According to reports, 20 street children from NGO Childhood Enhancement met WWE Superstar "The World's Strongest Man" Mark Henry in an event organised by CAF India on Friday, and celebrated Raksha Bandhan.
9-year-old Soni (name changed) a girl from Sarai Kale Khan, tied rakhi to Mark Henry, expressing hope that more than 50,000 street children may be protected.
"I had never saw such a big man in my life, I got scared, but later he made me laugh," said Soni.
Mark Henry was asked questions like 'what do you eat' and 'does WWE wrestling actually hurt?". The street children then presented him with a sketch of himself, and requested the star to fight for street children.
"I have two children, and I will tell them how to be brave in an odd situation. I appeal to all citizens to support street children", said Mark Henry.
I never had this experience before. Just by tying this band around the wrist, one could feel so responsible. The children have been amazing," he added.
On being asked by a child if WWE is 'real', Henry said, "It is not at all easy work, the action you see is actual, the power and aggression is actual, hence there are chances of getting hurt".
"Raksha Bandhan may be symbolic for people, but it means a lot to street children", said secretary of Badthe Kadam - A Federation of street and working children with 10000 members.
"We at CAF India are concerned about plight of street children, and invite people to come forward and support them", said Mr Kartik Ayer, Deputy Head-Fund Raising CAF India.
Sajjad, a 16-year-old said, "Who cares about us? People like Mark Henry make us feel we are important".
14-year-old Rukhsana, a domestic help said, "We made lots of rakhi yesterday, but those were small in size. Then our teacher Shaswati from Chetna said that we need to make bigger rakhis for Mark Henry, as he is a huge man. So we made rakhis as big as a foot long."
12-year-old Shambhu who resides in a night shelter was shocked to see how huge Mark Henry was, and said "What must he be eating? We may need special chair and bed if he visits our night shelter."
