Dubai/ Abu Dhabi: Waving tricolour flags and hailing their home country, Indian expats in the UAE marked the 76th Republic Day of India with colourful celebrations on Sunday.
Thousands of members of the over four-million-strong Indian expat community members ditched their morning slumber and braved the chilly weather to attend the flag hoisting ceremonies held at the Indian Consulate in Dubai and the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi at 7am and 8am respectively.
Indian Ambassador to the UAE Sunjay Sudhi unfurled the flag at the embassy while the Consul General of India in Dubai Satish Kumar Sivan hoisted the tricolour at the consulate. The diplomats also read out excerpts from the Republic Day message of the Indian President Droupadi Murmu.
Commemorating the day the Indian Constitution came into effect on January 26 in 1950, community members took part in cultural programmes and paid tributes to the freedom fighters, soldiers and farmers of India.
Azimuddin Khan, who works with a logistics company in Jebel Ali, and his wife Umme Habiba attended the ceremony with their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Maha.
“I used to attend the celebrations with friends and now I come with my family. This is our second time bringing our daughter. It is very cold in the morning but we felt it was important for us to show our patriotism and we want to inculcate that in our daughter from a young age,” said Khan, who hails from Uttar Pradesh.
Romesh Hirani, a trader of luxury watches, got dressed up for the occasion and carried a flag with him.
“I have been in the UAE for 20 years and I don’t miss these celebrations at the consulate. I got my outfit from Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Uttar Pradesh when I visited last vacation and kept it specially to wear on this day. India is our motherland and there is no excuse not to celebrate it. But, being here in the UAE, we feel at home as if you are at your brother’s house,” said Hirani, who is from Maharashtra.
Pranita Prashanth, a grade 8 student of Sharjah Indian School, was one of the performers at the consulate. “We left home at 5.30am. It was really cold but we were thrilled about the performance. I felt so proud to present a patriotic dance along with my schoolmates. Being raised in the UAE, I feel we are lucky to get these opportunities. We often feel that the UAE is more Indianised than some parts of India, thanks to the huge number of Indians here and the great hospitality we receive here,” said Prashanth, whose family is from Kerala.
