E-Paper
Accolades for distinguished dozen
HE IS so down to earth that he sat down on the ground ? laughing.. When Rajpal Yadav reached his room in the guesthouse, an attendant came running to him and said, ?Arre arre, yeh aap ka kamra nahin hai, yeh toh Rajpal ji ka kamra hai. Aapka kamra koi aur hoga.? And the moment the attendant said this, Rajpal Yadav was in splits. The reason for this ?error? was that Rajpal does not look like a typical ?star?. This is how his day began in Lucknow on Monday, when he reached the VVIP guesthouse .
HE IS so down to earth that he sat down on the ground — laughing..
When Rajpal Yadav reached his room in the guesthouse, an attendant came running to him and said, “Arre arre, yeh aap ka kamra nahin hai, yeh toh Rajpal ji ka kamra hai. Aapka kamra koi aur hoga.” And the moment the attendant said this, Rajpal Yadav was in splits.
The reason for this ‘error’ was that Rajpal does not look like a typical ‘star’. This is how his day began in Lucknow on Monday, when he reached the VVIP guesthouse on a foggy morning.
An hour later, he and eleven other eminent personalities in the fields of sports, journalism, literature, wild life conservation, mountaineering, music and acting were honoured with the Yash Bharti Samman by Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.
One by one, the awardees took their seats on the tastefully decorated stage on CSI Lawns at Ram Manohar Lohia Park in Gomti Nagar.
Late Gopal Prasad Vyas, Som Thakur and Hanuman Prasad Sharma, ‘Manu Sharma’ were three Hindi litterateurs who received the prestigious award. Late Gopal Prasad Vyas was the first one among the list of awardees. His son Govind Das was present to take the award on his behalf. He said, “My father’s contribution to Hindi is commendable. He put in decades of dedicated work. Hindi Bhawan in New Delhi is his gift to the nation.”
Similarly, UP Hindi Sansthan executive vice-chairman Som Thakur has been associated with this field for the past 53 years.
He said, “UP is a historical and religious state. It is the land of Ram and Krishna, they incarnated in this very state.”
“Wildlife protection is what I have done all my life and I feel very sad when all my work goes to oblivion. We will feel sad later if we don’t do anything right now to save wildlife,” said ‘Billy’ Arjan Singh, wildlife conservationist. He was happy about the award, but was sad that not much was being done for wildlife protection.
Eminent journalists Kuldip Nayar, Achutanand Mishra and Gyan Chand Jain were also among the awardees.
Nayar said, “With the money that I get through this award, I will create a Journalists’ Welfare Fund, which will be managed and operated by the Editors’ Guild of India. Through this fund, I will be able to help the journalists who are in need of financial help.”
Apart from this, young talent was also awarded.
Indian Navy personnel and mountaineer Rajkumar, folk artiste Malini Awasthi, actor Rajpal Yadav and wrestlers Janardan Singh Yadav and Chandra Vijay Singh were a few of them.
For Malini Awasthi, it was an emotional moment. She said, “My gurus Girja Devi Ji and Late Rahat Ali Khan were also honoured with the same award. This award does not belong to me, it belongs to my gurus.”
Expressing his love for Lucknow, comedy guru Rajpal Yadav said, “It’s my city and it’s a home coming for me. And to get an award in my province is wonderful. I feel honoured.”
