Mahendra and son Punit discuss why they always wanted to be a part of the UAE growth story
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Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/3yeWW7r
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
#UAEnews #Indians #Dubai
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NewsTranscript
00:00You'll have different kinds of people who will try different kinds of ways to influence
00:04your decisions.
00:05But honesty, integrity, your value system needs to be very strong.
00:12I came to Dubai in 1963, March, from Bahrain.
00:17I joined the bank called National Bank of Dubai, which is called now Emirates NBD.
00:24I worked there for six years, and then I shifted to Commercial Bank of Dubai.
00:28It started in 1969, October.
00:32I joined the bank in 1969, July.
00:34There were 20 staff with the bank, we started.
00:38I was one of them.
00:39Then in 1975, I was sent to Athens, Greece, for some training course.
00:43I was there for nine months, did the course, banking course, came back.
00:48And I worked for the bank from 1969 to 2011, 42 years.
00:53I really enjoyed working with the bank.
00:57And I joined as a senior clerk, and when I retired, I was a senior manager, marketing
01:03and credit.
01:04Still, I enjoy my good rapport with the staff, of course, not changed, so all plans.
01:10And I keep in touch with them, and really enjoy.
01:13I love Dubai.
01:14It's our home.
01:15My children, my grandchildren are born here.
01:17Dubai has given us a wonderful platform.
01:20We wouldn't be what we are today, if it wasn't for the wonderful platform, the bedrock,
01:25that the royal family, the Mathoom family has set up.
01:29I think we all owe it a lot to the late His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Mathoom.
01:35He was wonderful towards the Indian expatriate community.
01:38He was responsible for giving land for the temple.
01:41He also gave us the land for the Indian High School, which is now celebrating 60 years.
01:47It's a school that I work very closely with currently.
01:51So again, the UAE and the rulers have been very benevolent, have done so much for all
01:57of us.
01:59And like my father rightly said, this is home away from home.
02:02This is a very interesting story when both my, you know, when my sisters and I were growing
02:06up and lived in a very modest house in Burdwai.
02:10And my father being a banker, once he came home with a very small gift that was given
02:14to my client.
02:16And you know, I was a slightly naughty one in the family, so I would get to open the
02:20gifts.
02:21So when I opened the gift, I saw it was something insignificant and I threw it on the ground.
02:28So my father came into the room and he said, what is it?
02:31And I said, I don't know.
02:32And actually it was a key to a car, right, which he was given as a gift by somebody.
02:39So he said, put that back in the box.
02:42And I said, why?
02:43He said, I don't know.
02:44We got to give it back to the person who gave it to us.
02:47So then he put it back and then he went and he returned it.
02:53And then he came back with another box, another gift, right, that was given.
02:59And again, I opened it and again it says it's insignificant.
03:04And it was a necklace that the same person had given.
03:07And again, his view was, look, it's not right to accept such gifts.
03:11We got to do our duty.
03:12So again, he put it back in.
03:13Again, he drove back to the gentleman.
03:16The third time he came back home, I again opened the gift, it was a packet of coasters.
03:19You know, in those days, you give the coasters.
03:21And he said, yeah, this we can keep.
03:23So that's something I learned from my father from a very young age in terms of honesty
03:26and integrity, that you'll have different kinds of people who would try different kinds
03:31of ways to influence your decisions.
03:35But honesty, integrity, your value system needs to be very strong.
03:38So I think that's had a huge impact on my sisters and I.
03:43And that's something which we embody and we take forward.
03:46And hopefully we will be passing that on to the next generation.
03:49Like you're aware, now he has his grandkids, so we are the fourth generation in the UAE.
03:54And hopefully we'll be able to pass on these values, which my father so wonderfully personifies.