By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net
Hundreds of thousands of Indians live and work in Emirates, more than half of them are Muslim. How is their future being shaped by past and present of India relations with this region? A three part series.
Part 1: Past Continuous:
Salman Siddiqui, a businessman, is a witness to Emirates’ path to economic progress. In 1978 when he first arrived in Dubai there were very few proper roads and even fewer multi-story buildings. Today Dubai is all about high-rise buildings, huge malls, and traffic-lots of it. Indians can take pride in the economic development of United Arab Emirates, while they benefitted from its growth they were also the ones who built this city with their sweat and blood working as labourers, construction workers, traders, professionals, and businessmen.
Burj Khalifa in Dubai. [TCN Photo]
History of business relations between India and Emirates goes back hundreds of years. Even today, walk along Dubai Creek and you will see dhows from neighbouring countries doing their bit to take part in import and export – lifeblood of business in the Emirates. Indian ships continue to follow the maritime path of thousands of years to sail back and forth between Dubai and India.
Economic links became stronger with British controlling India and Persian Gulf region. A symbol of this strong tie was Indian currency, which was common in circulation in this region before Emirates adopted Dirham as its national currency in 1973. In fact older Emiratis used to call the currency “Rubiah” their pronunciation of Indian Rupees or Rupiah, recalls Mr. Salman Siddiqui.
At first Indians came as traders, bankers, and merchants. It was not until the oil and construction boom of 1980s that number of Indian coming to the Emirates shot up significantly. Current estimates of Indians in UAE vary from 700,000 to 1.3 million. According to Prakash C. Jain of Jawahar Lal University, “A survey conducted in the UAE found that 35% of the Indian community hailed from Kerala, followed by Maharashtrians, Gujaratis and Goans. The majority of Indians were Muslim (56%) followed by Christians (26%) and Hindus (16%). “ [1]
Dubai has welcomed people of all regions and religions. It is easy to find store signs in Malyalam, Kannada, etc. Dubai also has a temple, a gurudwara and churches, established years ago and serving the spiritual needs of the expats.
No mention of Indians in Dubai will be complete without acknowledging that Dubai had been for some time home for smugglers and criminals as well, who enjoyed Dubai’s trading status to make lots of money smuggling gold and electronics into India. But for every criminal, there are tens of thousands of hard-working individuals who are trying to make a living, the right way.
1. G Singh, B Parekh, et al. Culture and Economy in the Indian Diaspora. Routledge. 2003
People who keep Dubai glittering
MSV Virat from India, docked in Dubai creek
Indians have benefitted from the gulf boom.
A door with cross.
A door with Hindu religious symbols
It is very common to see non-English and non-Arabic store signs.