My Meeting With The Man Who Inspired ‘The Terminal’
It was late October of 1997 that I traveled to the USA on a business trip. In fact, that was my very first international flight trip ever. My flight path was from Chennai to New Delhi to Houston via Paris. The layover at Paris was the famed Charles de Gaulle international’s Airport. The total time to reach Houston was more than nearly thirty hours of travel if one counted it from the time I started from Chennai in India. New Delhi’s international departure was at a time of about three am in the morning. The flight arrived in Paris after a nine hour-long flight time. I had to withdraw the checked-in luggage as there was no through check-in to Houston. I checked-out the luggage to change for the flight to Houston. My connecting flight was a full six hours away, so I almost strolled to check-in and clearing security to move into the international departure area.
After checking in my luggage and completing all the other boarding related formalities, I sat down near the departure gateway with only a handful of other co-passengers. With nothing much to do, as I did not possess a mobile phone either those days, so I was whiling away time just watching the planes taxiing in the runway through the large glass windows. That is when I recall that day meeting with an unusual stranger at an airport who was not a citizen of any country in the world. A thin, tall man walked up to me. He had dark hair with occasional grey rooted in it, with a long bony face and a dark mustache. He was wearing an old dark checked grey blazer that seemed to be giving up slowly. His face sported a thin stubble that seemed to be a couple of days old. He came next to me and then sat down. He soon began a conversation. My ever sensitive nose could easily detect a body odor from him that felt like someone who hadn’t showered for days.
He said, “Are you from India?”. I looked at him and slowly said, “Yes, I am.”
“Oh, good, I guessed that you must be India. I am from Iran”, he said to me and laughed a little. I nodded my head and stayed quiet as I was not too comfortable conversing further with a total stranger and so kept quiet.
He was not willing to be quiet and then quipped, “You see culturally, there are many similar things between India and Iran.”
I then turned towards him, surprised with that statement. That is when he said, “I felt that as a fellow Asian, you will understand a problem that I have better than many other people here. So I came here to speak with you”.
I was interested to know what real problem he had and wanted to know about it. I said, “Sure, we can speak. What had happened?”.
He said, “You see, I have lost my passport and fully stranded in this Airport. I need some money for food. If you give me some money, I promise to return to you someday”.
I was amazed to see someone begging for money at an international Airport. In those days, money was usually carried through a traveler’s check, and the cash component was significantly less. I only had a few dollars in my pocket, which I kept away with me for a taxi ride from the Houston airport to the place booked for my stay in the USA.
Without any hesitation, I passed on two ten-dollar bills from my pocket to him. He gave a big smile and then said, “Thank you so much. Can I have your address”.
I was startled and asked him back, “Why would you need my address?”.
He said, “I want to courier this money back to you when I get a chance.”
I responded, “Ah, that is fine. I don’t need that money. You can keep it”.
He seemed surprised and asked, “Are you sure?”
I smiled and responded, “Yes, positive.”
He then said, “Thanks again, and may God bless you.”
He rose up and walked away. I got busy reading a book that I had brought with me. It was time to board the flight, and as I rose up to leave. I could see the same tall, lanky man sitting next to another traveler and speaking. I thought to myself, “This man has not yet got all the money he wants to travel to wherever he needs to go. So poor guy is seeking money from another traveler”.
With these sympathetic thoughts, I boarded the flight and left for the USA. Many years later, I had settled down and began living in the USA. It was then one day I heard about the movie ‘The Terminal.’ It was a Hollywood movie and had my favorite actor Tom Hanks in it. While reading about the film on a review site. I found that it was based on the real-life story of ‘Mehran Karimi Nasseri,’ the man who lived in the Charles De Gaulle airport for more than a decade. Curious, I searched for the man on the internet. I was shocked to find that none other than the tall, lanky gentlemen. Whom I met in the morning hours at the international departure lounge of the Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris in 1997.
A few questions came to my mind then.
- Was he really collecting the money for his food and a place to go somewhere?
- Was he genuine when he said that he would return the money to me someday?
- Was he making a living in the Airport begging from gullible travelers after presenting his sad story?
- How did he manage to live there in an Airport this way for so long?
If he had a family or loved one, did he not miss being with them all those years? - What is it to really live a life like that, being stranded in an Airport?
I could never get answers to those questions, perhaps even to this day. By the way, I haven’t watched the movie ‘The Terminal’ to this day. But someday I will, but then I am one of the few who had met the real-life person on whom the was portrayed. So I can wait to watch the movie any day. No, it might not take long. Now, as I have written about this real-life experience, I might watch it sooner!
