Home

Video: This man has 4,000 photos of Sheikh Mohammed

Photos by Shihab

Dubai - He now has only one wish: To meet the Dubai Ruler and gift him an album of his photos.

Published: Mon 16 Oct 2017, 3:45 PM

Updated: Tue 17 Oct 2017, 1:53 AM

By
Nilanjana Gupta

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.
He 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 Dubai's Meena Bazaar but they are also stacked away in albums and suitcases. Around 500 photos that couldn't find space in his apartment are pasted on the walls of his house in Goa.
And not just that, he has also written songs praising the Dubai Ruler.
After spending more than 40 years in the UAE, D'melo plans to go back to India by 2019 for good. However, before that he has one wish - to meet Sheikh Mohammed and personally gift him an album that he has made with 375 photos of the Dubai Ruler.
Calling himself Sheikh Mohammed's biggest fan, D'melo became teary-eyed as he made an emotional appeal to meet the Dubai Ruler. "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." I have tears of happiness as I say that because I have great feelings for him," he added.
If he doesn't get to meet Sheikh Mohammed, he said his feelings would just remain inside his heart. "I will consider it 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. I went to that mosque but I didn't get a chance to meet him. I asked someone who was working at the palace to help me meet him. But he said I had no chance."
Despite the odds, D'melo said he wouldn't give up. "If God grants me one wish, it will be to meet Sheikh Mohammed. I have faith that one day I will meet him before I leave this country."
Watch:

nilanjana@khaleejtimes.com