UAE | General
We saw Abu Dhabi growing
Three generations of expatriates recall the breathtaking changes that have taken place in the capital in the past four decades.
- By Binsal Abdul Kader, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:35 September 25, 2008
Abu Dhabi: "During the peak of summer, power outages happen and air-conditioners stop working, and the children begin to cry due to the unbearable heat. We call up our friends to find a home without a power failure and rush there with the children. But sometimes, power outages happen there too and the two families together contact other friends and the roaming may go on...", said three Indian expatriates while sharing their experiences in the sixties and the seventies.
Mathai Samuel, 81, and his wife Kunchuchamma, 65, and their friend Idicula. V.P, 62, said the progress of the UAE in the four decades they witnessed is unbelievable.
The couple arrived in Abu Dhabi in 1968 and left for the US in 1986. They were on a visit to Abu Dhabi and when Gulf News met them, it was a meeting of three generations of Indian expatriates who had seen the transformation of the emirate in the course of four decades.
Idicula arrived in Abu Dhabi in 1970 and had been working with an oil company as an instrumentation engineer. The trio shared their experiences with Gulf News at the home of their friend, John Samuel who arrived in Abu Dhabi in 1977.
No regular supply
"The power and water supplies were not regular in the sixties, although we enjoyed better facilities at the quarters provided by my employer, Abu Dhabi Petroleum Company which later became Adco (Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations)," said Samuel who worked as a geological draughtsman. "The small number of buildings in the city did not have a full time water supply so many friends used to come to our quarters to take a bath," said Kunchuchamma. "Otherwise, they would take a bath only once a week."
The couple had to send their three children back home for schooling as there were no good schools. "But when we came back from the US, I am surprised to see that the city has world class facilities as in the US," said Samuel who worked with British Petroleum in Qatar and Bahrain in the fifties.
"When I was in Qatar during the fifties, there were no facilities for shopping. The company then used to arrange flight tickets every three months to visit Bahrain for shopping," said Samuel.
"We arrived the first time in Abu Dhabi in 1966. They had only an airstrip then. The proper airport came up later. The Indian rupee was the currency and my first salary was about Rs465," he said.
"Then we saw the formation of the country and rapid developments at an unbelievable pace," said Samuel. "There were no proper roads. Our first journey to our accommodation in a Land Rover from the airstrip was on a sand track made by the frequent traffic."
"Many of the people who lived in villas used to sleep outside to beat the heat," said Idicula. "Some said they found themselves covered in sand in the morning. They had no option, because some did not have airconditioners. A sand shoe was an essential item to beat the sandstorm while walking," he said.
"Rain wreaked havoc in our accommodation during seventies because there was no proper drainage system," said Idicula,
"I still remember how we suffered for three days in 1974. After a full day of rain, there was water everywhere and it entered our house," he said.
"We woke up to knee-deep water in our bedroom and there was no way but to wait for three days for the water to dry up," said Idicula, who was then staying in Madinat Zayed in the city.
John Samuel, the youngest of them, said he had experienced the same situation in 1978. "The heavy rain flooded many houses and we couldn't go to work," said John, who worked with t he Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Department and later started his own business. "Many people were living in villas as the new buildings were coming up then," he said.
Four of them have been reading Gulf News since its inception and Idicula and John have been regular subscribers.
"Japanese goods ruled the Abu Dhabi market until the 1980s. White shirts of 'Eagle Earth' brand were very popular among expatriates and they were unavoidable gifts for relatives and friends back home, said Idicula. "I kept an Eagle Earth white shirt till recently even after going to the US," said Samuel.
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