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Kanai Das walks every morning to the railway station, stands at one corner with his hands out in the hope of getting alms. He patiently waits for the benevolent commuters who give him as much as Rs 300 a day.

But the 42-year-old is not just a beggar. For many Indians, he is the reincarnation of Lord Ganesh - the elephant God and they pay him money in respect. But Kanai doesn’t have a trunk like an elephant. He suffers from a rare condition called neurofibromatosis that has disfigured his face, left his facial skin sagging down to his chest and his right eye has vanished in all the layers of his droopy flesh. He cannot eat and talk properly and always needs medicines to keep his inflammatory skin soothed. And because of his deformity, he has never been able to land a half-decent job.

But Kanai still believes in miracle and hopes for a surgery that could give him a normal face.