In the days of the new UAE, unification meant different things to different people. Some arrived in the years before 1971 to lend their expertise. Others came in search of a better life. And for some, the union meant something as simple yet vital as electricity. In the final part of three-part series to celebrate the UAE's 49th National Day, we speak to an Indian couple who have spent most of their lives here.
For Mahendra Mulchand and Damayanti Mahendra, the formation of the UAE on December 2, 1971, meant community.
Their ties to the country predate its foundation. The Indian couple have called Dubai home for nearly 60 years and remember the first National Day as a day like any other.
“For me, it was just like another day because everything was the same,” said Mr Mulchand, 77. “I did not find any change. It was all the same because Dubai is Dubai. Trade was good, very good, and after it was better. The [public] were saying whatever happens, happens.”
Mr Mulchand came to the Gulf with his cousin from Mumbai in 1963.
He was 19 years old and filled with trepidation as he stepped aboard the Daressa, a British India Line ship bound for Kuwait with calls at Karachi, Gwadar, Muscat, Dubai and Doha.
Before boarding, Mr Mulchand paid a crew member to save him a berth by a window. He spent most of the eight-day journey seasick and staring at the ocean.
“The room was open, like a cinema hall, and I took a space near the sea side,” he said. “I was regretting that I came. I was only a child and I had left my mother, but we were poor so I had to go and earn something.”
His family was exiled from Pakistan in 1947 after Partition, the violent division of British India into two states. They had gone to Mumbai, leaving their home and property in Pakistan expecting to return.
Instead, the family created a home in Dubai.
Mr Mulchand’s elder brother was the first in the family to travel to the Gulf, settling in Doha.
Mr Mulchand and his cousin followed, but after a month in Doha, Mr Mulchand moved to Abu Dhabi, a city ready to boom.
It was not to his liking. He told his brother he was ready to return to India.
"I was 18, very young, and I would cry," Mr Mulchand said. "I did not enjoy Abu Dhabi because there was no power, no electricity. So I told my brother, 'I'm not very happy to stay in Abu Dhabi'. So he said, 'OK. Go to Dubai'."
Mr Mulchand found work at the British Bank of the Middle East in Sharjah. He began as a typist and shared a villa with his cousin, buying electricity from a neighbour who charged 10 rupees for 12 hours' service.
"My salary was only 300 rupees and from those 300 rupees, you can't believe it, I used to save 100," Mr Mulchand said. "Once a week, I'd go to the cinema for 25 baisa."
After a year, he moved to Dubai, which had a larger Indian community.
His first Dubai home was the two-storey Bu Jassim building near Naif Police Station.
He commuted to Sharjah with his boss, a three-hour return trip by Land Rover over sand and sabkha. The working day was short and they were home by 3.30pm.
Mr Mulchand was quickly promoted and, as a talented banker, he became an eligible bachelor.
He met Damayanti in Mumbai on his first trip back to India and they married in 1968. Ms Mahendra was 18 and had never travelled abroad.
“At that time I was crying, ‘I'm only a child'," she said. "'Why has my mother made my marriage [to someone] in Dubai?'”
Mr Mulchand tried to prepare her for Dubai. “There were no women, no roads, no cars,” he said. “Only Land Rovers."
He met her at the airport with three of his cousins, who looked forward to a woman’s presence in the home.
Ms Mahendra wasted no time in settling in. On weekends, she hosted friends and relatives, placing orders for vegetables with an Indian grocer, whose goods arrived by plane on Fridays from India.
“Every Friday was a feast in my house,” Ms Mahendra said. “All the gents were coming and saying, ‘oh, now we have home cooking’.”
Once they had children, Dubai became home.
The family moved into a flat in a two-storey building between Bastakiya and Al Raffa in Bur Dubai. The Mahendras and their neighbours kept the front doors open so their children could play together and move freely between the flats.
“Bonding was stronger then,” said their daughter, Anjali Dinesh. “Because people were few, they were close knit.”
Adults socialised at the Indian Association.
“Sheikh Rashid would come every Diwali,” said Ms Mahendra, who is now 71.
“And we used to visit Sheikh Rashid every Eid,” Mr Mulchand said. “We were much closer. There were not many people. [The Indian community] was small, we were maybe 100 or 200 families.
“From the beginning we had a very good life. It was very close to India. We were not feeling that we were far away from India because our cousins were in Dubai.”
News of unification came through friends, not formal news channels.
The Indian and Pakistani diaspora had witnessed the violence that new borders could bring. But close relationships reassured them of a smooth transition.
“I was sure they would look after us, because we knew the Ruler personally and would go to the Ruler’s house,” Mr Mulchand said.
As years passed, more family came to Dubai. They have have raised three daughters.
“For us, this is home,” Mr Mulchand said. “I never thought I would stay but then I enjoyed it. You enjoy it because all your family is here.”
Ms Dinesh agreed. “The point is, people took up our language, they took up Hindi and English,” she said. “They mingled with all the communities and learnt their languages. Any policeman you talk to, he can speak your language.”
“Even the Sheikh knew Hindi,” Mr Mulchand said. “What more do you want?”
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Sheikh Zayed and the story of a nation
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
RESULT
Arsenal 0 Chelsea 3
Chelsea: Willian (40'), Batshuayi (42', 49')
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
HIV on the rise in the region
A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.
New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.
Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.
Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.
Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
The specs: 2018 Renault Megane
Price, base / as tested Dh52,900 / Dh59,200
Engine 1.6L in-line four-cylinder
Transmission Continuously variable transmission
Power 115hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 156Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.6L / 100km
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Explainer: Tanween Design Programme
Non-profit arts studio Tashkeel launched this annual initiative with the intention of supporting budding designers in the UAE. This year, three talents were chosen from hundreds of applicants to be a part of the sixth creative development programme. These are architect Abdulla Al Mulla, interior designer Lana El Samman and graphic designer Yara Habib.
The trio have been guided by experts from the industry over the course of nine months, as they developed their own products that merge their unique styles with traditional elements of Emirati design. This includes laboratory sessions, experimental and collaborative practice, investigation of new business models and evaluation.
It is led by British contemporary design project specialist Helen Voce and mentor Kevin Badni, and offers participants access to experts from across the world, including the likes of UK designer Gareth Neal and multidisciplinary designer and entrepreneur, Sheikh Salem Al Qassimi.
The final pieces are being revealed in a worldwide limited-edition release on the first day of Downtown Designs at Dubai Design Week 2019. Tashkeel will be at stand E31 at the exhibition.
Lisa Ball-Lechgar, deputy director of Tashkeel, said: “The diversity and calibre of the applicants this year … is reflective of the dynamic change that the UAE art and design industry is witnessing, with young creators resolute in making their bold design ideas a reality.”
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