My three-year-old daughter and I arrived in Dubai from New Delhi, India on a cold evening in January 1990. We had been in Dammam in Saudi Arabia for four years till November 1989 and had been vacationing in Delhi while the head of our small family got us Dubai residence visas. Twenty eight years later, we are setting out to begin yet another new life in the verdant environs of a Bangalore suburb. We look back at our life in the UAE with a smile and a sigh. Yes, there were ups and downs, but we cannot deny the simple truth that the Emirates has treated us well.
While my daughter grew up into a queen, shaped by three different schools, she has a career in law, is married and is now having a baby. As for me, I played the role of wife and mother while holding down careers as an insurance executive, educator and a freelance writer.
We have made lifelong friends who have stood by us and whom we stood by in times of need and solace. We will cherish them in our hearts wherever we are. We will take with us memories of the kind acquaintances and strangers we have met. We will also carry our appreciation for the various government authorities and their representatives who have always been cordial and helpful to us, whenever we have approached them. This country will always be dear to us and we will continue to cheer the UAE teams during the Olympics and The Fédération Internationale de Football (FIFA) games.
We leave this country not with heavy hearts but with hearts full of thankfulness and blessings for this country and its people, who have enriched our lives in innumerable ways. Thank you and goodbye UAE! May you prosper and grow forever!
- The reader was a resident of Dubai
