40 years in Dubai... Time to say Good-bye

My parents say "Good-bye UAE!"

We have been in UAE for quite some time now. My father came to Dubai about 40 years ago. During those days, flying to UAE was a luxury that not many could afford. After my father graduated, like everyone else in Kerala, the dream was to come to Dubai and make money, take care of family back home, etc. But money was an issue. My grandfather was a toddy tapper, a person who used to collect toddy from coconut trees. So for a toddy tapper's son to think of coming to Dubai was a big dream. Yet, my grandfather somehow managed to collect money for my dad to fly to Dubai. During those days, there were no flights flying from Kerala. So my dad had to go to Bombay (now Mumbai) and then fly from there. The trip to Bombay itself was very long and tiresome. By the time my father reached Bombay, he started feeling guilty about the money he would be spending on a flight to Dubai. Instead he thought it would be cheaper to go by a ship. He thought that, by going by ship, he could save some money and send it back to his dad with his uncle who was in Bombay at that time. So my dad booked his place in a ship to Dubai and returned the excess cash to his uncle and asked him to give it back to his father. The truth is, no one has ever seen that cash again... the money never reached my grandfather because the uncle used it himself.

After departing from Bombay sea port on 8 July 1975 and after almost 6 days of rough sea journey my father landed in the desert land of Dubai. 

Stamp from his passport

My father tells me that half way during the sea journey he fell sea sick like the others on board and used to vomit till his intestines almost got out. He felt that he would never make it to Dubai and he would perish in the ocean. Those days, the ships were more of wooden dhows and not as sophisticated as the ones we see now. But by God's grace he made it to the desert land that was called Dubai.

Life was harsh back then. My father did not get a proper job initially. He tells me that despite having a B.Com degree back then (which was considered a big degree back then), he had to go and work as a labourer carrying boxes. But he just couldn't manage it and quit the job in half a day. Thankfully, there were other friends of his who were in Dubai and they all stayed in the same room and they helped each other a lot.

Sheer hardwork and determination is what made him stick to Dubai despite the hardships. Each time he thought of his family back home, his younger brother, his young sister, etc. he knew that he could not afford to fail. Also, he wanted to earn enough and go back home to marry the girl he was in love with during college days. Eventually, he managed to get married, get his sister married to a decent gentleman, settle off family debts, etc.

Dad & Mom after they got married

From what I remember, my father and mother both worked hard to provide me and my brother a decent education and life. My father used to work in a company that had financial difficulties and as a result would pay one month's salary every two to three months. Those days, we used to have a running account with the nearby grocery. We would buy essentials and settle the dues every month end. There were times when the grocery guys would refuse to give us essentials as we couldn't afford to pay the monthly dues. Thankfully, since my mother used to work, we managed.

My father used to be always at work. Since it was difficult to make ends meet with one job, he used to do part time accounting for a video shop in Sharjah (we used to live in Dubai). Eventually they also did not pay him and in return gave him a carton of old video cassettes as remuneration. :) Those videos eventually played a big part of my growing up. I used to watch the same comedy movies and cartoons multiple times a day and never used to get bored. These days, I get bored of netflix and prime no matter how many options I have!

My mother on the other hand used to come back from work and manage the cooking and teaching. I still remember the days when my mother used to come home for lunch breaks, pick me up from my baby sitter and take me home. We used to sleep for some time and then again she would get ready to go back to work and drop me at the baby sitters. I used always act as if I was in deep sleep to make my mom think that I was sleeping so that she wouldn't take me to the baby sitters. I know these are memories that my mother still cherishes.

Our life changed after my father joined a better company (a joint venture between a local family group and a UK based construction company), he spent a major chunk of his career/age working for that company. We were able to afford better housing, better car, higher education for my brother and me, etc. My father will always be a loyal employee to that company despite the company asking him to leave in 2011 due to restructuring.

Its too difficult to sum up the 40 years that my father and mother spent in UAE. If I were to list our most fond growing up in Dubai memories, here are a few top memories:

1. Growing up in Al Ghusais Sheikh Colony - Everything about that place is still nostalgic, the neighbors who were more like family, the shops (Juno stationary, Ibrahimi grocery, sunrise bakery, new Al Ghusais Flour mill, Shabu video, Video 88, etc.) and cafeterias (especially the shawarma at Al Neel Cafeteria, vegetarian thali from Milan restaurant and the porotta & butter chicken from Sanman and Panoor Restaurants). Some of these places are still open!

2. Our first car - Toyota Corolla

3. The once in a month KFC that we looked forward to. 

4. The cartoons (danger mouse, inspector gadget, etc.) on Channel 33 (I guess after 4pm) and the hindi films on Thursday nights. 

5. Picnics to Umm Al Quwain beach, Fujairah, Jabel Hafeet etc. 

6. Asking parents to buy us samosas from the guy who used to come to our building and knocking on every door. He used to shout "Samos-Samosey!". I guess each samosa was 25fils.

7. Getting beaten up by some street gangs :P

8. Areej juice, Shani, Canada Dry, pofaki, tiffany wafers (mostly for the stickers), koukou roukou.

9. Attending the circus, visiting mushrif park, al jazeera park, etc. 

10. Everytime we drove by sheikh zayed road, my hobby was to count the number of floors Trade Center had because that was the tallest building in UAE. Never really could complete counting the number of floors. My brother used to tell me its 36 stories tall. Not sure if he was bluffing. 

11. When Deira City Centre opened, trips to DCC were very exciting, especially going to Continent hypermarket (which is now Carrefour). We always came back with a grilled chicken from their hot foods section. :) 

12. Posing for cheesy pictures with interesting backgrounds at the studio

We havent been even able to record and capture a lot of these fond memories. Unlike now, there were no mobile cameras and selfies. But sometimes I feel thats exactly why we were able to cherish those moments. 

So today 21st April 2015, my father and mother are leaving back to Kerala. They have decided to end their 40 years stint in this city of God (atleast for us, this city is what changed our life for the good. We believe that, its was God's blessings). Unlike most people who nowadays move between countries for better opportunities, it never even once crossed our minds to try moving elsewhere because in these years, UAE really became our second home. And my parents leave with complete sense of fulfillment of their dreams... always thankful to the opportunities that this land has given to them and a lot more people like them. 

Good bye UAE!