My love affair with the United Arab Emirates started at birth – May 1991. I was born in Rashid Hospital, Dubai.
I lived in the Emirates for 20 years, after which I moved to India for six years and then to the US.
Guess which place I want to go back to, always – the UAE.
Like the lyrics to a famous Taylor Swift song: “I go back to December all the time….” The UAE National Day, the preparations at school, flags everywhere, inspiring pictures of the Rulers across the special editions of all national newspapers and then the New Year Eve’s fireworks – December was always outstanding in the UAE. The words to Ishy Bilady, the national anthem, still echo in my head.
UAE was the reason why I fell in love with December.
I was fortunate to be among the first batch of students receiving the Shaikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Award from Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE’s Minister of Tolerance. A priceless memory.
Once I had to stay away from UAE for a year for studies and my visa had to be redone. When the flight finally landed at the Dubai International Airport, I had to literally stop myself from running out of the plane to kiss the tarmac.
The white dishdashas, the black abayas which I dearly respect and the henna on the ladies’ hands when they checked my passport – every sight was welcoming. I was home. I was in UAE.
My first Eid-Al-Fitr away from home I kept watching Gulf News’ Eid special videos on my laptop, sitting in a room by myself with lights switched off, for a brief moment I was back home, in UAE.
I recently came across two emotionally charged videos.
One, of an Indian who had worked in UAE for many years and was returning to India. He had the walls of his flat covered in photos of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
The other, of a shopkeeper in Dubai who has a huge portrait of Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Father of the Nation, hanging in his shop. He refused to sell that portrait for anything in the world. Both videos had me in tears.
I was talking to my mum today across a 12-hour time difference. My family is in Dubai while I have moved to the US after marriage. I was telling her how one day I want to return to UAE, work there, serve the place that gave me so much and make it my home again. As I sit in San Diego with December fast approaching, I go back to December again.
Happy 46th National Day!
- The reader is based in the United States of America
