A story to tell from Dubai (My Dad)

Back to the future: Notes from a lifetime in the UAE

It's like a mother watching her baby grow, say expat who have lived through UAE's transformation

By Majorie van Leijen and Bindu Suresh Rai

Published Friday, December 02, 2011

Emirates 247

Suresh Laxmichand Shaholia

The smile that envelops his face is only matched by the twinkle in his eyes, as Suresh Laxmichand Shaholia recollects his childhood years that brought his family aboard a cruise liner to the banks of the Dubai Creek in the early 1960s.
 

“I was only a child when I first came here in 1961, climbing aboard an old ship that sailed nearly a week to bring us from Porbandar, Gujarat to Dubai,” he recalls. “We had paid Rs1,200 to buy us passage; my father had a mere Rs50 when he set foot in this country in the 1950s.”

Sitting on the banks of the same creek today, nearly 50 years after his journey, Shaholia pauses to absorb how life has changed in Dubai, from a sleepy trading port to a bustling city.

“Historically, our family has traded in jewellery and when we first extended our base to Dubai, it was to continue in our profession here,” he stated, adding how their jewellery was sent by special convoy to the late Sheikh Saeed’s palace every week.

With a trade licence that bears the number ‘7’, it is safe to say that Shaholia’s family business was one of the first few to break ground here and launch an enterprise that would one day play its part in the emirate’s rise.

“Back in those days, we didn’t have these concrete buildings that surround us today. What we had were ramshackle shops that were set up on the banks of Dubai Creek, close to the market now called Souk Al Kabeer,” he said.

“The market was occupied mainly by Indians and Iranians and a fine distinction was always maintained between the two groups. The former handled mostly clothes, jewellery and the like, while the latter dealt mostly in spices and such sort. We all helped each other when times were tough; it was a very close-knit community back then.”

Strolling through the same market five decades later, Shaholia is welcomed by traders that still reside there almost as a family member, with cheers and smiles that tie them together through times that few can imagine today.

“Life back then was as a simple as it gets. We would eagerly wait for the boat to arrive every week, hopefully bringing with it vegetables to allow us to have a meal without canned beans,” he revealed.

“The formation of the UAE was still a decade away, and we didn’t even have basic necessities such as fresh water and electricity. If we were lucky, donkey caravans would bring drinking water from the mountains every week and we would stock up for a week; electricity was still a dream that was fulfilled in the late 1960s,” he said.

Shaholia laughed when asked if he had ever thought Dubai would become a bustling city that it is today.

“Who could have imagined that the UAE, especially Dubai, would create a concrete jungle that would one day literally reach for the skies?” he asked. “Dubai’s growth is the perfect example of success beyond imagination.”