Tag Archives: Rizwana Khan

Creating a Disney World at home

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Thiruvananthapuram, KERALA / Sharjah, UAE:

Rizwana Khan Ghori, a Malayali settled in Sharjah, entered the Limca Book of Records for collecting Disney plush toys worth over Rs 57 lakh.

Rizwana with her collection
Rizwana with her collection

Rizwana Khan Ghori, a Malayali woman settled in Sharjah, has entered the Limca Book of Records for her staggering collection of Disney plush toys worth over Rs 57 lakh. Born to Abdul Razackhan Ghori and Mrs Razackhan Ghori, Rizwana began collecting Disney plush toys at 12; now she has 1,100 of them which are kept in a rented two-room flat!

She expresses her intention of trying for a Guinness record, during an email interaction. “I will do it, but for now, I’m just enjoying the moment, and slowly adding to my collection.”

It all started after her mother told her the story of Cinderella and she craved for a doll of Cinderella. Soon, she was the proud owner of one. “I have never borrowed money from my family, friends or relatives for these toys. I used to save up a lot from my pocket money to buy them.”

She gives a lot of credit to her father, who never discouraged her from indulging in her passion and in fact rented a two-bed apartment to house the toys. Her mother, however, was more disapproving of her hobby.

How did she manage to lay her hands on rare ones like the limited edition Molly Cunningham? Her father’s brother is in the US, she says, and he helped procure some of them. Of late, she has also been shopping online. Rizwana remembers that she spent the first five years of her life in Jawahar Nagar, Thiruvananthapuram. “Though I grew up in the UAE, I feel connected to my motherland and am proud of my roots. My father comes from capital city while mother from the cultural capital of Kerala.”

Mother of a three-year-old, Rizwana says she will never grow out of this hobby and will keep collecting all her life. But at the same time, she imagines that one day she would auction the plush toys and give the proceeds to some charity.


She signs off by quoting Walt Disney who famously said that if you can dream it, you can do it.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Lifestyle / by T Sudheesh, Deccan Chronicle / March 20th, 2016

From Mysuru To Mumbai: Railway Porter Badge No. 16 Takes Her To ‘Indian Idol’ Stage

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Mysuru, KARNATAKA :

Rizwana Banu’s story breaks free from dogmas of male-dominated profession.

She is alone but not broken. Her life is filled with tragedy, yet she is a dreamer. She is brave, graceful, independent, hard-working, confident and what not. Words fall short to describe her attitude towards life. Her journey of life is an inspiration to all women out there. 

Next time when you are at the Mysuru City Railway Station, there are chances that you will come across 39-year-old Rizwana Banu, with a smiling face offering to carry your luggage. She is the only woman among the 60 porters at the Railway Station and she does the job as efficiently as the men.

Wearing Porter Badge No. 16, Rizwana has appeared on the stage of the country’s biggest singing TV reality show ‘Indian Idol’ in Mumbai on July 6 and this has made her the talk of the town. But the celebrity status has not got into her head and she still lifts passenger luggage, smiling. Her amiable approach gets her a few rupees more than the normal remuneration.

Life not a bed of roses

Rizwana lives in Shanthinagar and she lost her husband Javed Pasha in 2010. Javed was also a Porter at the Railway Station and after his death, the world came crashing on her as she had to take the responsibility of looking after the family including four children, parents and in-laws. 

She was not qualified enough to get a job and she fell back on what her husband was doing for a living. Fortunately she got the job on compassionate grounds and she became the lone woman porter. 

Sharing her life’s story with Star of Mysore, Rizwana said, “Initially I was scared to work amidst men as I was the only woman doing this job. I did not have friends and even passengers would ignore me thinking that I cannot carry heavy luggage. There were many depressing moments and many times I cursed myself for having been born as a woman.”  

“I had no other option as I am the only bread-winner in the family on whom eight are dependent. I slowly gained confidence to work among men and even passengers started showing concern towards me. They sometimes pay extra money for my hard work.  It’s been 10 long years,” she says with a sigh. 

Unexpected opportunity

On appearing on ‘Indian Idol’ stage, she said that she never thought of standing on such a huge and famed stage. “Though I was not a contestant, it happened to me unexpectedly. I got an opportunity to go to Mumbai through our mesthri Jalendra. The ‘Indian Idol’ show managers were looking for a lady surviving life despite odds. Somehow they contacted Jalendra and asked me to come to Mumbai,” she said. 

“I was flying for the first time in my life. After I reached Mumbai they arranged for accommodation at a private hotel. The next day I was invited on the stage and a video of my entire journey was shown to the audience. Show judges Anu Malik, Himesh Reshammiya and Sonu Kakkar praised me,”  Rizwana recalled. 


“Seeing the video that captured my life and struggle, everyone’s eyes welled up with tears. For me, I received the respect which I always wanted to earn. The anchor of the show Aaditya Narayan (son of singer Udit Narayan) announced that he would give me his one episode’s remuneration,” she said. 

Rizwana got Rs. 1.5 lakh from the reality show. She plans to use it to clear a part of the Rs. 5 lakh loan taken for her daughter’s marriage. “Actually I watched the show and I am a big fan of contestant Mohammad Danish. But I never imagined that I would get an opportunity to be on the live stage,” she noted. 

Life of a Porter not easy

“Earlier there were no lifts and escalators and porters had to carry the luggage using stairs. Now things have changed. I work 11 hours a day, from 6 am to 5 pm and whenever I have body ache, I take painkillers to be prompt at work the next day,” she said. 

Lockdown was tough for Rizwana and her son sold tea to make ends meet. “I earn Rs. 300 a day, which is hardly enough but I have never complained and I am thankful to have at least this much. I love watching movies and dream of meeting the ‘real coolie’ Amitabh Bachchan one day,” she said and went about her routine.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / by G. Amit Kumar / July 30th, 2021