Dubai: Narain Sawlani, 76, a veteran UAE expatriate businessman, made this place his home 56 years ago, at a time when the Emirates were called the Trucial States and the formation of the country was on the anvil.
“I am proud to be a part of the UAE that has always aspired to excel in whatever it takes up. I came in 1958 at a time when Dubai was working hard to establish its credentials. The Sixties and Seventies were a time of expansion for Dubai and for me in my business as well. The ’80s and ’90s were a time for reassertion of the spirit of entrepreneurship and excellence and now, post-2000, I am proud to be part of this race for perfection. I have imbibed all these lessons in my own growth and evolution as a person and a businessman,” says Sawlani who sees the UAE as a land of opportunity that has welcomed a multitude of people with open arms.
Sawlani is a veteran businessman and author of the book Dubai Creek - Past and Present.
Sawlani was a 21-year-old undergraduate when he first came here during his summer holidays to lend a helping hand in his maternal uncle’s business. In those days a visa for Dubai cost Rs10 and one got it through the British Political Agent’s office in Mumbai (the Indian rupee was the currency that was prevalent in the Trucial States).
He sailed from Mumbai port on the legendary MV Dara on a Rs50 ticket that brought him to Dubai in five days. “There was such a buzz of optimism in the air of Dubai that I instantly fell in love with the place. The then Ruler Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum had great plans for Dubai — plans of expansion on a very grand scale. As a young man, I could identify with his aspirations,” says Sawlani who witnessed all the great milestones that were brought in to modernise the city. “First there was no running electricity, water, no roads, no sea port and no airport. When people came in by the sea route, they had to get off the ship a few kilometres away and literally jump into a smaller boat that was sent to collect the travellers and they were then towed to the shore. People who flew from India had to come in via Bahrain and the flight cost Rs720. But one has to salute the vision and spirit of Shaikh Rashid who always dreamed big for Dubai and brought in all the modern amenities, dredged the Creek, created Port Rashid, the Maktoum Bridge, the Dubai airport — and all in a matter of one decade,” he recalls.
He reels off a list of historical milestones achieved by Dubai in that period. “First, Dubai residents got electricity and running water in the early Sixties, the airport was built in 1962, in 1963 we had the first Al Maktoum Bridge and in 1968 Port Rashid was built. Even then people questioned why the port was being built on such a scale — 36 berths — when the sea traffic was so sparse. But clearly the Ruler had a sweeping vision and plan for his city,” he says.
The Jumeirah Beach Road culminated at the Chicago Beach Village and was a single-lane road where Sawlani recalls buying his first ever car — a Fiat — for Rs11,000 and driving up to the end of Beach Road.
The city provided a very salubrious business atmosphere which helped Sawlani spread his own wings and establish himself as an individual businessman in the city. “The spirit of entrepreneurship was strong and there was such a positive atmosphere that it inspired me to the turn the page on my own life and look at new beginnings. I found the courage to set up my own business as I parted ways with my uncle and set up Royal Traders. As a businessman I can know and understand the kind of efforts one has to put into establishing a brand and making it successful. Look at Emirates airline. When it started in 1982, it had just two aircraft on wet lease and, today, it is one of the biggest, finest airlines of the world with an impressive fleet of aircraft, setting the benchmark for aviation excellence. This is the same spirit that is reflected in Dubai and the UAE — to be the trendsetters of the world, wowing everyone with the scale and level of expansion that makes them such an enviable brand and I am proud to have been witness to it,” he adds with conviction.
