out in my headstraights by appointment only

This is what 99% of people say to me when they hear I’ve been born and raised in the UAE. But while I may still hold an expat passport after 20+ years here, it doesn’t change how I feel about this country. I’ve often been asked “Are you always going to stay here? Don’t you ever want to go back home?” And by that they mean India, where I’m originally from. But for a kid who was born in the UAE, went to high school and university here, works here, lives here, this is my home and has always been so. On the few times that I have visited India, I feel (and often look) more like a tourist than a native of the population.

So for me it doesn’t matter which passport I hold; I call the UAE my home. When I hear people who’ve lived in Dubai for a good number of years complaining about this and that, I wonder just how ungrateful they can be. This is a country that has given them work, given their kids an education, offered them a comfortable lifestyle, and they have nothing better to do but pick on anything they fancy. Yes, there are things that I myself would like to change, but the country is still growing and learning, so for me it’s just a concept of waiting.

I’d love to say that my parents have wonderful black and white photos of Sheikh Zayed Road from the 70s, but sadly we lived in Sharjah our entire lives before I moved to Dubai in 2009. Still, I can remember things like camels walking alongside Dubai-Sharjah road, or how we would drive to Jumeirah to Garhoud to see my uncle and then spend the night to avoid driving back on roads with no street lights. I remember having the freedom to attend a Catholic school and go to church with no problems, or sneak down to the Sharjah Blue Souk for some cheap weekend shopping.

So yes, to everyone who calls the UAE their home, Happy National Day!