Indian businessman and patriarch of the Indian community in the UAE, Mohan Jashanmal, talks about the early days of business in the region before the UAE was formed and why he was successful in that time.
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00:00I remember when I first met Sheikh Zayed, late Sheikh Zayed, I don't know, somehow,
00:07you know, he got very close because I came here when his elder brother was ruling, Sheikh
00:14Sheikhbooth.
00:15He was the governor of Al Ain, then when Sheikhbooth, then only Sheikh Zayed came to rule.
00:22So I was here before that.
00:23So at that time, he used to come to my shop.
00:26He was the governor of Al Ain, he used to come to my shop.
00:30And he had always said, because the time, right from the beginning, for hundreds of
00:37years, the Indians have been here.
00:40But for what purpose?
00:42For the pearls.
00:43Pearls used to go from here, dates used to go from here, and salted fish used to go from
00:51here.
00:53These three items will go from here to India, and food, clothing, the whole lot, everything.
01:00It was a barter system.
01:03No money involved.
01:04I'll give you this, and not only that, this part of the Arabs and the Indians, and this
01:11is hundreds of years, not from now, was the trust, both the Arabs here with the Indians.
01:20Now why I'm using the word trust is that, suppose the dates season is not there, but
01:27they still want the food and the clothing.
01:29So they will bring the food and clothing from India, and they will say now, okay, I'll give
01:36you this, but during the date season, make sure you give these dates to me as a barter.
01:44But at the moment, the season is not there.
01:46The fish is throughout, salted fish, no problem.
01:50And the pearls also usually during the summer, because during the winter, the sea is rough.
01:57So going to pearl diving and all is not that easy.
01:59So four, five months of summer, and that was the pearling.
02:04So all these things were on trust, one thing, but Indians gave all the things to them anyway
02:12on barter.
02:13But you know what was there?
02:16Those days there was no letter of credit or guarantee, banks, there was nothing.
02:21You know what was the guarantee?
02:22You'll be surprised.
02:24And that's true.
02:25It's been told to me from the Indians who've been there.
02:28The guarantee was this, that okay, now this time, I'll give you the clothes, but you do
02:34not have the dates now.
02:36Yes, fine, no problem.
02:39But how will you know?
02:42He said, no, as far as the Arab's point of view is concerned, I'll give you a hair from
02:48a beard.
02:52Hair from a beard, they'll put that hair and wrap it up, and the name, Abdullah Jasim,
02:57whatever it is, and he will take that hair from the thing as a guarantee, because when
03:04he returns the dates, whether he, if he passed away, maybe his son, he'll pass on make sure
03:12that you have to give these dates or salted fish or pearls to this merchant who I've given
03:19him the hair of my beard, and make sure you bring that beard back.
03:25Now let's start with my dad.
03:281919, which is now nearly 100 years ago, 1919, my father went to Basra, Iraq with his brother
03:42and they started the business together.
03:44It was called Jashmal and Brothers at that time, 1919.
03:51But then my uncle or his brother was not really keen on business, because my father was, so
04:00he said, I think I'll join the police.
04:04So I'm talking about, you know, 21, 21, whatever it is.
04:10So he, my uncle joined the police, and then he sort of didn't get into business, he was
04:16not, and no, it was the, it was, Iraq was under the British, the whole area was under
04:26the British, but controlled basically by India, because India was there, British, and then
04:34all these people, like, the British used to call it Trucial States.
04:40The states under the truce, so that they were not fighting, but the truce was maintained
04:45by the TOS, Trucial Oman Scouts, you see.
04:50So this is how the whole thing was controlled from that time.
04:54So anyway, so he started and went on his own, and then my father, along with his eldest
05:03son, that is, yeah, this gentleman, Tony Jashamal's father, started everything, then he was known
05:11as Jashamal and Sons, from Jashamal and Brothers, changed to Jashamal and Sons.
05:18And then onwards, it was just started, my father, then my father, I think in 1934, started
05:32the Kuwait, 1934, Kuwait.
05:38And then they were controlling Kuwait and Basra, Iraq, to get from there, from Kuwait,
05:44because Iraq was still there.
05:46This is 1934, I'm talking about.
05:49Then 1936, my father came and started in Bahrain, 1936, but finally I came and joined.
05:58But my father said, okay, fine, you don't want to go to college?
06:02You want to join business?
06:03I said, yes.
06:04No, I don't want to go to college, I will go to, or I then go and work.
06:09I said, okay, I have no problem working.
06:12I'm not Mohan Jashamal, I'm the son of Jashamal, and he already, by the time the Gulf, he was
06:18all over the place.
06:19Yes, yes, I know you are Jashamal, but we'll tell you how do you start in Jashamal.
06:27So I said, what do you mean how to start?
06:31Before going to this, I'll give you one example, which is very, very interesting.
06:35That's how we were brought up.
06:36My older brother was there in the shop, and somewhere I went to the restroom, and the
06:46restroom, I finished, and I came out, and I told the boy there, can you please go and
06:51clean it up?
06:52You know.
06:53So fine, no problem.
06:55He went and did it, but somehow, somewhere down the line, what happened, I have no idea,
07:02but the shop was closed suddenly, and all the staff were told to remain in the shop,
07:09not to go.
07:10I said, okay, fine.
07:13So shop is closed, my brother is there, with all the staff there.
07:18So my brother says, elder brother, he says, okay, all of you come at the back, back of
07:23the shop, where the restroom was, come at the back.
07:26So we all went to the back.
07:29He said, I believe today, Mohan went to the restroom, and he told this gentleman, the
07:38boy, to go and clean it up.
07:42I said, yes, I said, yes, okay, now, all the staff said, now, Mohan, you take a pail of
07:51water in front of all of them, now you clean up this restroom in front of all of them.
08:01So I did it.
08:02I said, this is the point, do it yourself, don't depend on this.
08:11So I was sent to London with a hoover, and I had to go in the van, carry washing machines
08:22and vacuum cleaners in the van, door to door selling.
08:28Go in the rank, ring the bell of the house, this is London, ring the bell, and the lady
08:35will open the door, and they say, when the lady opens the door, put your foot on the
08:40door, so that she cannot close the door.
08:43So in the short time, they say, madam, you don't have a man coming and doing your carpet
08:49free of charge every day.
08:50So I said, free of charge, you come in, so we go and get the whole carpet cleaned up
08:58for them, and we leave the car cleaner, but those days, I'm talking about 50s, 70s, 50s,
09:04those days, it was such a hospitality, that as soon as we finish all the carpet, or whether
09:11it's a washing machine, we did all the clothing, whatever it was, meantime, she had laid out
09:17the table with cakes and biscuits and coffee and everything.
09:21That was all in those 50s in London.
09:26That is how I got the sale off.
09:30You are a salesman.
09:33First thing is to see that you can sell the product with the purpose of only, purely,
09:41you're asking them to get, believing them that you have quality product, and you know
09:48how to use it before you tell the customer how to use it.
09:53We were here when the British were ruling, 1919.
10:00So who had the money?
10:03The money was with the British.
10:06So my father decided, let's do this where exactly we have the business, and that's the
10:17British.
10:18So from then onwards, he first got this introduction of British goods to the army, which used to
10:27come from India at that time, I'm talking about the century, first century, army used
10:33to come from Karachi and Bombay, that was all India at that time, to come to Karachi,
10:38come to Basra, all the way, to fight the Palestinians and others.
10:43But they had to come by ship, land in Basra, then from there go to Palestine, Iran, and
10:49all this area.
10:50But that was the port.
10:51My father opened the shop there, to have, serving made-in-England products, because
10:59it was, they had the money, so he said, that's no use going, I'm an Indian, it's no use going
11:05for the Indian products, because Indian products were already there, it was called the cheap
11:09market, Indian and Chinese and Japanese were all in the cheap market, but made-in-England
11:15were with Jaisalmer.
11:17So we always, from that time, we maintained that quality products are with Jaisalmer.
11:23There was no need for me to take a UAE nationality, because the question is, as far as I'm concerned,
11:29you know, I'm quite happy with the Indian nationality, I go up and I travel all the years
11:34round, I have no problem.
11:38But the president, the ruler, Sheikh Ali, he says, it's up to you, you do what you want,
11:45it's not that I don't want, I'm honoured that you're offering me, but the question is,
11:50I don't have any reason to give up my Indian nationality, because that's the law.
11:55So I don't want to give it up.
11:57So he said, but we want you to say, so after about 10 days, I got a letter from the president,
12:02Sheikh Ali, Mohan Jaismal and his wife and children, permanent residents in India.
12:08So I said, well, I mean, this is much better, because now I have no problem.
12:12It was a joke with the sheikhs, he said, I've got a very nice thing now, he said, why?
12:16I said, you all the sheikhs, do you need a visa for India?
12:19He says, yes, I don't need a visa for India over here.
12:25So I'm much better off.
12:28Indians are always clever, I mean, that's why we are successful.
12:32I had, you know, a very close friend who was the head of the police.
12:38Luckily, the photograph came right now.
12:44He was the head of the police.
12:46You know who this man is?
12:48Of course, he passed away.
12:50He's Nayan's father.
12:52You know Sheikh Nayan of the Ministry of Tolerance?
12:55This is his father.
12:58He's a very close friend of mine.
13:00And he was head of the police.
13:02Then one day I said, you know, when a head of the police, he used to come always in police clothes.
13:08And then in the evening, when we used to go and see him in his majlis,
13:11and he was in Arab clothes.
13:14So I said, yeah, they know me, Mohan Jaiswal, no problem.
13:21So as far as I'm concerned, I will be, you know, during the morning,
13:27morning, I will be in my western clothes.
13:34Western clothes, yeah, yeah.
13:35Recently, the photograph came during Pope's visit, my write-up on Pope's visit.
13:43So I said, yeah, OK.
13:46Since then, because of Sheikh Mubarak, I said, Mubarak is a good idea.
13:52You are in that police clothes in the morning, and in the evening, you're in Arab clothes.
13:58I said, I think it's a good idea.
13:59In the morning, everybody in Mohan Jaiswal will be in my suit.
14:03And in the evening, like you, I'll come in the Arab clothes.
14:06That's how, of course, we'll be more than one.
14:09Then that is how I used to do it.
14:12In the morning suit, and in the evening, this fashion.
14:15Then as the time came, I said, what is this one?
14:18I changed completely.
14:21Then I used to always joke with my friends.
14:23I used to put it like this.
14:25He said, Mohan, why did you change your clothes?
14:27I said, I saw a film in the 50s called Lawrence of Arabia.
14:33And he used to wear it like this.
14:35So I decided to wear it and call myself Mohan of Arabia.
14:42There was brackish water, used to come from Bahrain, or from Qatar, or from brackish water
14:49coming in diesel drums, smelling of diesel.
14:53So I, of course, as a businessman, we find business in wherever there are difficulties.
15:01So I took that chance, because there was water smelling of diesel.
15:05I started selling Burkefield filters from London.
15:10So you have to get that water, but clean it in our Burkefield filters, so you can drink.
15:19But that was it.
15:20Water used to come in diesel drums.
15:23So for us, you know, that was for drinking, not really for a bath.
15:27If you want to go down to the beach and have a good bath, but still you have to have a
15:32bath with the fresh water to get the salt water out.
15:35So the question is, once a week, therefore, we used to go to Dubai, because they had brackish
15:41sweet water, but it was brackish, brackish, but they had water, sweet water.
15:46So we used to go and have it.
15:48My father, my brother, elder brother, hero, he used to say, Mohan, you're coming from
15:53Abu Dhabi?
15:55Stay outside.
15:56Come to the house.
15:57I'll bring you a pail of water outside, have a bath outside, and then come to the house.
16:01How long would it take you to get to Dubai?
16:03About three, three and a half, four hours, three and a half, depending on, depending.
16:08See, there are two ways.
16:10One was you could reach in one and a half to two hours.
16:13That was, you know which way?
16:14You go from this Makhtar Bridge, near the Makhtar Bridge, you go from the Makhtar.
16:19At that time, there was no bridge, nothing.
16:21It was just a sand strip.
16:24During the low tide, the sand strip will come up.
16:30And then you go and go.
16:33And from there, go for maybe maximum half an hour, then go down, because you've already
16:40checked that the tide is going down.
16:44So you already checked that, otherwise you can't cross anyway.
16:48So since the tide is going down, you go for half an hour, then you turn left, straight
16:52to the beach.
16:53By going to Dubai, the beach is on the left, turn on the left, beach.
16:59You will find a four-lane, four-lane highway there, because water is now, tide has gone
17:06down and honestly, flat ground, four, this thing, a four-lane highway, it was, all this,
17:17all beach.
17:18But the gap was so much, so wide, that we'll get down there, and it takes only about two
17:25hours maximum.
17:26There, four hours.
17:27This was just one and a half, two hours, drive straight, north and nothing, all on the beach.
17:33And we reached Jumeirah, right up to Jumeirah, straight beach.
17:38Sheikh Zayed, he told me, Jaish-e-Malik, remember, you may be a Hindu, you may be a Muslim, you
17:46may be a Christian, what is it, you all are welcome.
17:51But the one that we will appreciate, that we want you to do here, that follow your,
18:01whatever path you have, follow your path, perfect.
18:05But the path of your religion that we want you to follow here, is purely on good behaviour.
18:14He'll say that, whatever it is, good behaviour is the path, you're a Muslim, behave well,
18:23you're a Christian, behave well, you're a Hindu, behave, that is, and he told me also,
18:30we have in our Quranic, you know, the Muslim philosophy also, it is in Arabic, Deen al-Ma'amalah,
18:39Deen is good conduct, be humble, that is the secret of being a businessman.
18:49Always thank the customers, always have a smile, like I give you, I give you the sweets,
18:54you give me the smile, and as I said earlier, a smiling customer, 50% of the sale is done.