Abu Dhabi after 35 years: Pakistani expat’s love letter to the city she calls home — ‘You won't get lost here'

You don't need ChatGPT to show you what 90's Abu Dhabi looked like.

You can just ask those who actually lived there through the 80's and 90s.

And that's what we did; we spoke to Abu Dhabi-based Shehla Sohail, who has lived in the UAE for a little over 40 years, and in Abu Dhabi, 35 years. She did her schooling and university in UAE, went to Pakistan briefly, where her daughter Sunaira was born, and then she returned to Abu Dhabi.

Four decades is a long time to watch a city change, and Sohail has watched Abu Dhabi change more than most, from a rather silent coastal town into one of the most polished capitals in the region. Yet malls come and malls go, she would prefer to talk about the old days and the new ones with the same warmth, the same steadiness.

As a fellow Abu Dhabi resident, we get into an excited conversation about the Emirate, and its gentle quiet. She too, appreciates the silence; and it had always been so, as she says. There's something almost nostalgic in the way she talks about that stillness, as though it's a quality the city has managed to hold onto even as everything around it has multiplied, the towers, the traffic, the sheer number of people who now call it home. Sketching her early days, Sohail, who lives in the Tourist Club Area, one of the oldest parts of Abu Dhabi, says, "The best part was that it was all so simple. Now it is much more modernised with highways. We've got the world class malls, too."

But sometimes, she still belongs in the days of just visiting the parks, especially Electra Park, where people would play badminton and football. It's a small, ordinary memory, but it's the kind that stays with people, an evening spent outdoors, a game with neighbours, nothing more.

She remembers just visiting Marina Mall, which was the most happening place back then, long before the city's newer malls arrived with their marble floors and international brands. Even the heat wasn't so searing, as it is now, she recalls, a rather significant detail about how much the climate itself seems to have shifted too.

She would enjoy the views of the Corniche, back when the waterfront was the main event rather than a backdrop. "There wasn't a skyline back then," she says.

Sohail has seen the city grow in front of her eyes. And she still knows it well enough that she can confidently say, "You won't ever get lost here. I feel like you can walk all around and still know where you are." It's a small claim, but not a small thing, the soft familiarity that only comes from decades spent walking the same streets as they slowly rearranged themselves around her.

And she has never entertained thoughts of leaving. This is her home, and everything is just so convenient, from the infrastructure to the lifestyle.

Forty years in UAE, and Abu Dhabi still hasn't given her a reason to leave.