Want my kids to get inspired by para athletes: Shah Rukh Khan
New Delhi, Sep 26 : Superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who gave a warm send-off to Indian para athletes for the Asian Para Games 2018 on Wednesday, wants his children to take inspiration from the brave athletes.
"When I look at these athletes, I feel like I am doing so less in front of them. These para athletes are the true epitome of confidence and hard work.
"I want my kids (though AbRam is so young) to get inspired from these players and I want to make them learn how to be confident and how to keep up the spirit of working hard always," Shah Rukh said at the event here.
The 52-year-old actor revealed that a few months ago he wanted to "quit" everything.
"It was around August 15 or 16. I woke up in the morning... I felt like not going to work. I did not want to do more now. I wanted to cancel everything. I thought I have done so much, now I should stop everything and quit whatever I have been doing."
But he found inspiration in Para-athlete Deepa Malik, a discus star, and other such athlete's life stories which made him understand that life is not meant for giving up.
"I switched on the TV and all of a sudden, an interview of Deepa Malik flashed on the screen. I started watching it. When I watched her interview, she made me realise how wrong I was feeling about quitting everything," he said.
The occasion saw the presence of more than 190 para athletes including Deepa, the first Indian woman to win a medal in Paralympic Games and Para high jumper, Varun Bhatti.
As Shah Rukh's Meer Foundation has been associated with the Indian Para Olympic contingent, all the players were extremely happy with the actor's support.
Deepa felt having Shah Rukh's support will make people more aware about para athletes.
"Many people have no clue about us, but there are millions of people who follow Shah Rukh. So I believe through SRK's association with us, people will get to know about us also and follow us.
"Earlier, we all used to feel orphaned but now with support like this, we feel that we have a family out there," said Deepa, a mother of two girls.
Shah Rukh greeted the players and wished them luck. He also got a jersey with "Khan" written on it from Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) President Rao Inderjit Singh.
Asked if he wishes to have a team of para athletes, Shah Rukh, the owner of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kolkata Knight Riders said: "Like we have Indian Premier League, I would love to see sport leagues comprising of nation's such strong para athletes.
"In future, if I get a chance, I will definitely get myself attached with a team of para athletes."
Shah Rukh also motivated the specially abled athletes with a few words of encouragement, saying: "We all are incomplete. Be it physically or emotionally or mentally, no one is complete in every aspect. Instead of feeling bad about it, we all should fight with our disabilities and make our life complete."
The Para Asian Games will be held at Jakarta in Indonesia from October 6-13.
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Mathura boat capsize tragedy: Death toll climbs to 13
Mathura (UP)(PTI): With the recovery of two more bodies on Sunday, the death toll in the boat capsize incident in the Yamuna river in Mathura has climbed to 13, officials said on Sunday.
Search for three more missing persons is underway.
Superintendent of Police (Rural) Suresh Chandra Rawat said renewed search efforts led to the recovery of the body of a college student, identified as Dinki Bansal, near Devraha Baba Ghat and that of a man identified as Rishabh Sharma approximately 3 km away from the accident site.
The incident occurred on Friday afternoon when a boat carrying over two dozen tourists, primarily from Punjab, hit a floating drum of a pontoon bridge and capsized near Kesi Ghat in Vrindavan.
Most of the victims were from Jagraon and Dugri areas of Ludhiana district.
Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) along with the district administration and local police were actively engaged in the search for the missing pilgrims.
However, strong currents of the Yamuna river and the significant depth of the water at the ghats are proving a hindrance.
Circle Officer (Mant) Sandeep Singh said the Yamuna river stretch extending from Keshi Ghat to Gokul Barrage has been divided into seven sectors.
The search for the missing individuals will now be conducted within this specific 20-square-km zone. A Station House Officer (SHO) has been designated as the in-charge for each sector.
Acting on the orders of the DIG (Agra Range), seven SHOs will oversee operations across the seven sectors of river Yamuna.
Giving details about the operation, Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue) Pankaj Kumar Verma, citing NDRF officials, on Saturday had said although the search for the missing persons is currently focused within a 14-km radius from the spot where the boat had capsized, there is a possibility that they may have been swept much further downstream.
SHO of Vrindavan police station Sanjay Pandey said boat operator Pappu was arrested late on Friday night.
He is accused of failing to provide life jackets to passengers before allowing them to board the boat, and operating the boat at high speed. This resulted in the boat losing control and colliding with a pontoon bridge's drum, which led to the accident, officials said.
Police have registered a case and also arrested the contractor, Narayan Sharma, responsible for the repair work on the pontoon bridge.
Rawat said that on Friday evening, police registered a case under section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the boatman Pappu (alias Dauji) and Sharma, and subsequently arrested them.
According to the case details, Pappu's boat did not have any safety equipment or provisions whatsoever.
Moreover, despite repeated pleas from pilgrims, Pappu operated the boat at high speed. By the time he realised the danger upon approaching the pontoons of the bridge, it was already too late.
Consequently, after colliding with a pontoon drum, the boat lost control and capsized. It has also come to light that he is among those operators who have not obtained the requisite license to operate a boat.
Sharma was carrying out the work of dismantling and reassembling the pontoon bridge without providing any prior notification.
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