The recent Tom Hanks movie, The Terminal, was based on the true story of Merhan Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian trapped in limbo at Charles de Gaulle airport. Simplify the story considerably (see the link above to snopes.com) and voila — a Hollywood movie!
Now, there’s a “Brown Terminal” story, about a Kenyan born British desi who is stuck at a Kenyan airport, having been deported from the UK. Any bets on how quickly Bollywood will bogart and bowdlerize his story? Any bets on what it will look like when it’s done?
A Kenyan-born British man has spent six months in Kenya’s international airport after being refused entry to the UK. Sanjai Shah has spent his time sleeping and wandering about in the transit lounge on the outskirts of the capital. He told the BBC he wants the British High Commission in Nairobi to send someone to the airport to sort it out. He told the BBC’s Muliro Telewa: “Life is very hard. You can sleep in the transit lounge, or wherever there is space. People are nice, they give me food. Others give me money. “I miss my wife and kids and they miss me. But if you want something, you must be ready to lose something.” The High Commission says Mr Shah had no automatic right to live and settle in the UK despite giving up his Kenyan passport after being awarded a British Overseas Citizen passport. His passport allows him entry into the UK but he was supposed to have a return ticket and sufficient funds to support his visit. Immigration officials suspected he planned to stay in the UK so refused him entry and flew him back. He said that he offered to buy a return ticket but was sent back, with a “prohibited immigrant” stamp in his passport, making it hard for him to travel to many countries. “This is not our problem, it is London’s,” a Kenyan immigration official told AFP news agency. “We have repeatedly told Shah to come to our offices for us to discuss his case and advise him on how to achieve his objectives, but he has refused and opted to stay at the airport,” British High Commission spokesman Mark Norton said.
Aspiring screenwriters, start your engines!
BBC: Man ‘living’ in airport terminal BBC: Life in the lounge Snopes.com: Stranded at the Airport