Speaking at the sixth convocation of MANUU at the campus in Hyderabad, Khan said: “Through my work, whatever little I can do I promise I will make sure that I will do it to the best of my capabilities.”

MANUU Chancellor Zafar Sareshwala conferred the doctorate on Khan and Urdu activist and Rekhta Foundation founder Sanjiv Sarraf.

“For his extraordinary contribution to the promotion of [the] Urdu language and literature, the university is conferring of Doctor of Letters to Mr Shah Rukh Khan,” Sareshwala said.

Wearing a gown, cap and sunglasses, a beaming Khan said amid applause: “I don’t know whether I deserve this honour, but when you have decided to give it to me, I have to accept it.”

“But more than me my parents would have been happy today as my father [Taj Mohammed Khan] had a very keen interest in education. He was MA LLB, a follower of Maulana Azad and a freedom fighter. I am told he also once fought election as an independent candidate but lost his deposit,” he said.

Recalling that his father spoke beautiful Urdu and Persian, the actor said: “Whatever little knowledge I have of how to speak it is because of him. He would have been very happy that I am here in this university today.”

“My mother [Lateef Fatima Khan] would have been happier as I [have received] this honour in her birth place, Hyderabad,” he added.

While his initial acceptance speech was brief, when the organisers invited him to speak at the end of the convocation, Khan talked about his experiences in life.

He said if somebody gets educated it was a matter of pride because it equips him or her for life.

“Follow your heart,” he told graduates and postgraduates of MANUU. “When you come to my age [after] following what your parents and teachers told you, there will be a regret in your heart — ‘why didn’t [I] do what was there in my heart?’” the actor said.

Going down memory lane, he said his father was impoverished as he could not get a job despite being educated and any business he started ended in failure.

“But he gave me a lot of love. As he did not have money he gave his old belongings to me on my birthdays and taught me my good Urdu words,” Khan said.

A chess set that he used to play on with a priest at a Hanuman Temple was one such gift. He said the game taught him how to work with people, and that sometimes you had to retreat to move ahead.

“It also taught me that nobody is small. Like a pawn everybody is useful. Respect them. Something you love most — like the queen [in] chess — you have to sacrifice to move ahead in life.”

Similarly, his father’s gift of a typewriter taught him diligence, as he could not afford to make a mistake.

Khan said he was lucky that his acting hobby became his profession, which doesn’t usually happen.

“Creativity will be the best friend when you feel lonely and feel pain in life,” he said in conclusion.

source : gulfnews