UAE | Media
Inspirational princess left lasting impression on a day of sad news
Isabella Yousuf vividly remembers the Gulf News coverage of the tragic death of Princess Diana 10 years ago.
- By Mahmoud Saberi, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:44 October 11, 2007
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
- Events in a Paris tunnel ten years ago are still remembered as if they happened yesterday.
Dubai: Isabella Yousuf vividly remembers the Gulf News coverage of the tragic death of Princess Diana 10 years ago.
"I was a big fan of hers," she said. "I still am."
She recalls the articles and pictures as if it was just yesterday. The world was gripped by the untimely death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a Paris tunnel as her car was being chased by paparazzi. But Isabella does not wish to make a comment on whether there was a conspiracy.
Isabella has been an ardent Gulf News reader for the past 26 years. "We used to pick it up from the newsboys selling it at traffic lights," she said. She then started buying her favourite paper from newsstands at petrol stations.
Back home in Mumbai, India, before she arrived at her second home in Dubai, Isabella read the Times of India.
"It took a while for me to adapt to Gulf News," she said, but now admits she cannot start the day without the paper.
Her favourite sections are the crosswords and the Sudoko puzzle, which she "has to do" every day. After her first glance in the morning, she returns home after a busy day in Jebel Ali and goes through the paper.
Asked what she likes about the paper, she said: "It is well laid out. It is easy to find what you want." She does not believe that online news websites will phase out newspapers. "What about people who cannot use the keyboard?" she asked. "My sister who has never worked (in an office) in her life does not know how to type," she said.
Her husband, who is of Iranian origin, does not read Gulf News, but turns to Arabic papers. But her son Suhail is also an ardent Gulf News fan and gets fidgety if the paper is not at home. Isabella met her husband at her workplace.
Isabella has been living in Karama for the past two decades and has been a keen observer of the rapid changes and development.
"Dubai is progressing in the right direction," she said. The continuing rise in rents and the Salik toll system is affecting the lives of the middle class, she added.
"I consider Dubai my home now," she said. "I go to Mumbai every year, but after 15 days I start missing Dubai." Not to mention Gulf News.
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