DUBAI // Lajo Gupta can remember the exact moment she fell in love. It was the second she set eyes on the villa she was to call home for the next 23 years. "I had been dragged kicking and screaming from San Francisco, where I had lived very happily," she says. "I had no interest in moving to Dubai. Then we got to Jebel Ali Village and the sky was a brilliant, heartbreaking blue. People smiled at us as we were driving up to the villa. I looked at this yard and the little house and thought, 'This is home'."
Mrs Gupta, 55, has long dreamed of welcoming her first grandchild, due in November, into the house that has been home to so many happy memories over the years. But it is not to be. Jebel Ali Village, one of the oldest communities in Dubai, is to be demolished next week to make way for a glittering new development, to bring the area in line with the rest of the city's accelerated growth. The move has devastated residents, many of whom have lived in the neighbourhood for decades after becoming attached to an area they say is unlike any other in Dubai.
For years the village has sat as an oasis on the fringes of the city, untouched by the rapid construction and towering cranes that have sprung up around it. It was built in 1977, to accommodate the families of the Dutch, British and Arab contractors who were building the Jebel Ali port. Three hundred villas were soon joined by a school, park and mosque, while the Jebel Ali Club's leisure facilities provided a social hub for the tight-knit community.
A Choithram supermarket was built in the 1980s, meaning residents no longer had to make the long, hot drive to Dubai, 35km away, to stock up on groceries - and gave them a chance to catch up on the weekly gossip. Most have been left heart-broken by Nakheel's redevelopment plans, which they say will rip out the heart of the community. Of the 300 villas, 250 have already been deserted after residents were given until Sunday to vacate their homes.
Some have relocated to the nearby Discovery Gardens and Garden View Villas developments after a pledge from Nakheel to rehouse them. The remaining 50 are clinging on to their homes and memories, too reluctant to tear themselves away or hoping for a last-minute reprieve. Yesterday, the gently sloping avenues of the village were still lined with quaint, cream-coloured villas, their carefully maintained lawns filled with palm trees and shrubbery. Eucalyptus trees swayed in the breeze and fuchsia bougainvillaea bursting from every wall brought welcome splashes of rich colour in the blazing heat.
But the rare peace and tranquillity that was once celebrated in the village, just yards from Sheikh Zayed Road, had been replaced with an eerie silence after most of the inhabitants had packed up and left, taking with them most signs of life. The first of the bulldozers squatting menacingly on the horizon have already begun tearing up the earth just beyond the village boundaries. In a matter of days they will move in to flatten homes in the first stage of a five-year project to provide "medium-density" housing with shops and access to Ibn Battuta Mall, the new metro stations and the proposed Dubai World Central airport.
Some residents have vowed they will stay put until the bulldozers move in to rip apart their homes. Mrs Gupta, whose husband Subash, 61, owns the packaging company Jebel Ali Cartons, says: "We came here because we wanted a home near my husband's factory. "Everyone said it was too far from Dubai. Back then, it was like living in the boondocks because there was nothing else around it, but to me, it was like Utopia."
When the Guptas moved in 23 years ago, there were about a dozen families living there, "but the village started to grow very quickly. There were British, Indian, French, Saudi and Belgian residents and most were families who put down roots. "Everyone knew each other. I loved it because we had these beautiful grounds, which we filled with 250 people when my brother married here. "I would have literature evenings and prayer evenings, opening my doors so the workers and villagers would have somewhere to worship before the mosque was built in the 1990s.
"The fact these villas are still standing speaks volumes about their quality. I love the ambience here - we have a lot of artists in this community and would hold bazaars, thanksgiving parties, carol-singing sessions and New Year galas." At first, she says, no one wanted to move there, but "there was suddenly a waiting list of 5,000". The demolition rumours began three years ago "but we thought we were safe after they built The Gardens and Ibn Battuta Mall and left us alone.
"Then, when we were told to go, they kept delaying and we kept hoping. We are breaking our hearts over the idea of leaving. "When you can build upwards, the sky is the limit. This is a community with a heart but to me, the Dubai skyline has no character. This place will look like everywhere else." There is, she says, "more to life than bank accounts and ownership of properties; there are memories and the people we have loved.
"I keep hugging every wall and every tree in this house. Like us, the families who are left cannot bear to tear themselves away. I am going to hold on until the last minute. I will leave after I have served my last meal to worshippers at the mosque, as I do every other week." The family has tried to make the break. "We were all packed up and ready to go last weekend," says Mr Gupta, "but I could not bring myself to leave. I want to breathe my last breath here."
The couple, who have seen their three daughters grow up in their Dh45,000-a-year (US$12,250) three-bedroom villa, are planning to move into a modern house in Dubai they bought as an investment five years ago. But to Mrs Gupta, a music critic from a renowned family of Indian musicians who has entertained the likes of Asha Bhosle, the legendary Bollywood singer, at her Jebel Ali home, the new home will never compensate for the lost memories of her rustic villa.
"It has been described as progress but, to me, Dubai is losing its character," she says. Residents were given a year's notice to move out by Aug 31. Water and electricity supplies are expected to be cut off this weekend. Vijay Janjani, 42, the manager of Belhoul Choithram supermarket, plans to serve the store's last customer in its 28-year history on Sunday. With tears in his eyes, the father-of-two says: "This community is like a family to me. I have worked here for 14 years and there is no other store around here for miles.
"People do not want to go to a huge shopping mall for groceries, they want to come to a local shop where they know they can get their bread, milk and eggs. About 500 people shop here and they are all very sad about the store shutting. "It is very peaceful here and the heart of the community has stayed the same despite all the development around it." Sonali Ahluwalia, 41, an Indian-born housewife who moved to the village a year ago, says: "This place is beautiful. It is a lovely hideaway from the hustle and bustle of the city.
"It is such a shame they are breaking up the community as we love it here. Where else can you find this in Dubai? "I leave my doors open all the time and will happily let my 10-year-old daughter Tara play outside without having to worry about her. "We are moving into an apartment in Discovery Gardens, which does not have the same open feel ? but it is impossible to afford a villa in Dubai on the same rent.
"In busy city apartments, you do not get the same community feel as no one knows their neighbours and everyone is for themselves." The demolition also marks the end of an era for the Jebel Ali Nursery, which started in a temporary building 32 years ago and now caters for 150 children aged between 18 months and four years. It will move to a temporary site opposite Ibn Battuta Mall before being placed within the shopping centre next year.
Shehla Bridle, who has run the nursery for the past 12 years, says: "We are very sad about moving from the village. It is a brilliant, warm community which cannot be replaced. "While we will have more facilities in the mall, here, if anyone needs help, there is a large network of supportive parents on their doorstep." When Nakheel revealed its plans to redevelop the area last year, it said there was a "strong need for quality housing for a broad spectrum of the community with convenient access to existing and proposed facilities in the immediate area".
The mosque and club will remain open during the revamp, while Jebel Ali primary school will shut only when its pupils have been integrated into a new school. The park will be expanded into a 30-acre site. For Nakheel, the end of the Village is a "sad" but necessary development. "Dubai is growing rapidly as a global residential, tourist and business destination and this means we must always consider the creation of more accessible development to make better use of the existing and planned infrastructure and amenities for the increasing population," said a spokesman.
"This area has played a significant role in the history and growth of Dubai and although it is sad the Village is to be removed, Nakheel is proud to be given the honour of redeveloping this important area as part of Dubai's vision for the future." @email:tyaqoob@thenational.ae
