HP government to honour Khali on Tuesday

SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh government will honour Daleep Singh Rana, popular as 'the great Khali', on Tuesday for bringing a good name to the hill state world over.
    
Khali would be honoured by the state government at a function in Nahan, the district headquarters of Khali's native Sirmaur district, sources in the Chief Minister's office said on Sunday.
    
PWD Minister Gulab Singh Thakur would honour Khali on behalf of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal as the CM would be busy with the Hamirpur Parliamentary by-polls slated for Thursday, the sources said.
    
The family and natives of Khali's Dhiraina village under Shillai tehsil of Sirmaur district are eagerly waiting to give him a warm welcome on his arrival there on May 21. Many social groups in Nahan are also planning similar receptions at Poanta, Kamrou, Kafota and Shillai en route to his Dhiraina village from Nahan on that day.
    
"All of us are eagerly waiting for his arrival," Khali's elder brother Bhagat Singh Rana said over the phone from his village.
    
During his two-day stay in the village Khali, who is 7.3 feet tall and weighs 185 kgs would be staying in a new house having eight foot tall doors, Rana said.
    
Born in 1972, Khali's life is a story of rag to riches. Starting as a labourer in Shimla to earning a name in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Khali has seen it all. The giant Wrestler has also acted in a few Hollywood movies.
    
Khali's craze also touched the celebrities as Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan, master batsman Sachin Tendulkar and children of Priyanka Vadra paid him a visit after his arrival.