‘Temporary’ employee who spawned a 50-year career at Dubai firm

Dubai: Indian expat Syed Noor Mohammad arrived at Dubai shores in the 1960s on a one-year visa, but ended up working for the same company for around 50 years.

Mohammad was job hunting here in 1965, when Oilfields Supply Centre offered him temporary placement to stand in for an employee who was on holiday.

He ended up staying with the company for 50 long years, finally retiring this year as senior supervisor of accounts, a position he held for 45 years.

“I started as a temp looking after the stores and doing some typing work for a month. There was no appointment letter. As it turned out, they liked my work and I liked them, so I stayed on,” Mohammad, now 75, said.

“The thought of leaving my company for someone else never crossed my mind. I’m still in touch with former colleagues, who miss me at work,” he said.

Mohammad, who hails from Mangalore city in India’s Karnataka state, had arrived by sea at Dubai Creek in 1963, eight years before the UAE was formed. Back then, the emirates were known as the Trucial States as the protectorate of Britain. Mohammad’s one-year visa was issued by British authorities in Bombay, now called Mumbai, in India, where he had set sail from. After a five-day voyage, Mohammad landed on the shores of Dubai.

“It was a very different Dubai. Things like electricity or a TV were luxuries. It wasn’t a place everyone wanted to go to. I was homesick and missed my mother. There was little work, social life or entertainment back then. Life was not luxurious,” Mohammad said.

But he misses many aspects of Dubai as it used to be.

“You could get a room for a month for 60 Indian rupees [worth Dh3.30 today]. A meal was less than a dirham, which got you eight Pepsis. There was no traffic, nor many paved roads. Remembering phone numbers was easy because they were only three-digits long.”

He added: “I remember everyone wore these sand boots because there was so much sand everywhere. We would carry leather shoes with us and change into them when we showed up at a party.”

Mohammad said there are only a handful of buildings from the 60s still standing today. He remembers Al Fahidi Fort and the old Dubai Municipality building, both of which are museums today.

Mohammad has five children, who were all born in Dubai. “My wife, my children and grandchildren are here. To be honest, I don’t miss India because I feel at home in Dubai.”