Daily headlines from the UAE and around the world brought to you by Gulf News. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/videos
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Actually, in this field, in this Middle East, we are more than 100 years.
00:06My grandfather, then grandfather from Baluchistan, they came to Makran, from there they came
00:12to Gwadar, and from Gwadar they came to Dubai.
00:17In Dubai, we came 1952, and then 1958 another brother came, and I joined with them 1960
00:25after my college in Bombay, Intermediate Commerce, and I was among three brothers, I was the
00:33young brother, so they called me to come here and join business, even though it was not
00:40my liking because I wanted to become something, M.Com, B.Com, some degree, but when my father
00:47said go and join business, I was compelled to come join my brothers in business, and
00:53at that time business was not so big, small business, and I was appointed as salesman
00:59in my shop, 31st October, 1952.
01:03We came here, we established, and then I celebrated 60 years or so, and after the meme, my two
01:14sons have come here, they are there, the photo is there, and then my grandson came, who is
01:19also there, and my younger grandson who is now 10, 12 years old, so in Hindi we call
01:25Kal Lajo Kal, Kal Past, Aaj Today, Kal Aaneval Kal, in this photo you find Kal Lajo Kal.
01:32Three generations.
01:34We are training in our business, but when I came and my children came, definitely today
01:40young generation they want some change, Parivartan, they do not want to go in textile, they do
01:45not want to go among our business, so they want technology, like TV, videos, that business
01:57they went, it's good for some change to them.
02:01When I came 1960 here, after college, you saw the photo here, I had decided when I left
02:08my country that I'm going to join business with my brothers, but the scope was very limited,
02:15because population was limited, at that time there was no municipality here, no roads here,
02:21no electricity here, no water here, and by 6pm we had to close our shops, which were
02:28Sukarbandhan Kachcha, Kachcha shops, like Mitti, and it was very difficult, especially
02:34summer, to stay, and our houses were just like Kachcha, if water comes then we had a
02:41tough time, so in that case, I don't know how the people spent 200 years here, and difficult,
02:50but I think so, Dubai is a land of opportunities, any business you start, definitely gives profit,
02:59because when Indian rupees were running here, when we had no money, no lessons, except British
03:04Embassy, which at that time was a political agency, and we people, we were under the political
03:09agency, and we had no other entertainment, except one national cinema, open theatre,
03:16one rupee ticket, and one movie, an Indian movie used to come, and we used to go by Abra,
03:22one Anna, cross and come, one show, because it was open theatre.
03:26Business here is a good opportunity, because it's a free port, from here the Iran, GCC country,
03:36Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, because it is hub, everything available, when you go to mall,
03:43for shopping, you have your choice, plenty of this, what you want, dresses, you want watches,
03:50you want perfume, everything available in the big mall, same way, Dubai, if you want anything in
03:58big quantity, you want food stuff, you want cars, you want textile, everything hub, our price was
04:09very moderate, very moderate, not so expensive, like if I sell you chandelier or French chiffon,
04:16now I can go to 1,000, 2,000 Ramla saree, but we in those days, we were selling saree 18 rupees,
04:2320 rupees, like Nylex or Tetris, branded items, and were there buyers for that, like plenty, people
04:31could afford that, plenty, 18 rupees, 20 rupees, that was plain dyed, and 25 rupees printed,
04:39so 25 rupees printed saree, many people from India used to come, and take huge quantity,
04:46and our Nylex and Tetris, different branded item, very famous in India, about, we enjoyed
04:52this brands, about nearly 15 years, so it was a very good market from Japan, our 80% import
05:02was from Japan, and 20% from India, gradually, gradually, gradually changed to Bangkok, Korea,
05:11and Thailand, and I diversified my business, because fashion changing, and Dubai became
05:20little bit more aggressive, then I went to Europe, when I joined my brother in a textile shop,
05:26as a salesman, my salary was Indian rupees 100, but where to spend 100 rupees, nothing,
05:35no shopping, only one movie, that one rupee, even a barber shop, one rupee,
05:43everything was one rupee, because there was nothing, no other entertainment,
05:48in 100 rupees, I can spend only just maybe 10 rupees, well in 90 rupees saving, because where
05:53to go, no hotels, no nightclubs, no pubs, nothing, it was just like you are living in a village,
06:02like now you see Bastaki, this was Bastakiya, where our Iranian friend, they were staying here,
06:07Sukalbaniya, where the Indians were staying there, down we had a shop, up we had a home, home in,
06:14I think so, one room or two rooms sufficient, because there's no savage,
06:22toilets also very difficult, they had total old type toilets, and there was no water on the donkeys,
06:29we used to get water, they used to come morning seven o'clock from Jumeirah,
06:33and four tins, a donkey can carry four tins, and gentlemen as well, such a load, and three tins were
06:40showered taking water, and one tin drinking water, so when you drink water, because water coming
06:48after 10 feet to 20 feet water coming, and there was no filter plant, after you drink water, I had
06:55stone trouble within 27 days, because the sand started piling up my tummy, and I had to go Bombay
07:04for my operation, because so much sand in the water, and those days there were no electricity,
07:10then we had a refrigerator running on kerosene, kerosene, we had to, we had a tanky, clean every
07:19Friday, and put kerosene, then fridge running on kerosene, but I should say that we were very happy,
07:29because daily you cross, you meet everybody morning, afternoon, night, very happy, and business was
07:35booming those days, business was good, even today we are talking millions and billions,
07:41I got two buildings here, we are making Taj Mahal Hotel, maybe with a six-way start,
07:47but there's money there, but peace is not there, and in Dubai, the development, progress,
07:57the Sheikh Harassment, Sheikh Mohammed made, I think so, after 2020, you will find yourself,
08:03I attended in 1970 in Osaka, Japan, first Expo 20, I saw, Expo 1970, Osaka,
08:12this will be after 50 years, I will compare myself when I went this age to Osaka,
08:19and now I see this, things have changed, everything's changed, Dubai has totally,
08:27modern, we used to ask Sheikh Rashid, father of Sheikh Mohammed, he used to say to his friends,
08:34one day Dubai will be London, in his language, one day Dubai will be London, he was
08:43planning, presuming, Dubai what you see, because there was one road from here to Zabel,
08:49one road to Jumeirah, that's all, and finally after 10 years, they made one road,
08:53going to Abu Dhabi, single road, if you see the old photographs, going there, but very difficult,
08:59suppose you come, we come from Bombay or Karachi, mostly Japanese, they come and they say,
09:06can we meet, yes, why not, come on, let's go, walk, walk, go outside, just see, if Sheikh Rashid
09:13sees that some visitors are there, he should come out himself, what he want, I said they want
09:18photograph with you, and they want, yes, no problem, it was easy to go to his Majlis, meet,
09:24in the morning, he was coming to Majlis, meet, anybody going, just, entry was just like free,
09:30like you are meeting the king, and he was so, he was, we used to call him Sheikh Rashid or
09:38businessman, total business, anybody coming to Dubai business, welcome, he loves, and especially
09:48Indian community, we had only Bhatia people, dhoti, white shirt, white dhoti, black cap,
09:56so once my friend went to Sheikh Rashid, he said it's very difficult for me, he was
10:04High Commissioner of UAE in London, and he was my best friend, he was advisor to British Bank,
10:13he went to Sheikh Rashid, he said, I don't know, how to give facility, how to judge,
10:19but those days we had no auditors, no balance sheets, we were writing books over our language,
10:25so banks were little bit confused, we don't know how much party you are well worth,
10:30so he went to Sheikh Rashid, he said, I'm confused, he said, don't worry, anybody coming with black
10:36cap, white kurta and dhoti, gave him without worry, but if anybody came with a full suit,
10:43think ten times, this much respect we had, because they were only Banias here, Pakistani came
10:49much much later, that also they came like carpenters, or they came like barbers,
10:55then Indians were number one first, then gradually Jordan came and the courts,
11:02Egyptian came like lawyers, then Syrian came, Lebanese came, gradually gradually schools came,
11:10then I was school teacher when we had nine students, from that nine students we made
11:17the Indian high school, nearly we have about 20,000 students, and I was the first teacher
11:22there with the nine students. So really what were you teaching? I was teaching Hindi,
11:26drawing and physical, our school used to start 7.30 in the morning, so 7.30 to 9.30 I used to
11:34teach them, and I used to come to my shop 9.30, 10. We opened 9 to 1 and 4 to 8, so by that time
11:42my other man who was working with me, he used to open the shop, clean the shop, we didn't allow
11:47anybody to clean because that's costing foreigners, to save the foreigners we had to clean shop with
11:52ourselves. When I came here, the municipality came in 1961, so I was appointed one of the
11:59committee members to know census, so they gave me black paint and brush, they'll go and count the
12:07people, how many boys, how many girls, how many wives, how many husbands, so I went door to door,
12:14that time 1961 in April, about 61,000 population in Dubai, my area was Jumeirah,
12:21so that time we had none this paka, all daan, we call daan mean the tree, you know this
12:27khajur tree, that dead tree, they are making the fence, so this is house,
12:36it's called daan in Arabic, so they used to make daan to make the home, to fence the house,
12:43and their jopdi hut also made from the daan, and they used to make some door, totally the leaf of
12:52this khajur, all home, there was no paka home, even though banyan is home, but not so paka,
13:06Sheikh Rashid, this was paka, and Sheikh Rashid palace in Zabul, this was Dubai,
13:13so there were only four or five cars, British bank had a car, Land Rover,
13:22Grey Mackenzie, Land Rover, Polar Gauges, Land Rover, and Sheikh Rashid, so every local,
13:32they had one, two, three, four, five, six donkeys, so 1961, the airport started Dubai,
13:40first flight came BOAC, British Overseas Air Corporation,
13:50then it became British Air, BOAC, British Overseas Air Corporation,
13:57then changed to British Air, and then after four years, Air India started,
14:04originally Gulf Air was monopoly, first 1958 Gulf Air mission, so we had no runway,
14:13so it used to land on the sand, and we used to give two drum, black drums,
14:19and we used to start the fan with our own hand, so 50 years, but no airport, nothing,
14:25just get down, jeep goes, when I came first time by ship, the second time I wanted to come by,
14:33because I became sick after 27 days, I had a stone trouble, I went for the treatment,
14:38so we had one Kalinga Airlines, Indian Kalinga, from Kolkata base, I came by that, I landed Sharjah,
14:46when I landed Sharjah, nobody's there, how to know the flight has come, so they had one bell,
14:53my brother was sitting inside the, because it was RAF, Royal Air Force, it was Royal Air Force camp,
15:01we had no, there was RAF, so flight used to land at the RAF, so from Bombay to Vyakarachi,
15:11Dubai and then Bahrain, and then back to Bombay, so I landed, they forgot to put the bell,
15:20so my brother was sitting inside, so that time one jeep came, they charged 10 rupees,
15:25and only one jeep, they took me to Murshidwada, where I got down, 10 rupees, my brother,
15:33plane came, plane gone, they said, where's my brother, they said plane came, plane gone,
15:38but they said we forgot to pull the bell, so arrival notice bell, going bell, so the man
15:46who forgot, my brother was staying there, they came to see me, so that was this time,
15:54Royal Air Force, now that is, that runway in Sharjah is still there, runway in Sharjah,
15:59cinema opened also there, then after we had three cinemas here, Dehrad cinema, Jumeirah cinema,
16:05Jumeirah mall, it's original cinema, it was Jumeirah mall, it was cinema, I am the chairman
16:12of the India club, chairman of the Indian cremation ground, chairman of the temple,
16:18chairman of the bus, textile merchant group there, and we have social,
16:24Sindhi cinema center, I am the chairman, so I am the organization, I am the chairman,
16:30my hobby to help the people, I am not for the bosses, I am for the bosses,
16:36I love to help the labor class, poor class, anybody want fees, anybody want doctor bill,
16:42anyone tell Bombay, anybody dies, I cremate them free charge, if they want to send the body to
16:49India, I do free charge, anybody want to get married, I am the marriage officer, only Indian
16:55marriage officer here, my marriage certificate valid for Indian embassy, they attest my certificate,
17:01they issue another certificate, so I am the marriage officer also, so death officer, marriage
17:06officer, school, club, and this, we have six halls, where we have free, anybody want to club,
17:16anything purpose, that also we give, anyhow it is my bullet social, when I went to college,
17:23I opened first day book, I went to commerce, I opened the book, first page,
17:32the first page, first line says, wants are unlimited,
17:41this is the first sentence I learned, so the economy starts, if your wants are limited,
17:48your wants are limited, you have no worry, because your wants are unlimited, you want new car,
17:54you want new watch, you want new home, you want new fabric, because your wants are unlimited,
18:01those who have got wants limited, they are never suffer loss, I always look at everybody,
18:07including him, him, him, me, if I keep my wants limited, I am successful, but people,
18:15they don't think, because they have said, they make a payment,
18:23now if you tell the young generation, you say, you have seen old time,
18:26I said, now in Bombay, I was driving Maruti, Rs. 860,000, you will not believe,
18:32today I purchased a car, Rs. 58,000, my son is surprised, they got 9th car,
18:39Rolls Royce they have, Bentley, they say, my birthday, should I present Bentley,
18:45I say, 9 lakhs, you give me cash, put in the bank, I don't want Bentley, I purchased Suzuki,
18:53Rs. 50,000, what is wrong, Suzuki runs the same road as Sheikh Zaiduddin,
19:03whom you want to show, I don't want to mention Vijay Malla, other people,
19:14my best friend is B. R. Shetty, today he is one of the pointer, but simple man,
19:20he came and we came at the same time, he used to sell Devya cream dough to dough,
19:26today his style is, he may be more richer than me, but his style is same,
19:32living is still the same, simple, so keep your wants limited, my aim is over,
19:39what I want to become, what I want to become, nice father, nice business man, and
19:49my efforts, they asked me, do you want to give award, I said, I don't want, I am not photogenic,
19:55this today also you are meeting me, somebody said, do you want to meet me, I never, because I don't
20:00want to go to a place, I don't want to go somewhere else, because I am low profile man, as I said,
20:08I am for the masses, not for the bosses, but this is my effort, Dubai I came,
20:14when I get President Award, end, other award you can see, full is up and down,
20:24everywhere full, yesterday some German lady came, it's full, things are,
20:32your appreciation like this, I don't want, I don't want, so you are contented, I am contented,
20:38you are coming, you are my friend, they are my friend, because I don't show what I am,
20:45let the people talk about me, if you ask 100 people, they say something for me,
20:51this is my place, why I say myself what I am, I am wrong.
21:01you