Will someone help me to meet Dubai Ruler, asks Indian expat
dubai — Filipe D’melo, 67, has just one hobby — collecting photos of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
The Indian resident has collected around 4,000 photos of Sheikh Mohammed over the last six years. The Dubai Ruler’s photos not only cover the walls of his house in Meena Bazaar, they are also stacked away in albums and suitcases. Around 500 photos that couldn’t find space in his apartment are on the walls of his house in Goa.
It doesn’t stop there… he has also written songs praising the charismatic Dubai Ruler.
After spending more than 40 years in the UAE, D’melo plans to go back to India for good by 2019. However, he has one wish before that — to meet Sheikh Mohammed and personally gift him an album of 375 photos.
“If somebody helps me meet Sheikh Mohammed, I am ready to go any time just to say, ‘Assalaam Walaykum (Peace be upon you), I am going back home,” he added.
If he doesn’t get to meet Sheikh Mohammed, he said: “I will consider it as my bad luck. But I will not give this album to anybody else. This album will remain with me till I die.”
D’melo has made several attempts to meet the Dubai Ruler but all in vain. “I went to many places to find him. During Ramadan, I tried to find out which mosque he went to for prayers. But I didn’t get a chance to meet him.” Despite the odds, D’melo said he won’t give up. “If God grants me one wish, it will be to meet Sheikh Mohammed.”
nilanjana@khaleejtimes.com