Time-defying ties that bind: Meet Punit Vasu of Indian High School and family in the UAE

Gulf News

Mahendra and son Punit discuss why they always wanted to be a part of the UAE growth story  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

Transcript

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.

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