Safe and happy in the UAE

Alone, I walk to the neighbourhood supermarket at 11.30 pm to buy a can of milk. Almost every residential building in Sharjah has a shop, salon or eatery on the ground floor. I walk back the 50 metres homeward unhurried, while passing vehicles stop till I cross the two-lane byroad on the way. Old habits die hard, and I always tend to stop on my tracks or retreat when a vehicle comes in the way. But courtesy on the roads is inbuilt in the UAE motorist who procures a driving licence after rigorous training and assessment of road rules and etiquette. The pedestrian is king/queen here and I get a fresh dose of happiness in a country that has a Minister of State for Happiness and a government that aims to make it among the top five happiest countries in the world by 2021.

In early July, Numbeo, the crowd-sourced global database on cities and countries, listed in its mid-year statistics three UAE cities in the first 10 safest cities in the world – Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai feature at 1st, 5th and 7th position respectively. Abu Dhabi has a low crime rate index of 11.36 and the highest safety index of 88.67 while Dubai scored a crime rate index of 16.98 and a safety index of 83.02.

In 2019 too, Abu Dhabi (ranked 1) and Dubai (6) scored top marks on the safety index with 89.3 points and 83.34 points respectively. Gulf cities like Oman’s Muscat (28), Bahrain’s Manama (32), Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and Jeddah (64 and 103) also figured in the safe cities club. It is not just Numbeo; surveys by numerous other sites give these cities top ranking in the safety index.

Numbeo records that worries about being insulted or physically attacked because of your skin colour, ethnic colour, gender or religion is very low in UAE cities; worries about housebreaks and theft or the scourge of corruption and bribery that is ingrained in many other countries is practically nil here.

There is very little to fear in Gulf countries like the UAE thanks to the strict enforcement of laws and fast-track punishments. Many ordeals women dread or endure in the Indian subcontinent are non-existent here – eve-teasing, ogling and other forms of sexual harassment. One can walk around comfortably in as crowded an indoor exhibition as GITEX without fear of groping or jostling.

Back home in my village, women do not step out after 6 p.m. Twilight and later is not ideal time for women to venture out, except on festival nights escorted by the male members of the family. Growing up in India and Tanzania, and studying and working in Delhi and Chennai, I feel the South Indian metropolis is one of the relatively safer Indian cities for women but the ground rules are to avoid dark lonely spots or stretches and reach home by 10 p.m. unless chauffeured in a company car. But the UAE has been the most remarkable of my residences giving me unrestrained freedom of movement and a sense of security. I am not alone; that is the opinion of the average expat woman residing here.
For Sindhu, an Indian expat homemaker in Dubai for the past 23 years, the UAE is home like no other. The comforts of living here prompt her to rush back to her UAE home after visiting her elderly parents annually or whenever they need her proximity. As the mother of a college-going young woman, she feels it is a country that is very safe to bring up the girl child. The country appreciates and takes care of its entire expat workforce, with women and children in particular shielded by its safety net. A woman can take the metro or bus any time in the night without fear. She feels the punishment that awaits criminals is very apt and quick here, which makes people wary of committing crimes. A woman can stay alone safely without experiencing any discomforts. Hats off to the country’s COVID-19 fight too and its containment strategies, she signs off.
Yasmin, who has been working in Dubai for over two decades, feels extremely safe to stay in the UAE as a woman and as a mother. Women’s empowerment is achieved in real terms here, she affirms. She can go out any time and the signboards in every street ensure that she doesn’t get lost while driving; even if she gets stuck anywhere or parks her car on the roadside at night, the police immediately appears and enquires if everything is okay or if she needs any assistance. She can send out her boys alone without fear as helpline numbers and surveillance cameras in public transport and other public spaces induce a feeling of safety. In schools, children are givens lessons on how to protect themselves from all kinds of abuse while school buses are fitted with cameras to track students’ movement (some ensure proper ferrying through Radio Frequency ID cards that track them inside the bus and in school). There might be occasional cases of negligence by staff but the rate is very low, she notes. Call up the police on 999 in a medical emergency, and the ambulance is at your doorstep in 2 minutes to take the patient to hospital, she vouches from personal experience. The comfort, care and assurance that the UAE gives you and your family earlier and now during the pandemic is the best anyone could ask for, she declares.
Like Yasmin, I dream of an unhurried life in the Kerala countryside some day. But that day can wait. The beauty of my homeland in the lap of the Western Ghats is nonpareil but the comforts that come with living in the Gulf make up for it. Apart from being paradigms for cleanliness, hygiene and quality, countries in the Arabian Desert are oases of prosperity and cultivated greenery. They are home away from home for the Indian expat. The numerous restaurants from each Indian state, Indian stores and hypermarkets that sell Indian vegetables and goods, including time-savers like freshly ground coconut in boxes, to TV anchors and FM jockeys who chatter non-stop in Malayalam, Tamil or Hindi nip in the bud any iota of homesickness. Anyway, home was just four hours away by flight in pre-COVIDIAN times and quicker than the 12-train journey from Chennai to Kottayam.
Year-round sunshine and a tax-free economy bring expats by the hordes from all over the world, and they return after they have made enough to enjoy a quiet retired life in their picturesque homeland that always remain close to heart. East or West, the Middle East is best for those who wish for the modernity of the West combined with the culture of the East.
Borrowing from Rabindranath Tagore, let me take the liberty to describe my adopted land: “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high… /Into that heaven of freedom” has this country awakened.