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Accountant who became a radio station director

DUBAI - He came to the UAE at the beginning of the oil boom and started work as an accountant.

But 26 years later, K.P. Kelu Vengara popularly known as K.P.K. Vengara, has become the most talked about radio artiste. Just a radio listener in the UAE once, he went on to become first a radio artiste and later the director of a radio station.

He has interviewed more than 6,000 people ranging from Indian musical maestro Yesudas to simple construction workers.

K.P.K., who is at present the programme director of Ras Al Khaimah Radio, arrived from Mumbai in 1980. "I did not have much idea about the UAE when I flew from Mumbai. When I arrived here I had just Dh10 with me. Dubai airport was very small at that time. I took a taxi from the airport to Deira. At that time Deira was the heart of Dubai. There were a few shops selling consumer goods and electronics. There were no high-rise buildings in Dubai at that time. All the shops were operating in small one-storeyed buildings," he said.

He recalled that when he started work as an accountant in Kader Trading in Diera, people started discussing about the prosperity after the oil finds. "The locals as well as expatriates were expecting rapid growth in UAE.

But I am sure that the growth UAE has experienced, was not even in their dreams. Even at that time, Dubai was well-known as a trading hub even though there was no manufacturing. The vision of the country's leaders could lead UAE to become one of the most talked about nations in the world," he noted.

"Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the late president of UAE, and Shaikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, late ruler of Dubai, had a vision of what kind of development this country needed. It was not an easy task to change a desert into a land of prosperity. But these leaders knew what they needed. Their positive attitude and unique plans changed the history. I don't think any country in the world achieved rapid development like UAE in this short time span," he said.

"I worked as a manager for a few years in another company. All this time, my natural instinct to be an artiste was bothering me. I met a few like-minded people. Ras Al Khaimah Radio was started and I was appointed as the programme director," he said.

"All these years I was dealing with people from different levels of society. I think the growth of this country is not merely because of the oil. The local people have a positive attitude always. The growth of the UAE brought big changes in the lifestyles of the people. Before they had time to share with others. But the pace of the life has changed and everybody is busy now," he observed.