Salman Khan’s Human side

The actor has borne the expenses for the surgery of a young girl who had lost her voice and hearing ability during childhood, finds out Riddhi Doshi

Salman Khan proved to be a knight in shining armour for 34-year-old driver Ram Pal. Ram was running from pillar-to-post to get his nine-year-old daughter Meenu operated so that she could hear and talk. Meenu had lost her voice and hearing ability as a result of a childhood ailment.

However, Ram couldn’t cough up the whooping sum of Rs 7 lakh required for the operation. That’s when Salman stepped in. He paid for the entire expenses of the operation through his foundation Being Human.

While Meenu was undergoing pre-surgery checkups, Salman was shooting abroad. “He called me several times to check about the girl’s progress,” says Samir Bhargava, the ENT (ear, nose and throat) specialist and surgeon who operated upon Meenu. He adds, “Salman insisted that I operate on the girl when he is around. After her surgery, he dropped in to the hospital to meet her. Meenu was ecstatic. Now after six months of the surgery, which is the post-surgery rehabilitation period, Salman again wants to meet the girl and check her progress.”

When we spoke to him, Salman was very modest and just said, “It feels great. I am very happy that the girl is doing fine and is well on her road to recovery.” Samir said Salman was ecstatic about the fact that his foundation has helped a young girl get back to normalcy.

Ram says he will never be able to repay Salman and his family. “I went to various organizations to ask for help but everybody turned me down. For four long years, I was not able to find any help. And one fine day I decided to speak to Salim Khan during his morning walk,” recalls Ram.

He adds, “Salim Khan asked me to meet him. After checking my papers, he decided that I should meet Salman-bhai. And Salman-bhai instantly agreed to get Meenu operated upon. Salman-bhai is a great human being and is very humble. Meenu will never forget the day when Salman-bhai had come to meet her and now she is trying her level best to start talking quickly so that she can talk to Salman-bhai,” laughs Ram.

Salman is taking his foundation very seriously. In fact at a recent event, Salman was seen wearing a t-shirt bearing his foundation’s name in an attempt to gain more support for his foundation.
d_riddhi@dnaindia.c.om