A man in northern India has told reporters that he eats lizards for the "ultimate high".

Girdhari Lal searches the remote corners of his house for them every day.

The 50-year-old rickshaw puller, from the Punjab city of Amritsar, claims to be on a constant high.

A drug addict since the age of 14, he says he took to eating lizards when opium and hashish failed to give him the kick he needed.

Mr Lal told Asian News International: "I tried all possible drugs but nothing satiated me. Then I tried different types of snakes.

"However I found only the neck and tail portions worth eating. But I started yawning with that. That made me switch to lizards."