Dubai: Phone lines were burning in Al Quoz, at least on Saturday.
Virtually every bachelor worker Gulf News saw at the labour accommodations in Al Qouz were on the phone on Eid day on Saturday.
Many of them exchanged greetings and took advantage of the holiday to reach out to their family abroad even it meant just talking to them on the phone.
Blue-collar workers do not often have the luxury of being able to fly home annually.
Many of them go home once in two years; others who work on their own visas go home after around four years.
For a few minutes or so, the distance disappeared — or so it seemed.
“Yes, I am a little sad this Eid because I am away from my family. But life must go on,” Mohammad Esmail, 24, a painter from Bangladesh, told Gulf News.
He said he set aside some money to buy phone credit to call his loved ones back home for some 25 minutes.
“It is nice that we have phones now. We can speak to our family despite the distance,” Esmail said.
Mansour Sufiurla, 31, a welder, is just as grateful.
“I saved money and got a new phone for Eid so I can speak clearly to my family back home,” Sufiurla told Gulf News while showing his brand new phone with his right hand, with the old phone tucked discreetly in his left.
“I also saved some money to be able to speak to them for 30 minutes,” Sufiurla said with a smile.
Beside him sat Badr Hussain, 22, a Bangladeshi who works at the engineering department of a Dubai-based company. He said since he couldn’t fly home to be with the woman he plans to marry, he just reserved 120 minutes worth of phone credit so they could talk.
“I’m happy that I’m able to work and pay for the phone credit. Because of it, I somehow don’t feel the distance between us,” Hussain said.
Not far away from the duo were men selling phone credit with ease. The phone shop was busy, too.
Others who were more fortunate got to “see” their families electronically.
An electrician from Pakistan said he was more fortunate this Eid because his camp had provisions for making calls via Skype at their accommodation.
“I miss my family. I am single, but my mother and father are back home. This is my second Eid celebration without them,” Mohammad Kaleem, 28, said. “But at least we have facilities for Skype in our place. We can talk to our families and see their faces as they celebrate there.”
