ZAYED city, an extension of Abu Dhabi city, a place my father got posted to as the Projects Manager for ADNOC. It was the first time we ever moved out of Pakistan as children. The desert was right next to the house, at an unbelievably close distance and it was a picture perfect neatly laden street, in a newly developed housing complex of the company. We moved in, and there was beautiful furniture in the house already.
The plot outside the house which was supposed to be our lawn had huge rocks and there was no sight of greenery. The stark image of the desert, a few feet away from our house, was unfathomable. In the evenings, my siblings and I would go out to play in the desert and the sand beneath our feet felt so soft. Handfuls of it running through our palms, as we dug deep into it, to feel the chill under the hot bed of sand.
My father had managed to buy chocolates and put it in the fridge for us, the beautiful box of Merci chocolate, and the taste of it melting in my mouth was indescribable. It was the first time I knew what taste and smell was associated with Abu Dhabi. The air conditioners air had this distinct fresh smell, that only a newly made house would have, which I later established, was the staple smell of each house of Abu Dhabi. The TV would play camel races all day long, and we developed the understanding of the love the Emirates had for their national sport.
It was also my first time in life meeting a Palestinian family who won us over by their warmth. They were hospitable people, who could barely speak English, but the gestures spoke way more than their words. As a child, you do not understand the social dynamics of a culture until it has really touched you there. I vividly remember the times they used to weep, thinking of Palestine, and the atrocities they faced, but always uttering Alhamdulillah, and thanking the Lord graciously despite all they ever went through. Then came their lavish food of fresh olives, hummus (chickpea paste), and their local bread khubz, all served hot right out of the oven. It wasn’t that I hadn’t tasted good food before, but it was the warmth they presented it with. We mostly spoke using our hands and wide smiles on our faces and of course with broken English. They had beehives and raw honey served as dinner and it was particularly the honeycomb that I enjoyed the most. It was sweet and chewy, almost like warm caramel and a gorgeous distinct taste one could never taste in any other sugary dessert.
Beda Zayed, at that time, had a single shopping mall, from where fetching groceries was a joy ride every time we children went. There were all kinds of foreign goodies one could imagine under a single roof. The highlight was the candied almonds that looked like eggs of pastel colours. I was naive and almost broke my tooth biting into it once, I then realized, I had to suck on the candy to unravel the sweet almond inside. Coming from Pakistan, the mall and the ambiance inside was alien to me. The several aisles of grocery, all stacked upon each other so nicely. The bright colours and the shiny wrappers all enhanced the experience for a young child of eight years.
My first visit to a hospital in this place was nothing like the regular hospitals you come across. I to date could never get it out of my head, it had green pastures of land all surrounding the hospital building. The lawns had floral plants and it was quite a sanctuary on its own. This city was abundant in places like these, a mix of urban and rural, like an oasis in the middle of a desert. A contemporary concrete township surrounded by a desert, with so much attention to detail. It was not an easy job growing so many beautiful plants in the desert soil but they had done it so effortlessly.
You really need to be some kind of a genius to be able to do these things and that is what our King Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan was. He brought the United Arab Emirates to riches from the bare desert and his reign lasted from 1970 until 2004.
—The writer is contributing columnist.
