Indian and Pakistani riders share one road in UAE, take a joint Independence Day ride

Dubai: Sunday morning, 5.30am, and the forecourt of a petrol station in Al Warsan is filling with engines. By 8am, the convoy has run out to Al Qudra, looped through Al Marmoom and pulled up at the last exit on the road to Abu Dhabi. The riders are Indian and Pakistani. Their banner reads “Proud of UAE”. 

Then, somewhere past Al Qudra, the weather does something nobody had expected. Thick fog rolls across the road and stays with the convoy all the way towards Abu Dhabi, turning a summer ride into something cold and strange and, for the riders, entirely welcome.

Three clubs took part in this morning's ride: Pakistan Riders Group (UAE), Singh’s Motorcycle Club (UAE) and SMC Unplugged (UAE). The date was chosen deliberately. Pakistan marked its Independence Day on 14 August, India on 15 August, and this year both countries reached their 80th.

 Gulf News rode with the convoy and covered the full event.

Two dates, one road

“The 14th of August is Pakistan’s Independence Day and the 15th of August is India’s. It is both a happy and a sad day for all of us, but we are here together as riders, as brothers, to spread the message of peace,” said Indermohan Singh of Singh’s Motorcycle Club UAE.

He is a retired Navy officer who left service in 2005 and has been in the Gulf since. He has been riding since 1994, and has driven all over India, and joined the club here around 2019.

The ride is not a first. “We did something similar about four years ago, where all the riders from Pakistan and India rode together, about 80 plus riders at that time. We went all around the city, conveying a message of brotherhood,” he recalled. “We’re trying to recreate what we did four years ago, and hopefully we’ll keep doing it.”

“The gods are with us. You can see the weather, it’s nice and pleasant, and we are having a good time,” he said, before the fog came in and made his words come true.

He also shared that, “It’s a happy moment and a sad moment because of obvious reasons. But the past is past. People are nice. We connect, we live together in the Emirates. What we want to convey is that we are here together as brothers. We live together and that’s how it should be.”

Asked what the hopeful idea behind this initiative is, he said, “We’re just trying to find the right ears, and hopefully this reaches the right ears.”

'This is our second home'

Gurnam Singh founded Singh’s Motorcycle Club in 2014. He opened his remarks with greetings in both directions. 

“Happy Independence Day to all the Pakistani community of the UAE, and a very happy Independence Day to all the Indian community of the UAE and all over the world,” he said. “This is our second home.”

He was keen to point out how the club’s second wing works. SMC Unplugged, he explained, is open to all nationalities and all communities. “The best part is that we have our brothers from Pakistan in this club. They are from Lahore, and they are enjoying the rides with the Indian Singh brothers. That is the beauty of our club.”

Credit for the platform itself, he added, belongs elsewhere. “We always appreciate the freedom given to the entire expatriate community staying here. We are always thankful to them for having this kind of freedom in this country.”

Mirza Khud, founder of Pakistan Riders Group, also shared, “What a blessed day, that today we are riding, Indians and Pakistanis, celebrating our Independence Day under the banner of Proud of UAE. What could be better than this? We are spreading a message of peace and love, and I wish to continue this for years, inshallah.”

A compass, a watch and an anchor

Every biker’s machine says something about them, and Indermohan’s Harley-Davidson Ultra says quite a lot. The 1,800cc bike is finished in his wife’s favourite colour, because it was a gift from her.

 “You can see a compass. I’ve got a watch. In life, you need to have the right bearing and time discipline. That’s what this conveys,” he said, walking round to the rear of the bike, where an anchor is worked into the customisation. “Because I’m from the Navy. A sailor, also. So it’s got a little bit of anchor there.”

Why do it at all, and why at dawn? His answer had nothing to do with machinery, and by the time the convoy hit the fog it had stopped sounding like a metaphor.

 “This is something that you cannot experience when you’re in a car, because the smell changes every 20 feet. The weather changes every 20 feet, and the wind changes, and the feel of the wind on the face. That’s one of the reasons we ride.”

 His invitation was open. “If you are not a biker, just try to experience it. Sit on a bike as a pillion with somebody, and feel the wind. That’s what I cannot convey in words. It’s a feeling.”

 As someone who experienced the ride herself, I can back those words and say riding a bike with the wind on your face and the scenery beside you, it's an experience that only a bike can provide.

From a 70cc in Pakistan to a 700cc in Dubai

Among the riders pulling in behind the group was Jovitha Joseph, a Pakistani personal trainer, member of Pakistan Riders Group and owner of an MT-07 who started out on something considerably smaller.

“I started when I was 19 or 20, and I started in Pakistan, actually. I was there to do my interior designing course, and after that my passion just grew,” she said. “I started with a 70cc. Now I have an MT-07, which is around 700cc.”

 Getting there involved a conversation many South Asian women riders will recognise. As she put it, Pakistani parents tend not to let their daughters near a bike, and in the UAE the worry about road accidents makes it harder still.

“I was blessed with cool parents, maybe. There was a bit of negotiation, but I told my dad it’s my passion. He’s also the reason why I’m into fitness.”

He came round, and then some. “He actually bought me my first bike. I told him I don’t want a scootie, I wanted a proper bike,” she said. Her next upgrade, a 350cc, came in Dubai. “That’s one thing good about Dubai. Your dreams look more possible here. It looks like, okay, you can do it.” 

Living alone in the city has its own weight, and the bike answers that too. “You do tend to get a bit lonely, or you start questioning all your decisions. Bike rides actually help calm me down,” she said. “It reminds me that this is the life I chose for myself. Yes, it comes with a bit of sacrifice, but this is what I’ve always wanted to do.” 

Sunday was roughly her fourth ride with the group. She found her way to it through a colleague, Abdul, who brought her in. “This is a Pakistani group, and I wanted to represent,” she said. “That’s also the reason why I’m here today.”

A few days before the ride, she passed a child on the road. “He saw my bike and he was jumping and waving at me. At that moment I realised I was that kid. A couple of years ago, that was me,” she said. “Look at me today. Dreams really do come true.”

 By then the fog had swallowed the road ahead, the cold air was coming off the desert in sheets, and eighty years of history was somewhere behind a convoy of headlights with UAE flags strapped onto their bikes heading the same way.