Bhim Pariyar, who grew up on the streets of the capital, Kathmandu, huddled in a corner with other boys like him, all trying to warm themselves around the fire they had made by burning plastic, paper and tyres.

"It's time for fun now," Pariyar told his friends as he took out the packet of dendrite.

"You know, this helps us to get rid of our hunger," explained his friend, 14-year-old Rajen Subba, who fled his home in Jhapa district in southeast Nepal due to grinding poverty and started to work as a rag picker.

But he cannot afford regular food or clothing to keep warm, and has been living on the streets for the past six years.

"I wish I was home even if it means living without food because I would not have to suffer like this," said Subba, who complains of chest pain and often gets sick.

Subba tries to forget his hardships by inhaling the fumes from the carpet glue, squeezing the dendrite from the tube into a plastic bag and holding it to his mouth.

The adhesive glue contains toluene, a sweet-smelling and intoxicating hydrocarbon, which is neurotoxic. The solvent dissolves the membrane of the brain cells and causes hallucinations as well as dampening hunger pangs, and wards off cold.

"I forget everything. I won't feel cold and hungry and can sleep easily," said Shyam Tamang, 12, another street boy.

Glue sniffing on the increase.

Full story:  http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/62b38d27423dd9147d1ebe223e53e2af.htm