Dalip joined the force in Jalandhar under the sports quota as a constable. Though he joined as a sportsman, he had to struggle to find his sport. First, he tried basketball and was not agile enough for the game. He made a shot at shot put and failed.

Then, he was advised to take up body building. “Dalip’s only problem was that he had a strong upper portion but his thigh muscles were not very strong,” says Bhullar. Dalip was then spotted by Dr Hasthir Sharma, son of a former Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Punjab. “Hasthir advised me to send Dilip to abroad for wrestling competitions, to which I readily agreed,” said Bhullar.

There began the journey that would take him to the US and the WWE.

Back home, his family learnt of his US avatar only when they chanced upon his photos in a newspaper. “I was thrilled to learn that he had become so famous and was aiming to become a world-class wrestler,” says Jwala Ram.

Dalip, who married Harminder Kaur, a US-based girl of Indian origin, is funding the education of his siblings’ children and has bought an adjoining plot of land for his parents. Pointing to a house under construction, Jwala Ram says: “It was with Dalip’s money that we purchased the plot.”

As they wait for the son to come home after three years, they are just making one change to the house — having doors eight feet high.