Every year was better for years and years..atleast that's how I remember I felt for the most part of my pre-teen years, growing up. What else could life in Dubai have been anyway?
The urban landscape of the Sheikh Zayed Road (formally known as the Abu Dhabi Road until about 1997) was a barren, sandy landscape for most of my childhood. Most areas consisted mainly of desert with pockets of buildings, homes and shops, and taking a sand track wasn’t an unusual road to take to anywhere.
My parents moved to Dubai, UAE in the late 1970’s. Mom chanced upon the opportunity of a job as a nurse at the only hospital that existed in Dubai, back then - Al Rashid Hospital. This happened around the same time when Dad and Mom got married in Delhi, India. And ofcourse, Dad followed a year (or 2) later to join mom and with hopes of making dreams come true. And so, life for Mr & Mrs Josey F. Kallukalam started there. My wonder years ...as I call them. I was born in 1980. Lots of fun times, lots of attention, until a sibling - my brother - followed in 1983. Take it from me, I had to quickly learn the art of "compromise" at the young age of 3. Nothing came easy to me after that. I had to always negotiate with bratty brother, lurking around.
Aside that, from what I could remember, we had a great life growing up here. Life was super simple back then. Worries were limited and fun was infinite. Simple things, simple pleasures was the "name of the game". Laughs, fights, taunts, games with the neighborhood kids in Al Rashid colony (who were a mix of Indians, Pakistanis, local Arabs), who were also our school mates for the longest time of our growing years. CheeseBall "Pofak" packs, an occasional shawarma and Areej juice after play-time, 'Choc-bar' ice-cream in the hot humid summers was an every day treat; shopping sprees at Karama Shopping Complex, free Iftar food during Ramadan, home-birthday parties, Christmas parties...gosh, nostalgia at it's core. Back then, my parents were famous for hosting a handful of parties every year at our apartment. I looked forward to it always because, 1) those were the only days I got attention from people, aside from my brother, 2) we got gifts, in some form or fashion, whether it was chocolates, cake, etc....and 3) I looked forward to relishing, without limit, on mom's hand-crafted Gourmet Dishes, Salads and Desserts which she had mastered over the years, branding her as a "culinary expert" among local friends and family.
Growing up, TV time was something of a 'visual treat'. We were allowed upto one hour of TV at 4pm after school with cartoons like G.I Joe and Danger Mouse; remember him? And as the evening progressed, we watched the Golden girls or Colbys or Dallas or Knots Landing. However, a true weekend TV treat was the Thursday night Bollywood movie that would come on the 'one' TV station that was available back then. Unlike kids in the UK or the US, we didn’t have lots of TV channels – We had one channel called ‘Channel 33’ as it was called then (which is now Dubai One). Weekend Friday's were reserved for church, oil-based baths and mom's meal preps for the week.
And it all happened in a quaint little town called Karama in Dubai.
Now that I think about it, I looked forward to many things while growing up. Mom was a disciplinarian by nature, Papa was chill-axed kind-of guy. So I ALWAYS looked forward to when Mom's hospital shift rotated to an afternoon work shift which was between 1pm to 9pm. Attending an all-girl school session for a major portion of my school years, the girls were out of school by 12:45pm (Boys' session was from 1pm to 6pm). Which means I got home by 1:15pm. So logically, I missed getting fair warnings from my mother, by a fraction of a half-hour window. When the cat is away, the mouse will play.....Yipee!!!
Oh, don't get me wrong, I did my homework religiously every day for sure, but I ALWAYS skimped out on studying on those days...lol. Instead I looked forward to my 'extensive' play times, phone time with my bestie, 'Moon', extensive TV time and many more that I can't think of right now. Well, as one says, what goes around, comes around. On the back-end, I always paid the price for those extensive leisure time...i.e. getting average grades, getting scolded and spanked ever so frequently for not remembering my lessons. As the years went by, I dreaded and hated PTA days...rarely Mom could make it to my PTA due to her work shifts, but the handful times she did, I think BOTH me AND the teachers got a mouthful from her, in hearing distance of the obvious public, for not studying and emphasizing on lessons, respectfully. Psst...I think most of my teachers feared my mom, but some surely liked her for her candor. I think I might have developed that candor nature from her.
Another historical highlight for us was Al Nasr Leisureland, an entertainment indoor park – particularly in the summer. The school organized summer camps every year to Al-Nasr......something that I always cherished. Swimming in a pool & ice-skating was something I had only seen in the movies, along with dancing and music, until I visited Al-Nasr as soon as I turned 8 years old. When I skated and danced, I took every opportunity to give it my all, because I somehow I always knew it wouldn't last long, even though I wanted it to. And of course, a popcorn treat after that, was the "royal icing" on the cake. For a simple, naive, 8 year old like me, this was 'heavenly' bliss.
Ordering take away meals was a story in itself: Today we use apps, or call and give the restaurant our order and address, but when I was little, we picked up food ourselves. I remember the days that mom decided not to cook and instead, we would order ‘takeaways’ from Pizza Hut and KFC. Those "Take-away" Dinner nights was something I always looked forward to.
Children in Dubai are fortunate to have variety today – Seriously, the amount of things to do in Dubai is immense (and probably overwhelming for children too), as every day you can literally do something different… But when I was little, we didn’t have that variety; It was the Safa park, a trip to the Jumeirah beach park, a souq trip, movies at Al-Nasr cinema or a trip to Al Ghurair Centre (Dubai’s original mall) – but that was about it really. And yet, it was all memorable.
I am what is commonly referred to as a 'third culture kid': someone who was raised in a culture different to that of their parents or of their native country and as a result there are a lot of things about my upbringing that many people, i.e. family, friends and locals, consider strange about me. However, I can honestly say living in Dubai made coming to the US a somewhat 'transitionally easier' experience. For me it was like we were back in Dubai. Same type of malls, grocery stores, Walmart type stores, cars, houses, diversity, etc etc. I guess I already knew what "foreigner" life was like. When my fellow American friends here talk about cartoons from their childhood or tv shows, I don't feel left out. I have seen all of them and some more. But I don’t make a big deal out of it. Because there are other aspects of the Arabic and Indian culture that I've grown up with and can't do without. So nothing seems 'alien' to me anymore. To blend in and stand out at the same time…that is what growing up as an expat kid is about.
#openlife#bestfriends#expatlife#OOEHS#immigrantlife#wonderyears
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