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The man who lived 10 years in an airport

Ranvir Nayar

You could easily take him for a traveller waiting for his flight. With an overloaded trolley, he sits writing something on a bunch of papers. Occasionally cleaning his pipe, filling it with Dunhill tobacco, and lighting it. He could just be another traveller waiting for his flight.

He could be, but he isn't. He has been waiting for his flight since 1989.

And he has been waiting at Terminal 1 of the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, without being allowed to leave the airport premises at any time in the last decade that he has been there.

Mehran's bizarre life began in 1989 when he was visiting Paris as a tourist and lost his documents at a railway station. "I had lost my bag and my jacket at the railway station. It had all my travel documents. I was arrested by the police for not being able to produce valid entry papers for France and was kept in the jail at Bobigny for four months,'' Mehran told rediff.com at the CDG airport.

While in prison, Mehran told the French police his baffling story. "I don't know when or where I was born. I have no immediate family. I believe I am about 54 years old,'' he said.

He has never worked in his life for a living. Some of his distant relatives and friends helped him with money in his early days. His early life was spent in the Iranian capital, Tehran, where he studied psychology for two years from 1970.

"Then I got a passport and went to London in 1973 to study masters in psychology there. I had some relatives there who helped me with money for the period, but I also used to freelance for television and radio stations,'' says Mehran, who likes to be called Alfred, his popular name at the airport.

He was unable to finish his studies and left London in 1977 to travel around the world. Then came the Iranian revolution in 1979 and Mehran knew he could not go back home. So started his search for asylum in Europe. After scouring for almost two years all over Europe, finally the Belgian authorities agreed to admit him as a refugee.

So in 1981, Mehran moved to Brussels and began his studies again. This time, business administration in a United States university through distance education. However, Mehran is unable to say exactly what he did and how he lived for the next eight years that he was to stay in Brussels. In 1989, he came to Paris for the ill-fated trip and lost his documents.

Though the French authorities tried to send him to Brussels after his four months in prison, the Belgian authorities refused to accept him, saying they could not locate his file. And since then, Mehran has been forced to stay at the airport.

"I cannot leave the premises. I can just go around here,'' he says.

For the last decade, Mehran has been forced to live off the generosity of the occasional traveller and the airport staff, who help him with money and food. "I have not been allowed to work, so I depend on people for food. Even if I eat basic stuff at the McDonald's, I need at least 1000 French francs a month. But some of the people here are very nice and they come around and give me food to eat or some money. But it is not easy. I don't have sufficient winter clothing and as winter is approaching, life will become difficult again,'' says Mehran.

But there is some hope on the horizon for Mehran. He has been told by the airport authorities that the Belgian authorities have indeed located his file and he may be given his documents by January and he can leave France.

Mehran is not sure what he wants to do or where he will go. "I would like to go the United States, if they let me. I would like to begin my MBA again. I would also like to act in cinema and television serials,'' he says.

A decade at the CDG airport has made Mehran a semi-celebrity in France where several television channels and newspapers have reported on him. Even as this interview was underway, a group of passengers recognised Mehran and offered to buy him a drink, which he accepts modestly.

"You have some guts and tenacity. Three cheers to you,'' says a man.

Reflecting on his 10-year stay at the airport, Mehran says passing time was not really a problem, though he agrees it could have driven some people insane. "I wake up at about 8 am. After finishing bath etc, I have my breakfast and then I study,'' pointing at a trolley-load of cartons full of books on finance, economic history and commerce, which he ordered from the airport over the last decade.

Mehran also maintains a diary, in which he writes his daily experiences and feelings. He plans to publish a book on his life at the airport. He also hopes to get married and lead a normal life once he is settled.

"I am not angry. I don't think it has been a big waste. I have been able to study here. Yes, it has not been a nice experience, but I can't blame anyone for it,'' he says.

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