Dubai: This expat once paid Dh2,000 annual rent for a villa

Dubai - Shaukat Ali Rana has lived in the UAE since 1968, back when it was the Trucial States.

At just eight years old, Pakistani expat Shaukat Ali Rana witnessed the birth of a new nation — the formation of the UAE.

Rana, 61, landed in the then Trucial States in 1968. His father had come two years prior after landing his first job at the British Bank of the Middle East. His salary was only Dh450, but in those days, one could live comfortably with that amount.

"I was too young to understand what shifting meant, but I clearly remember we would get super excited at the slight mention of travelling," Rana said. "And in 1968, my mother and us (seven siblings) landed in the UAE after taking a train from Lahore to Karachi and then flying with PIA from Karachi to Dubai."

Rana and his family stayed in Cola colony in Karama, where the rent for their three-bedroom villa was Dh2,000 per year.

"(It was) named after a Coca-Cola plant in the area. And this colony comprised of only villas," he said, showing a tenancy contract from 1970, which he had meticulously laminated and preserved in a file.

"There was just this small colony of villas in Karama and all around it was only a sandy area, where me and my siblings would go in the evening to play," he said.

"We slept either in our courtyards or terrace as air conditioners were not easily available in those times, and we would walk to our school, Pakistan Academy, which is still in Oud Metha."

UAE’s first Independence Day

There was a time in UAE's history when one had to show their passport to travel from Dubai to Abu Dhabi.

This was when the UAE was still formally establishing itself as a country.

Recalling the momentous occasion, Rana said the UAE's Independence Day celebrations had taken place on a grand scale at the Abu Dhabi Corniche on December 2, 1971.

"I was just 11, but my father had given his hobby camera to me, as he knew I absolutely loved it, and asked me to take shots of the celebrations that are with me even today. He helped me find my talent and gave me wings to fly and realise my dreams of pursuing photography as a career," Rana told Khaleej Times, showing the pictures he had taken as a young boy.

Rana and his family travelled to Abu Dhabi in his father's Volkswagen. To this day, he has preserved the border pass as a keepsake.

"This was the Shoeb border in Abu Dhabi," he said, showing the pass. "After the border area, all we could see was sand and my father did not know the way. So, we waited for a taxi to come and then we followed him to show us the way to Abu Dhabi ... It was a day to remember as the whole country lit up. We saw fountains light up; the celebrations were on a big scale."

In 1976, Rana started his own business — a photo studio called Shaukat Photo Studio. He later got married to his distant relative, a Kuwaiti, and settled down in Dubai.

"In 1985, I built our house in Mirdif, when there were only two villas in this area. There was only barren land all around," he said.

He added: "I got a special grant in my wife’s name as she is Kuwaiti so we got this piece of land here and we built our house. And ever since, we have been staying here,” he said, adding that he is one of the oldest residents in the area.

Ringing in the Golden Jubilee

As the UAE gears up to celebrate its 50 years of existence, Rana is planning a different kind of celebration for himself and his family.