Dubai Desi khana (home food), shawarmas and desert safari are the three things (and in that particular order he insists) that bowled over celebrity wrestler The Great Khali during his maiden visit to the UAE last weekend.
The seven-feet-one-inch ex-World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) star who was in Dubai to give away prizes to the winners of a men’s body building competition, spent two nights before flying back to India on Monday. During his time here, he met scores of fans over dinner on Saturday at Desi Dhaba, the north Indian restaurant in Dubai Grand Hotel where he stayed, and then at a desert safari on Sunday.
“He is a down-to-earth man. No star tantrums, no hang-ups. He spent loads of time with his fans – signing autographs and posing for selfies with them,” said Imran Khan, president of Team Dubai Indians that organised the inaugural body building event under the aegis of Emirates Bodybuilding Federation (EBBF) and the General Authority of Youth & Sports Welfare.
Down to earth
However, what the 43-year-old wrestler, who weighs 157kg and boasts 25 inches arms, loved the most in Dubai was his dinner at Desi Dhaba when he gorged on some of his favourite north Indian items including 13 makki ki rotis (unleavened bread made of corn flour), one portion of sarson ka saag (dish made of mustard leaves), one full chicken tandoori, two bowls of hot and sour chicken soup, one portion of Patiala chicken, one fish tikka, one bowl of daal (lentils), lots of salad and warm water.
“He loved the food so much that he told me he would come back to dine here and stay with us again,” said Praveen Shetty, managing director of Fortune Group of hotels that runs the Dubai Grand Hotel.
“I am amazed by Dubai. It’s so clean and green and I really felt at home seeing the large Indian crowd,” Khali, who runs his own wrestling school in India following his WWE career, said promising to return to Dubai soon with his family.
