How a Pakistani found UAE on a short visit?

I am one of those millions of Pakistanis who are living overseas in different countries for various reasons. I flew out from Lahore to Dhahran in 1976 when I was re-employed by Fluor, the US giant company and after completion to two years employment contract I preferred not to continue with them and instead flew out to Kuwait in 1978 and one way or the other I am in Kuwait and have no intentions to quit in near future in any case. Having stayed in Kuwait for over long three decades it goes without saying that this country is no more an alien country for me otherwise I had neither stayed here for so long nor I had decided to live here for indefinite period of time. I am not the only Pakistani who is here for so long rather the hard fact that there countless Pakistanis who are living for more than four decades if not five decades which does prove that undoubtedly Kuwait is a sweet home for we Pakistanis.

I was in UAE from 4^th to 12^th June, 2012 with my family and it was very much enjoyable trip from many different angles and perspectives to be honest and I simply cannot help commenting on the same. Earlier I had gone alone on an official trip to Dubai in 2010 for 4 days but had been so much busy in recruitment that I hardly had time to either see the city or interact with local people but this time it was a bit different than before. This time I landed at Sharjah International Airport and from there by road I reached Zahed Bin Nahyan City, a new suburb of Abu Dhabi which is still under expansion though quite a lot has already been built. We stayed with the 1^st cousin of my wife who is a civil engineer and despite his busy daily schedules he took two days off to receive us at airport and likewise see us off though on our return we could have gone back independently but he did not feel comfortable to let us go at our own.

Our host had given us the telephone number for the taxi service since we had to travel a lot not only within a city but on intercity routes as well. We have travelled by road to Al Ain and Dubai as well in addition to Abu Dhabi so we have spent about 70% of our cash on taxis alone but it was worth. The best part was that all the taxis were registered with a very big company which could be even in partnership with the government but I am not sure about it. The company runs taxis all over the country on 24 hours basis so one can go any distance on any day at any time without any bargain and or headache and therefore I had no problem as to how to go to from ZBNC to Al Ain or Sharjah or Dubai or Abu Dhabi for that matter. I just had to call their control number and engage a taxi. The attendant will find a taxi and call me back giving taxi number and approximate time of arrival. Taxis are fitted with fare meter showing the amount due for payment together with driver photo and his permit number. Taxi driven by a driver who is nicely clad in uniform with neck tie will come to the place I asked for and give me a call ensuring that he is right there. Taxi meter is connected to remote control sensor which monitors taxi movement and as and when the taxi ran more than the permissible speed limit I always heard the message warning the driver that he is crossing the speed limit. I paid off whatever is the meter reading and the driver also gave a computerized slip showing the due amount. So it is completely hassle free and the fare too is quite reasonable. I and my wife have our cars so we do not use taxi in but still I can say with confidence that to the best of my knowledge and belief Kuwait lacks any such like taxi service but perhaps it being a city country does not need such an elaborate system which is a must in UAE where there are 7 emirates spread over a very long area otherwise there is no dearth of taxis in Kuwait.

The most striking thing which I and my family noticed was that Pakistan national language Urdu is very widely understood in the whole of UAE though Arabic is the official language of the country. Many UAE nationals spoke to me in Urdu which really surprised me and though I had a feeling that I am to speak in Arabic but it did not happen alike. On landing at Sharjah International Airport I had to meet different officials of varying ranks like immigration and customs etc but almost all of them whether men and women spoke to me in Urdu and I wondered how Arabic speakers could speak my language with full confidence. At times before I could speak in Arabic or English, UAE national could recognize that I am a Pakistani so they spoke to me in Urdu which was much too much pleasing to be honest. Truly speaking though Urdu is official language of Pakistan but yet it is widely spoken in India and Bangladesh as well and undoubtedly millions of Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis live in all GCC (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait) but one way or the other the UAE is the country where Urdu speakers do not find themselves in an alien country. Numerically speaking Saudi Arabia has greatest population of these three countries but yet Urdu is not that much spoken there. In Bahrain, however, some locals do speak Urdu while in other sister GC countries also the language is not that unknown but yet it cannot match with UAE whatsoever.

Summing up, we had very pleasing and memorable time in the UAE but yet I was each time magnetically pulled back by Kuwait where I am staying since 1978 which as such has become my weakness if I am not dishonest.