Dubai: Indian expatriate Dinesh Khiara knows a thing or two about life in the UAE before the country took birth. As the nation marks its 50th year, the businessman considers his family an integral part of the UAE’s growth, crediting his father who boarded a ship at Karachi port nearly 69 years ago to make the arduous journey to a land that was simply known as the Trucial States.
“It was a time when airports didn’t exist, barring airfields for the British troops stationed here,” recalls Khiara. “My father Nariandas Khiara, like many before him, boarded a liner at the Karachi port with a dream to start a new life for his family.”
Khiara is an integral member of the local Thathai Bhatia community here, which has roots in this region dating back 140 years. According to historical records, the Bhattis, who are now called Bhatias, heard of the lucrative pearl trade in the Gulf and chose to establish a trade route between the regions. Bahrain, Oman and the Trucial States of Sharjah and Dubai were singled out by the Indian communities who set sail for these foreign lands in 1880s.
Like many before him, Nariandas travelled days through stormy climes and choppy waters before he reached the port of Bandar Abbas in Iran, before journeying on through that final stretch that brought him to the Trucial State of Dubai.
“He found a job for himself as soon as he landed, but within two years, his employer (another member of the community) suggested he was wasting his potential and should branch out on his own,” reveals Dinesh.
By 1955, his father had laid the foundation of Khiara Stores, which stands strong in Deira even today. “Back then, the local communities would cook and eat in aluminium and copper ware and my father decided to introduce steel dishes through his humble store. There’s been no looking back since,” says the 54-year-old.
By the time Dinesh was born, a partition line had been drawn between India and Pakistan, forcing his extended family to uproot itself from Sindh and move to Bombay (now Mumbai). Dinesh, who was born in 1968, shuttled between Dubai and India through his formative years before settling in the UAE permanently.
“I was very young when the Union happened, but I have flashes of memories of a very rural landscape that lay before us in the 1960s. Donkeys would ferry water to smaller communities in goat-skin sacks — salt water for washing up and sweet water for drinking. When electricity was sparse, we studied by candle light. Those were tough days, but we were unified in our sense of community, or working towards a better life,” says Khiara.
The businessman today considers himself a patriot, with the UAE now home to the next two generations in his family. “Families such as mine left our homes a long time ago to follow our dreams and the UAE has given us so much back in return. One just has to look at the Shreenathi Hindu temple in Bur Dubai, which dates back to the 1930s and sits on land that was gifted to us by the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum to understand how tolerant a society and welcoming this place has been from the beginning,” he says.
“Decades later, my family was chosen as one of the first few to receive the prestigious UAE Golden Visa in 2020. As I look around today, while the UAE marks its Golden Jubilee, I feel a certain sense of pride because it is our celebration as well — of a place we call home.”
