My Dubai Rent: Indian couple pay Dh115,000 to be in heart of bustling city

Madhavan and Meenakshy manage to avoid the worst of the traffic by living so centrally

Madhavan Ramakrishnan and his wife Meenakshy Suresh moved to their two-bedroom apartment in Business Bay in 2023. All photos: Antonie Robertson/The National

The apartment faces Al Khail Road

The living room

The dining area

One of the apartment's bedrooms

The kitchen

The apartment block stands tall, providing breathtaking views across the city

For Madhavan Ramakrishnan, an Indian technology entrepreneur in Dubai, beautiful views of the canal and the city’s skyline were what attracted him to the apartment he now calls home.

Madhavan Ramakrishnan and his wife Meenakshy Suresh moved to Business Bay in 2023 and love the area for its location and easy access to different parts of the city.

With a large balcony and living room, the Indian couple filled their spacious home with potted plants to make the house as green as possible.

Mr Ramakrishnan gave The National a tour of his home.

Tell us about your home.

The house is a two-bedroom apartment with a maid’s room and is around 1,640sq ft. The apartment has four bathrooms and we pay Dh115,000 in rent annually.

Our house is filled with plants. We took an unfurnished apartment and my wife pretty much picked out everything herself.

She wanted to furnish everything. We have added a lot of personal touches. My wife wanted a lot of wood-based and raw-wood-based furniture.

We tried to make our place as green as possible. Living in Dubai, we missed greenery, so we have filled the apartment with plants to bring a little bit of nature indoors.

My wife always wanted a closed kitchen and I wanted an open kitchen. We have a semi-open kitchen and have installed a glass window so we can convert it into a closed kitchen by closing it and can leave the window open when we want an open kitchen.

A view of the building where Mr Ramakrishnan's apartment is located in Business Bay. Antonie Robertson / The National

Why did you choose to live in this area?

For us, it was the location, the 24-hour amenities and the size of the rooms.

I'm a businessman and I own a technology company in Dubai. My office is in Business Bay and that's one of the major factors.

The second major factor is that I wanted easy access to DIFC, because most of my meetings are there, and we wanted to be in a place where we can get to Downtown Dubai, but not suffer the traffic.

We travel a lot and we wanted to be able to get to the airport in less than 30 minutes.

Also, I did not want to be on a thoroughfare road. Since this building is located at a dead end, we don't have too many people crossing our building by road.

How long have you lived here?

We have lived in this building since 2021.

First, we moved to a one-bedroom apartment facing the Dubai Canal and in 2023 we moved to a two-bedroom flat in the same building that faces Al Khail Road.

What are some other advantages of living here?

The most important factor for us was that we wanted 24/7 security and 24/7 maintenance staff in the building, and decent sized rooms, because most of the new buildings in Business Bay have tiny rooms.

I wanted something with slightly larger rooms and a decent sized balcony.

When we lived in a one-bedroom flat in this building, our balcony was bigger than the apartment.

What are the disadvantages?

Traffic is one, but it does not impact me because my office is on Marasi Drive in Business Bay. I've never faced any traffic while coming or going to office, which was another reason why I chose this building.

One good thing about this building is easy access to both Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Khail Road. When one road is blocked, we can always use the other one. Even during the New Year celebrations when this entire area is locked down, our building has an exit route, so we can still come and go as we please.

Is there a sense of community?

Everyone is busy, but if someone initiates a conversation, I've found that people are very warm and friendly here. I feel a major factor is who initiates the conversation.

I'm fairly active in the building’s WhatsApp group and I know my neighbours.

What touches have you made to make it feel like home?

I have set up a small office area in one of the bedrooms so I can use it when I work from home.

Also, we have set up an additional water purification system at the source of the water supply so the water that comes out of our taps is filtered.

Do you think living here offers value for money?

It is becoming expensive and it's slowly going back to the pre-pandemic rate. During the pandemic, rents in the building dropped a lot.