Abu Dhabi: People find it amusing when I tell them that my wife is from Pakistan. Being an Indian, I usually get asked questions like, “How did it happen?” or “Where did you get married?” The funniest thing someone has asked me is, “What is it like during a cricket match?”
In my opinion, we’re just like any other married couple. Yes, the political situation between our countries is definitely not the best and affects us, too. When we plan a vacation, visiting either India or Pakistan is not the first option on our list. We have been fortunate enough to meet each other’s relatives in the UAE, but going to each other’s home countries is a little difficult.
But, what people need to understand is that our cultures are very similar. There are very minor differences. My wife’s nationality has never mattered to me. I was drawn to her soft-spoken and polite demeanour. We both share common interests, in terms of music, life, and how we wanted our family to be. In a nutshell, we are both thrill-seeking individuals and enjoy each other’s company.
And the reason we both are together today is because our families also got along exceptionally well and liked each other immediately. Culture was never a dividing factor for us and neither was our nationality.
In fact, now as parents of a one-year-old son ourselves, we believe that it is a great thing that he will be exposed to cultures from both sides of the border. And being in the UAE will be an added benefit as this is such a multicultural country.
Sometimes we talk about how if we had both been in our own countries, we would have never met and life would be so different. So, this country has played a huge role in our union.
Even our friends’ group is of mixed nationalities. I believe it is only people who have grown up in our home countries who seem to have a prejudice towards the other nationality. Having been brought up in the UAE, we were able to look past many of the stereotypes associated with India and Pakistan.
We now celebrate all the events together, be it Independence Day, Republic Day or even cricket matches. It is a lot of fun for us as a family.
— The reader is an email marketing analyst based in Abu Dhabi.
