I had an interesting conversation with an Emirati client a couple of years back. A free zone had asked him to wait 6 months before making an application for a cutting-edge fintech. “What the world takes five years to do, we in Dubai do it in six months”, he said. “Asking me to wait six months is like making me wait five years.”
Imagine that you have a 10-room house. One room is occupied by you, and you invite others to come and stay in the other nine rooms. How secure would you be, over a period of time, that you just have one room in your own house, while nine are occupied by persons from elsewhere?
The United Arab Emirates is a unique proposition. I cannot think of anywhere else in the world, where the local population make up about 10% of the population, and people from over 180 countries make up the rest. How does this place function? How do they all live together, peacefully, without any malice, and work together to make the country leapfrog from a small strip in a desert to the prosperous metropolis that it is today?
Just how does this happen, in a world where conflict happens at the slightest provocation?
This is my 20th year in the UAE. Like many, I came here with little other than potential, a thirst to make something of my life, and a view of earning money as fast as I could and going back in three to five years.
Like many, I wanted to find a job, to have a better standard of living, to grow, to prosper.
To take from the country as much as I could, through hard work, diligence and perseverance.
Twenty years hence, I stand here, humbled at the love that this country has bestowed on me. I have found family, prosperity, my purpose, my business, my first house…I don’t think I can count how much the UAE has given me. This is my karmbhoomi, and yes, I have got all this through my hard work, but that does not speak the whole story. A lot of people work hard, but are unable to crack that ceiling that they cannot go beyond – I have been able to, and it’s only because I had the right opportunities. The struggle was real, but fruitful because hard work is valued here, and rewarded.
The UAE has made many many lives, including mine, and we are able to give back very little in comparison. The large-heartedness of its people, the far-sightedness of it’s leaders – you cannot but feel grateful to be part of this unique story that generations will talk about. Those who sit outside the country speak about the money that one can make here, but no. It’s not just the money.
In today’s world a sense of security is what everyone looks for. The safest place in the world – is right here, where you can walk around in the middle of the night and not be worried about your personal safety and the safety of your loved ones. You have to live here to experience it.
I come from India, where culture runs deep in our roots. I stand proudly when the Jana Gana Mana, the national anthem of India, is played. I feel the goosebumps when the music starts, the words resonate with my being.
A couple of days back, I was at my son’s sports day function, where the national anthem of the UAE- Īshī Bilādī – was played.
Yes, I felt the same connect. I am not a citizen, but I am no less than one. The UAE is part of me, and I am part of the UAE. We all stand together, shoulder to shoulder, welcoming the world – come, live here. Do business here, work here, make your life here.
Let’s all celebrate the birth of the nation together. Wish you a very happy 53rd. As christened – Eid Al Etihad – the festival of the union. The celebration of an idea that went on to become a beacon of hope and harmony in a world that is torn by strife.
Join me in wishing all of us, a very happy Eid Al Etihad.
We love you, UAE, and we hope that in our own small way, we can continue to build the nation and make it the best on earth!
Here are a few thoughts that I had in the past couple of years, on the UAE’s national day.
Tomorrow we enter the long weekend – a weekend of celebration.
A celebration of a young, but ambitious nation. One that was built not on abundance of people or resources, but of vision and resolve. One that could have squandered away its newly-found wealth, but instead chose to lay the foundation of sustained prosperity.
I come from a country whose history is unparalleled, whose resources are abundant and whose culture is the most diverse on earth. And I’m lucky to have as my karmabhoomi a country that I am equally proud of – one that has showed the world that size does matter – not the land, or the number of people, but the extent of one’s dreams.
This country has been built with the hard work of Emiratis and expatriates from over 180 nations – a collective effort in transforming a desert into one of the world’s foremost destinations – to visit, to live and to work.
I love being here, working here and becoming a small part in the success of the UAE. The land is given me a lot, more than I ever imagined. And I am thankful that I got the opportunity to contribute whatever little I have in the scheme of things and learn even more.
Here is something that I wrote a couple of years back. The feeling continues…
Wish you all a very happy UAE National Day weekend!
Its 2021, and by now, many countries have celebrated their golden jubilees, and more. The United Arab Emirates celebrates it’s 50th tomorrow, but there is a difference.
This country, of which I have been a part from the past 16 years, was built from scratch. Literally from sand. How does a land with a very few people and largely a desert, end up becoming what it has?
How does a land that did not have an airline till 1980, and then made one with three borrowed planes, now operate one of the largest airlines in the world?
How does a country with less than a million citizens send a probe to Mars and beyond?
How does the UAE attract over 180 nationalities to live and work peacefully, coexist in a relatively small place?
There are many such questions, but I guess the answers can be summed up in one word – RESOLVE.
The nation’s leadership, the people, even the expatriates who have made the UAE their home – all have a resolve. To achieve something, to make their mark. To show that they can dream beyond what is thought possible, and then get it done.
I had an interesting conversation with an Emirati client a few days back. A free zone had asked him to wait 6 months before making an application for a cutting-edge fintech. “What the world takes five years to do, we in Dubai do it in six months”, he said. “Asking me to wait six months is like making me wait five years.”
A good way to sum up the spirit of Dubai. Let’s get it done, and fast, and better than anyone else. Simple. Try this in your own life and see the difference it makes in the way you work and in what you end up achieving.
Tomorrow is the golden jubilee celebration of my adopted home. I join my fellow expatriates and locals in celebrating the spirit that is UAE.
To the next glorious fifty!