Hero's farewell

Dubai: From directors to managers, producers, teachers and students, a mixed bag of Dubai expats turned up on Wednesday night for the honour of meeting the man dubbed an unsung hero.

When XPRESS published an article last week about Reshel Shah, a British expat, and her unrelenting search for Iran Badshah, a taxi driver from Peshawar, Pakistan, she met six months ago, emotions ran high.

The story hit home for many. Here was a man who spent four decades of his life working as a taxi driver in Dubai to support his family of nine back home.

At a dinner held at Kabab Rolls in Al Barsha to honour and celebrate Badshah, the mix of faces that turned up to shake his hand accurately represents the nationalities he drove around for the past 37 years.

Striking a chord

Sara Fernandez, a 27-year-old Spanish communications director, says she's honoured to meet a person like Badshah. "I can't imagine what life must have been like for him. It must have been so hard for him to stay away from his family. He's an inspiration to many."

Emirati Reem Falaknaz, producer-director of a television show, says it was the XPRESS story last week that struck a chord with her. "Reading about the story of Reshel and Iran, I was impressed. How many people take the time out to do so much for a taxi driver? I'm sure if I sat down with him, I'd have a million questions to ask."

Falaknaz says she took part in the celebrations for Iran to honour the ‘unsung hero'.

As the evening progressed, Badshah, whose name when translated from his mother-tongue Urdu, means King, lived up to his name. The questions flowed.

Everyone wanted a little bit of him. They wanted to know the story of this man, the changes he's seen in the country, and whether he will leave Dubai next month with any unfulfilled desires. "I have no wishes that were left unfulfilled. I've always had God to answer all my prayers all these years."

Keiran Bartlett, an Australian, says an evening like this isn't one that's common in Dubai. "It's so good to see people appreciate Iran. This stuff doesn't happen everyday, but it should. People such as Iran deserve this recognition."

Laura Gould, an entertainment booker from the UK, first heard about Badshah through Shah. "He's such an inspiring person. You don't get the honour of meeting people like him every day. He totally deserves all the recognition he's gotten tonight. There must be so many people like him who have been here for ages and yet no one knows of them when they leave. People like Iran have surely touched so many hearts and so many lives in the last four decades. I do hope he realises how special he is."

As Australian teacher Kiri Patterson puts it: "Watching him talk tonight and seeing how people applauded him, brought tears to my eyes. He is an everyday hero."

At the end of the night, Iran painted the perfect picture of a humble man of great courage, a man given a hero's farewell by all the nationalities that he once drove around anonymously. Badshah, however, remains mystified: "I don't know why I'm honoured like this. I just did what I was supposed to do all these years."