite into the hardest stone without a problem."

The oddball eater causally chews on freshly baked bricks he finds scattered around his village.

And he uses nothing more than a glass of water to help digest the building material which he says tastes "A1" - an Indian term meaning the best.

But all is not well at the Hunagundi's household because his mother has faced an uphill battle to stop her son's strange habit.

He added: "My mother says don't eat all this. She keeps insisting, but even if she gives me chicken fry, I don’t eat it.

"I don’t like that at all. I need mud and bricks to eat. I can’t help my own habit."

After news of his brick eating spread, Hunagundi has been inundated with people wishing to see him.

One friend said: “He has become very famous, but he is a poor man. We wish someone would help him.

“When we see him, we feel very bad. When he comes to our field, he goes around eating mud.

"He relishes hot charcoal too like a snack."

The brick-eating brickie struggles to make ends meet.

He said: “My father died four years ago. I have to take care of my mother. We don’t have any income.

"So I want to make use of my talent. I want to show people what I can do.

"I want earn some money."