Where were you fellow wrestling fan when The Great Khali first strode into your lives?
In front of the TV eating dinner with your moms, dads, uncles, grand-uncles, second cousins, nephews, sons, first cousin/wife? Was it while waving your pitchfork along with the other friendly yokels while watching Smackdown live at a truckstop?
Or, for the younger amongst us, was it at the cinema watching another critically accalimed Adam Sandler movie?
I know I will always remember where I was—in a hospital fighting for my life against what the doctors had told me was a terminal condition—terminal cancer.
For those long hard months as I lay there unable to speak, move and only with the use of my left eyelid for comunication I was beginning rapidly to lose hope. Days turned to nights, light turned to darkness and I could see nothing waiting for me at the end of the tunnel.
During this nadir, my only comfort was watching the rise of a wrestler I gradually came to know as "The Great Khali" to the top of the wrestling world in black and white on a small TV beside by bed every week.
The Great Khali was unlike anything I had ever seen before. Standing 7' and weighing 420 pounds, Khali was a giant amongst ordinary men. His strength was indescribable. His awesome "Vise Grip of the 7 Virgins" hold reduced other wrestlers to their knees and his "Bearhug of Brutally Boring Doom" allowed him to shake grown men around like rag dolls.
Khali was a technically accomplished wrestler in so many ways and his power was frightening. I have read somehwere that he has been given the title of Mr. India an unprecedented 37 times since birth which in a country with over 550 million men inhabiting it is an amazing feat.
But what impressed me the most was that inner strength, seen in his eyes.
Despite the sorcery of the evil wizard The Undertaker and the brutal size and weight disadvantage he had against the bully reigning champion Rey Mysterio Jr., Khali kept coming back and refused to give up. This reminded me of my own situation at the time where the odds always seemed against me.
His strength gave me my strength. And when The Great Khali finally lifted the Super Smackdown Coca-Cola Lite World Supership Heavyweight Title in July 2007 the doctors told me something that at the time they called a miracle—my cancer had disappeared overnight. The same night Khali had won a 120-man battle royal on Smackdown.
For me it was not a miracle, it was the Great Khali.
I have never felt anything for previous wrestlers, luminaries of the wrestling world or previous great champions like David Arquette or Vince Russo over the years. It was during my stay in hospital that the emotional impact and healing power of wrestling had been revealed to me and the symbol of this was Khali.
The Great Khali has become the most inspirational figure in wrestling ever for millions like me all over the world.
In his home country, India, he is afforded greater prestige than Gandhi, Krishna and Daisy the Cow—combined. In fact it is said amongst Indians that "he who walks the path of the Great Khali is great beyond his wildest dreams."
To this day I have walked the path of the Khali.
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