As gulf news celebrates its 30th anniversary, we find out what the prominent people in the UAE think about the progress the nation and the newspaper has made

Mariam Behnam was nicknamed ‘Zelzelah Bibi' or Little Miss Earthquake as a child because she was born in the year of the earthquake in her hometown Bandar Lengeh, Iran. The nickname was apt.

Behnam has been a force to be reckoned with since childhood causing commotion and upheaval at home and later as Director-General in the Ministry of Arts and Culture in Iran, a diplomat in Pakistan, a women's rights activist and a writer.

"At the age of six, I was taken to a doctor because I was different. I was climbing trees and asking too many questions," she said.

"On reflection, I can understand how in some ways I must have seemed as bad and destructive as that earthquake. Nowadays we would probably dismiss such behaviour, saying ‘Oh she's just a little girl looking for attention'," Behnam recalled.

But for Behnam the characteristic gave her the courage to shatter gender stereotypes.

Making a new home

Behnam was born in the 1920s to a prominent family of pearl merchants who have been linked to Dubai for more than a century. She fled Iran in 1979 during the revolution only a few days before her name appeared on one of the mamnoo-el-khorooj lists, which bore the names of people forbidden to leave the country.

Dubai has been her home for almost 30 years She has written four books and contributed immensely to the arts, especially women's handicrafts.

Behnam joined Gulf News as a writer within the first week of arriving in Dubai in 1979.

Speaking at her Jumeirah villa, packed full of traditional musical instruments, handicrafts and treasures, each with a story behind it, she said, "I was a features writer -that was my forte. I wanted to write, I wanted to be where people interacted intellectually."

She worked for the newspaper for about three years and in that time she helped start Al Juma magazine, which was dedicated to the arts. "My association with Gulf News was not very long but I believed that if there was anybody who could rekindle or promote anything it would be women because everything depends on their social status.
"Slowly we brought Gulf News up. There was very little known about what artists were doing in the city so we started up Al Juma magazine and the (now defunct) Gulf News Ladies Society."

Today she is senior adviser to the Dubai International Women's Club (DIWC).

Behnam remembers holding a handicrafts exhibition showcasing the artistic talents of UAE residents in February 1981, which was supported by then Minister of Defence, Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and Shaikh Hasher Maktoum, Dubai director of information.

"Abdul Wahab Galadari (who then owned Gulf News) called me aunty, of course, and agreed to whatever I did. His wife was very active in the ladies' club."

Speaking of her experience with the Gulf News Ladies Society she said, "The women were so receptive. If you initiated something they responded, whether it was charity work, social work or art."

Change in the art scene

Commenting on the arts scene in Dubai in the 80s Behnam says she found it to be ‘quite dry'. "People didn't come out to participate in arts and culture". However, that has all changed now.

Behnam has written four books - Zalzalah - A Woman Before Her Time, Heirloom - Evening Tales From the East (her autobiography), The Role of a Friend and Raindrops.

"Today it is with great pride that I say that I'm a national of Dubai. I would never dream of settling down anywhere else except in Dubai, which has been so stimulating and exciting for me."