She Pulls Airplanes, with her Teeth

September 9 : Eighteen-year-old Seema Bhadoria has no teething problems when it comes to pulling strings with weights attached. She is one of the strongest persons in India. Seema has done something even strong body builders hesitate to do – she has pulled an airplane weighing 3387.33 kg on the runway of the Bhopal airport.

What’s even more amazing, she has pulled the plane with her teeth.

Seema weighs barely 56 kg and at 5 feet 6 inches, is not even very tall. But she loves pulling enormously heavy things with her teeth. And now, she intends to make it to the Guinness Book of Records on the strength of her teeth.

In an article carried in the Telegraph, Seema, giving a toothy smile, says that she owes her feat more to the strength of her will rather than the strength of her teeth.

Seema was eight when she heard that another resident of the city had pulled a ship with his teeth. She felt that she too could try it out. From that day on, little Seema started to practice picking up heavy things with her teeth.

By 12, she was able to draw buckets of water from the well by pulling the pulley rope with her teeth. She was also doing other daring things like joining judo and karate classes. As the youngest of five sisters and two brothers, she was allowed to do as she pleased.

She Pulls Airplanes, with her Teeth [Illustration by Sudheer Nath]

Until her mother found out what she was doing with her teeth. Her mother was shocked and feared that Seema’s teeth would fall out from all the pulling. She ordered Seema to stop immediately.

But there was no stopping Seema. At 13, she tied a rope to her neighbour’s jeep and dragged it with her teeth. In her hometown, Datia, during the Republic Day festivities she pulled a small van weighing over a tonne! After this, she pulled several vans and small trucks.

In April she crossed the 100-tonne mark by pulling a 114-tonne railway engine. Seema then approached the authorities for permission to try and pull a plane. The authorities were very reluctant at first but later gave in. On July 26, they watched open-mouthed as Seema effortlessly pulled the plane on the runway. She repeated her feat again to prove that the previous one was no fluke.

So what is the secret of her toothful strength? Two things, she claims. Drinking badam (almond) milk, and homemade dantmanjan or toothpowder, with which she cleans her teeth daily.

She is convinced that the regimen would help her achieve her big dream – to pull a huge ship with, of course her teeth!

451 words | 4 minutes
Readability: Grade 5 (10-11 year old children)
Based on Flesch–Kincaid readability scores

Filed under: world news
Tags: #teeth

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