From Deira to Dubai Mall: A family’s 50-year legacy of witnessing urban growth

An Indian expatriate family marked exactly 50 years of residency in Dubai on Wednesday, 12 October, by retracing the journey they took from the airport to their first homes in 1976. The Mohiuddin family, originally from Tamil Nadu, returned to Terminal 1 at Dubai International Airport to commemorate the anniversary of the date stamped on their original entry permits. From Fish Roundabout to Al Ghurair Centre M.M. Mohiuddin, an engineer who arrived in 1975 to join ETA-ASCON, was joined by his wife Shameem and their three children to visit their first residence near the Fish Roundabout in Deira. The family then proceeded to their second home at the Al Ghurair Centre residence tower. Mohiuddin recalled that they were the third tenants in the building, holding tenancy contract number 003 when the city’s first shopping mall opened in 1981. Dr. Tasneem Jamil, deputy managing director of Prime Healthcare Group and Mohiuddin’s eldest daughter, noted that the family originally intended to stay for only a few years. "Everything looked the same yet had changed over the years," she said during the visit to their former apartment, which is now occupied by a Chinese family who welcomed them back for the anniversary. Witnessing Decades of Urban Transformation The family’s history serves as a record of Dubai’s rapid infrastructure development. The siblings recalled a time when the Dubai World Trade Centre stood in isolation surrounded by sand, and grocery orders were placed by shouting…