Dubai: Nearly two years ago, on a chilly January day, Farha Naz arrived in Dubai. The air was crisp.The 38-year-old had made a difficult decision. She had left the familiar embrace of home in Mumbai to explore a new job in the city paved with dreams — Dubai. She missed her 10-year-old son Rayaan a lot. He was the primary reason she had relocated.“I did feel very homesick. There were times I just wanted to wrap up and go back to Mumbai. It was challenging, but in life you have to sacrifice for something better. And I was just doing it for Rayaan. I wanted to bring my son here and give him a life with better opportunities. That was the whole plan.”Watching him grow up in Mumbai, she worried that his view of the world could become insular. He attended a good school in Mumbai, she says, but she worried that his exposure to the wider world was limited.“In Dubai, it is very different. There is exposure to so many cultures, nationalities, tolerance and openness. It is going to build confidence in my child, naturally.“I feel it is important to grow up with other nationalities, to learn and discover… It makes you a better human being.”Dubai has changed her, too. But her relationship with the city actually began before she moved here.In April 2024, she travelled from Mumbai to Dubai on holiday with a group of friends. The city had witnessed exceptionally heavy rain. In fact, the UAE had recorded its highest rainfall since climate records began in 1949, according to the National Center of Meteorology. Their flight was delayed by a day.“When we came, everything had been cleared. The city was cleaned up. All our bookings were fulfilled. I was quite moved by the experience. Just two days ago they had such heavy rainfall and now everything was fine. The efficiency struck me.“I think it is the way Dubai and its government are always working for the people. They want to give all the people the best they can, even at the most basic level. They’re always taking care of people, be it Emiratis or expatriates. That’s why all of us who are here feel like we want to stay here. It’s the same experience for all. You know, you study about governance that’s for the people, by the people — you experience that in Dubai.”The experience strengthened her desire to relocate. She wanted her husband, Iliyas Patel, and son, Rayaan, to experience what she describes as Dubai’s “high quality” of living.At the time, Naz was working for a multinational company in Mumbai. She spent a year looking for opportunities in Dubai and finally landed a customer service role in the banking industry.So she packed her bags and left. The plan was always for her husband and son to follow.In January 2027, she will complete two years since her move. She hopes her husband and son will soon be able to join her in Dubai.Rayaan, she says, is excited about the move. Naz has been showing him pictures of schools in Dubai and talking to him about what life here could offer. Football is a particular draw. He is keen to join football classes and sends his mother pictures of places he wants her to take him to when he arrives.He will miss his friends in Mumbai, she knows. For now, mother and son speak four to six times a day. Naz remains closely involved with his studies and tuition, helping him with his homework over the phone.“As a mother, it is challenging to manage everything from here,” she says.For the past few months, Naz has been working from home, 9am to 5pm, with two days off each week. When overtime is available, she takes it. Outside work, she goes out with friends, creates content for Instagram and takes online courses — ways of keeping herself occupied and the loneliness of living alone at bay.If everything works out, she hopes to find a home and a school for Rayaan in time for the next school term. Her husband, she says, is supportive of the plan, although he is also trying to build something of his own in Mumbai. The decision to move their son, she says, is a mutual one. They will try it initially and see how life in Dubai works for the family.Farha Naz: “In Dubai, rules are followed. There are fines, consequences for actions. You just cannot do anything. People have to follow.”A recent 15-day trip to Mumbai only reinforced her decision. She was happy to see her husband and son. What surprised her was how differently she now experienced the city she had left.The traffic and cost of living came as a bit of a shock. She posted a video about it on Instagram, which was picked up by the Hindustan Times in India.In the video, she talks about how, when there’s traffic in Dubai, people stay calm, follow the rules and get through it, while in Mumbai, everyone honks and seems to be auditioning for The Fast and the Furious.She told Emirates 24/7: “In Dubai, rules are followed. There are fines, consequences for actions. You just cannot do anything. People have to follow.”That sense of discipline made her realise how important “law and order” had become to her.She also felt the cost of living in Mumbai had risen, while life in Dubai gave her “more financial breathing space”.Naz added: “In Dubai, you get quality at every level. The worth of what you are paying for is much better.”So her advice, if you have a job in Dubai, is simple: “Stick with it.”It is a more certain Naz than the woman who posted on Instagram after her first month in the city:“When a few of the strangers become your friends… it becomes a bit easier. It’s just a start… I have a long way to go. I am still not sure what I am doing, and how I am going to do it. But I am sure that I’ll do something better.”---Anupa Kurian is a Dubai-based senior editor and writer with nearly 28 years in journalism. She has been a food editor. Anupa writes across gastronomy, culture, health, environment and the people who make a city what it is, drawn to stories that reveal themselves in the details.
