The UAE holds a special place in my heart, just as it does for many expatriates living and loving the country. For one, we share the same birth year and secondly, the Emirati Mars Mission’s Hope Probe is expected to reach Martian Orbit on my birthday. Much as I would like to keep my age a secret, I cannot but divulge this shared destiny.
When I reluctantly shifted base here five years ago, abashed at being branded a Gulfie and aware of the caricatures of the NRI in movies, I did not expect to fall in love with life here. First I fell in love with the quality of life it offered– good roads, good infrastructure, disciplined driving, the best of products and produce from all over the world, efficient administration, and most importantly, just letting me be. I could walk around without being self-conscious of my gender, dress code or faith. There was no ogling, no eve teasing or racial slurs. Everyone minds their own business, that is.
Next I fell in love with its national anthem, so I got my children to sing it whenever I could in the first year after they learnt it at the school assembly. I don’t miss a chance to listen to this day.
“Ishy bilady” — which translates to “Long live our country” in English — goes the national anthem in Arabic. The tune, I learn, was by Egyptian composer Mohammed Abdel Wahab, and the words were set by Dr Aref Al Sheikh, an Emirati poet and scholar. The tune preceded the lyrics, and Dr Al Sheikh performed the rare feat of matching meaningful patriotic lines for the music in three days’ time.
Google is celebrating UAE National Day 2020 with an animated doodle of the national flag aflutter. The UAE flag was first raised on December 2, 1971 by HH Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan to mark the country’s union. The flag’s pan-Arab colours are significant — green stands for fertility, hope and love, white for peace and honesty, black for solidarity and strength of mind, and red for courage and strength. Contrary to popular belief, black does not signify the country’s oil reserves.
The UAE flag was designed by a young Emirati named Abdullah Mohammad Al Maainah in response to an advertisement for a flag designing competition. He later went on to become the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs, which shows the possibilities that the country offers to those who dare to dream.
Many Indians have also made it big in the UAE, some with fantastic rags-to-riches stories, helping their motherland prosper in the process. Kerala’s success and prosperity is a case in point.
With the UAE “looking to the future with optimism, anticipating its horizons, and pre-planning its paths”, in President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s words, expats and citizens alike join in the festive mood – be it watching the fireworks and laser displays at the various iconic landmarks or feasting in restaurants while adhering to COVID-19 protocols.
A country that could make a megalopolis of a desert, attract tourists with man-made wonders and best of brands, provide an oasis of tolerance in a climate of growing intolerance world over, rein in the pandemic with determination and teamwork, and aim for the moon literally is a country worth emulating and worth living. The sky is the limit here, you see. Or should we say, sky is not the limit?
