A Conversation with a Driver in Ras Al Khaimah

A week of work in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) became a week of conversations with Soho, a Pakistani driver. RAK (Ras Al Khaimah), where I stayed, is different from Dubai. It is a remote coastal town. Once independent, it joined the UAE in 1972.

The street was dusty in 40-degree heat, with broken cars and luxury cars side by side. Many shops opened at night, but there were few pedestrians. I always looked for restaurants with good reviews on Google Maps. The prices were relatively cheap, but at six or seven in the afternoon there were usually only one or two tables occupied. After a hard day’s work, I wanted to treat myself, but a big seafood meal still cost two to three hundred yuan per person. The roads were wide and flat, but many sidewalks were dirt. After all, this is a country built on a desert. Two steps away from the spotless Hilton, I was back on dusty ground. I saw a message card with a phone number printed on it. This place is not home for most people, and the hot air suddenly felt sad. People from all walks of life come to work in the UAE, but most of them will eventually go home or find another place.

Almost everyone in the UAE asks me where I’m from if I get a chance, whether it’s a client or a restaurant. There are many Indians, Bangladeshis, and Pakistanis working here, and many Filipinos and Nepalese in the hotel. Many questions are very straightforward, and many people have the childishness of a child. The older brothers I meet on the road will occasionally say hello or welcome. The uncle at the Bangladeshi restaurant tried his best to tell me in English how much he appreciated the 20 years of work here. In the first 10 years, he operated machines to polish lenses, and in the next 10 years, he became a technical director and also founded a factory on YouTube. Show me the promotional video, it’s very cute.

There are no locals who work in factories and trucks. At the age of 18, if you want to get married, the government will give you a house and public medical education is free.

The ratio of locals to foreigners in the UAE is about one to nine. After all, there are many tax-free and tax-free zones, which are good places to start a company. Every day people say that the locals in the UAE are Tianlong people, but the life of foreign workers is not very good. However, in Soho’s view, the United Arab Emirates is a place he likes very much.

The medical insurance that most people work for basically reimburses all expenses. He had a relatively large operation here, and in the end, it only cost more than 1,000 RMB.

Soho shared two stories. Once, he sent a good passenger to stop to count the money, but suddenly the passenger robbed him of the money and ran away. He said that the law and order in the UAE are very good and very safe, which shocked him badly at the time. The police were contacted and the man was apprehended two hours later.

Once, an American couple was riding in his car. After Soho made a U-turn, the American man suddenly became angry. He shouted the F-word and hit the back of the car seat. Soho locked the car doors, told everyone to stay inside, and called the police. When the police came, the man refused to admit what had happened. Fortunately, the Tesla had recorded video inside and outside the car. When Soho went home, the man was kept by the police overnight. The next day, as soon as Soho turned on his phone, the man called and apologized repeatedly. Soho could have asked for compensation, but he did not want it. The government fined the Americans several thousand dollars and warned them that they could be repatriated next time.

There are Muslims everywhere in the UAE, and the mosques on the street regularly play religious songs through loudspeakers. The exotic atmosphere of a man humming and talking is the same in supermarkets and shopping malls. Alcohol will not be sold in roadside restaurants. The factory has a prayer room, and the Dubai airport also has separate prayer rooms for men and women. They prayed for a long time before and after lunch. On the first day, I didn’t know the situation and thought it was lunchtime. I followed everyone upstairs, and the Egyptians came back and told me that they were going to pray.

On the first day in the car, Soho told me that he was single and didn’t want to invite a Hitler home, even though he was 35 years old, he still enjoyed the freedom of being single. His brothers said that in the first month after marriage, it was the wife who cried because she had left her parents and brothers and sisters; after one month, it was the husband who cried until he died.

On the fifth day, he gave me a thorough explanation. One month later, he returned to his hometown in Pakistan to get married. I think your kid was single a few days ago, how come you want to get married in the blink of an eye? It turned out that his father called to ask him how much money he had saved now, and after finding out the details, he directly arranged the marriage. Only on the day of the official wedding can we know what the bride looks like and can speak for the first time. What is even more shocking is that he said that 95% of marriages in his hometown are like this, so-called love marriages are very rare, and couples rarely divorce in such an environment. Soho also said that the house in Pakistan will directly write the name of the fiancée who has never met. In case of divorce, almost half of the property will be divided. Women need a sense of security.

His grandma died recently at the age of 105. When the pandemic was at its worst, she said on the phone, Covid, Covid, why is everyone talking about Covid? I want to eat Corona too! Soho earnestly explained that this was a disease, worse than a cold or fever, and not something to eat. He said people can become like children when they are old and cannot always listen. Soho had no choice but to agree with her and dragged his father to buy a dragon fruit, saying that it was Corona. Grandma called the next day: Soho, you liar, you even lied to your grandma! I’ve already taken Corona, why is there no problem now?

Speaking of the fact that children in the UK are very naughty and don’t like to listen to their teachers, he said that there are very few such things here. When he was a child, his mother waited for him at the door with slippers at 6 o’clock every day. As long as he didn’t come home before 6 o’clock, he would be beaten. He said that it is rare in the Islamic world to send his parents to a nursing home. He plans to bring his wife to the UAE after getting married, and he also wants to take the old couple to the UAE. I asked him if all the elderly were willing to come, and he admitted frankly that there was a high probability that they would not.

In the old world where the small community dominated the order that Soho missed, a road was damaged by water, and everyone said what to do if the child fell while passing by, The men immediately went to a meeting at the home of a respected elder to find a solution. Whoever contributes the money will contribute, and everyone will consciously fulfill their responsibilities, and the matter will be resolved soon. Today’s Pakistan is the same as other places in the world. The neighbors among young people don’t know their names. Children prefer to run on iPads instead of running by the river. When the road is broken, everyone scolds the government together in WhatsApp groups.

Everyone builds roads together in the Old World, but parents in the Old World can also kill their eloped children. There is a similar story in Brother Pao’s book, and the patterns are similar with minor differences. In the new world, for example in the UK, physical punishment of children is treated very differently, even though some people still defend it as discipline.