'Get surgery? I'd rather beg': Meet the India man with an elephant face (Photos)

                                   

India's 'Elephant man' has turned down the opportunity to get a new face so he can pay for his daughter's wedding.

Mannan Mondal, who is also known as the 'melted man' of Delhi, has refused radical reconstructive surgery so he can continue begging. 

The 50-year old, who suffers from neurofibromatosis - which means he has a high risk of growing tumours - relies on his appearance to make a living.

So he has rejected the offer from surgeons in a bid to fund 20-year-old Rasheeda's big day.

                                            

'I will have to buy a lot of things - beds, cabinets, rings, watches and a cycle for the groom,' said Mannan, who is missing an eye, an ear and most of his teeth.

'The money I earn while begging is barely enough to feed my family. But I have no other way to help my daughter. I have to continue like this. I have to think about feeding my family first.'

Mannan was born to an impoverished family in Kolkata, West Bengal, and opportunities were already limited.

But he was further shunned because of his appearance and banned from school - leaving begging as his only option.

Despite his condition he found love at 18 and now has two sons and two daughters to provide for.

                        

He travels across India begging at holy sites, earning about £5 a day to send back to his beloved family. None of them have inherited the condition.

He said: 'I have been like this since birth. I was born poor and I had limited options. When I was younger these deformities were much smaller but they have all grown much larger with age.

'People around me do not treat me very well. They are disgusted by me and don't like me. This is how it has been for years.

'I have learned to manage like this. For example, I don't use a toothbrush to brush my teeth. I use my fingers as I have only four teeth.

'I do not have a home. I live on the streets under tents pitched on the footpath and I do not have money to buy land or houses.

'But my wife and family have been very supportive. They have always told me that my condition is God's creation. We humans cannot do anything to avoid it.'

Mannan had only previously seen one doctor about his growth and was told they were not cancerous or life-limiting.

But only last month he was given a thorough consultation by Dr Ajay Kashyap, director of Plastic Surgery, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, in Gurgaon.

He determined Mannan suffers from a type of neurofibromatosis, a genetic condition which causes uncontrollable growths along the nerves.

The condition made headlines when 53-year-old Italian Vinicio Riva - who suffers from a similar condition - was kissed by Pope Francis at the Vatican last year.

Dr Kashyap said: 'Mannan's tumours are benign, they are not cancerous. They will not shorten his life expectancy.

'But the bones have not developed properly on one side of his face so he has no support and this has caused the tumour to drop down.

'To reconstruct his face we would have to take away as much of the tumour as possible. After that, we would reconstruct the vital parts of his face he is missing.

'We could give him a new mouth, some kind of an eye socket and some skeletal support to make his appearance as normal as possible.

'But even after the procedure, he would not be 100 per cent normal. My main aim would be to give him some comfort and to make him and his children feel like he is normal.'

Surprisingly Mannan has turned his back on this opportunity - and vowed to continue begging.

He feels this is his career and his sole option to make enough money to provide for his family.

'If there was an option of getting better without having to pay then I would definitely take it,' he said.

'But not now. I have a wedding to think about. I will have to go back home, talk to my family and then decide. But feeding my family will always come first.'

While modern medicine can finally offer Mannan the chance of a new face - and a new life - it may have come too late for him.

And so tonight, as for most nights in the last 50 years, he will once again be back on the streets plying his trade.