Back to the future: Notes from a lifetime in the UAE

On the UAE’s 40th National Day, people who have lived here for more than 40 years look back to the old days when Dubai was a small place and marvel at what it has become today.

Four people - a Briton, a Palestinian, a UAE national and an Indian – recollect their lives in Dubai then and its tremendous change since then.

Mary Victoria Larson, British

"As expats we mixed much more with the local population. You could meet high-placed sheikhs on the street, we all lived in Deira and there was no English newspaper," says British passport holder Mary Victoria Larson, now 57, who first came to the UAE in 1967 to visit her brother and then decided to make it her home.

"The airport was a single building. My brother could walk up to the plane to receive us. Bachelors use to  come to the airport with their bed chairs to check out the girls coming in. There were few opportunities for men in those days."

Mary nostalgically thinks back to the times when the community was small and everybody knew each other but also believes that people need to grow with time.

When the first villas were built in Jumeirah, Mary was one of the first to move to the other side of the city, as the landlord had offered her the place to live for free. "The new residences needed to be tested."

"There are many innovations that have highly benefitted the country such as the road network and the metro," says Mary, who now lives in Umm Suqeim. Also, she is happy at the possibilities when it comes to entertainment, food and fashion. "Regarding this, Dubai anno 2011 is a great place to live."

Khalil Moued

Khalil owns a factory. There are 70 people working in the factory and business is doing well. He enjoys Dubai, its opportunities and its development anno 2011.

Khalil, who is originally from Palestine and is in his fifties now, came to Dubai in 1976  from Lebanon in search of greener career pastures. “The UAE was mostly desert at that time. It was hard to live here, but I managed.”

It is growth that Khalil enjoys most in the UAE. “It is like a mother watching her baby grow up,” he says. “I saw the UAE transform from a desert  into what it is now and that was great.”

At the same time, he misses the days when he and his friends went camping, fishing or car racing. “We enjoyed nature those days. Now, the beaches are packed and roads crowded. Life is organised along protocols and appointments.”

Although he regrets the business-minded attitude that dominates social relations nowadays, he believes that change has been good for the country and it is now a better place. “I have never been to Dubai Mall but I am very happy to live in Dubai,” he says.

Guma Darwish Al Badaiwi

Guma Darwish Al Badaiwi served as a police officer all his life. The UAE is his country, he was born in Dubai and he is now retired. The 61 year-old is enjoying life in his self-built flower-decorated villa with a swimming pool in a cave.

Guma remembers the day that Dubai became part of the larger United Arab Emirates. He was about to become part of the Police Academy, which all of sudden grew in importance. “We now were a national team, with many connections overseas.”

Guma misses the days he spent in the lap of nature. “We were a group of 40 people from all over the world. We used to go fishing, and then make a barbeque on the beach, where we stayed until 5 o’clock in the morning. I do not do that anymore.”

He also remembers the early days as living on a much lower income.

He also says he feels the UAE is a much stronger nation now. “We now compete with the rest of the world. It is not good for a country to stay behind; you need to stay in line with the rest of the world,” he says

In his eyes, the UAE is not only about building the highest tower. “It is a complete package; all kind of services have been developed.”

Although taken by surprise by the high speed of development, he is proud of his country and hopes to share it with the many people living here.

“We should go fishing some time,” he concludes.

Suresh Laxmichand Shaholia

The smile that envelops his face is only matched by the twinkle in his eyes, as Suresh Laxmichand Shaholia recollects his childhood years that brought his family aboard a cruise liner to the banks of the Dubai Creek in the early 1960s.
 

“I was only a child when I first came here in 1961, climbing aboard an old ship that sailed nearly a week to bring us from Porbandar, Gujarat to Dubai,” he recalls. “We had paid Rs1,200 to buy us passage; my father had a mere Rs50 when he set foot in this country in the 1950s.”

Sitting on the banks of the same creek today, nearly 50 years after his journey, Shaholia pauses to absorb how life has changed in Dubai, from a sleepy trading port to a bustling city.

“Historically, our family has traded in jewellery and when we first extended our base to Dubai, it was to continue in our profession here,” he stated, adding how their jewellery was sent by special convoy to the late Sheikh Saeed’s palace every week.

With a trade licence that bears the number ‘7’, it is safe to say that Shaholia’s family business was one of the first few to break ground here and launch an enterprise that would one day play its part in the emirate’s rise.

“Back in those days, we didn’t have these concrete buildings that surround us today. What we had were ramshackle shops that were set up on the banks of Dubai Creek, close to the market now called Souk Al Kabeer,” he said.

“The market was occupied mainly by Indians and Iranians and a fine distinction was always maintained between the two groups. The former handled mostly clothes, jewellery and the like, while the latter dealt mostly in spices and such sort. We all helped each other when times were tough; it was a very close-knit community back then.”

Strolling through the same market five decades later, Shaholia is welcomed by traders that still reside there almost as a family member, with cheers and smiles that tie them together through times that few can imagine today.

“Life back then was as a simple as it gets. We would eagerly wait for the boat to arrive every week, hopefully bringing with it vegetables to allow us to have a meal without canned beans,” he revealed.

“The formation of the UAE was still a decade away, and we didn’t even have basic necessities such as fresh water and electricity. If we were lucky, donkey caravans would bring drinking water from the mountains every week and we would stock up for a week; electricity was still a dream that was fulfilled in the late 1960s,” he said.

Shaholia laughed when asked if he had ever thought Dubai would become a bustling city that it is today.

“Who could have imagined that the UAE, especially Dubai, would create a concrete jungle that would one day literally reach for the skies?” he asked. “Dubai’s growth is the perfect example of success beyond imagination.”