Ramadan is supposedly the month of abstinence – a month of self-discipline through self-denial. And by those very standards, a month of pure trial for desis.
Of course, Muslims all over the world are facing the true test at this time: 12 or more hours of no food and water in the scorching summer heat. But for desis, there is the added dimension of all the seasonal goodies that we must deny ourselves until sundown.
You see, summer for us is that time of year when our favourite fruits are in season: mangoes, falsay and jamun (berries). Sinfully succulent and sadly seasonal, they are in their prime for just a few weeks and this year, those few weeks overlap with Ramadan.
Our love for mangoes is no secret. We devour the golden beauties as a main course with dal chawal (lentils and rice), or for dessert, with or without vanilla ice cream. Dassehri, Langra, Sindhri and chaunsa may all look the same to an outsider, but desis know that while one is best for slicing and eating on its own, another is good for squeezing gently while whole and then popping a hole on top to suck out the juicy pulp. Sure, you can get imported mangoes all year round, but we want nothing to do with those puny green specimens.
Recently, I woke up from my post-suhoor nap with an immense craving for falsay: tart black-purple berries that are sour and sweet. Excellent on their own, they are sprinkled with a bit of masala or juiced with sugar.
The botanical name for this fruit is Grewia Asiatica, and while it is called everything from a cranberry to a blackberry, it really is neither. Though falsay grows in many countries from Pakistan to Cambodia, it seems that Pakistanis are the only ones who have taken a solid liking to it. You won’t find them at your local Spinneys or Al Maya Lal’s. You will need to go to a speciality Pakistani store. These little shops in hidden corners of areas with a high density of Pakistanis are a lifesaver for homesick people like me. So, when I have a falsay craving, I make a beeline for my closest Pakistani store.
The falsay were all gone. The shopkeeper laughed at me when I asked for some and told me they sell out within minutes of arriving at the store and that the next shipment is due in a couple of days. I did come away with a packet of Chooran Chatni sweets – locally made and hugely popular hard sweets in the flavours of chooran, a desi digestive aid made of an arbitrary combination of lime juice, cumin, black salt, sugar, dried mango powder, ginger, ground pomegranate seeds, pepper and chatni (mango and tamarind chutneys). I also bagged a kilo of chaunsa mango and the last 250 grams of jamun – another seasonal fruit, also called jambul or black plum.
Now I’m calling the stop every day to check on that shipment of falsay. If you, too, want a taste of falsay or other Pakistani goodies, stop by a speciality store. The one I went to the Pakistan Supermarket, located in Karama, opposite BurJuman Shopping Centre (04 370 9005), but there are plenty of other little ones spread out in various areas of Bur Dubai and Ghusais, in Dubai, and in various places in Sharjah.
The writer is an honest-to-goodness desi living in Dubai
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The Bio
Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
Favourite place to relax in UAE: the desert around Al Mleiha in Sharjah or the eastern mangroves in Abu Dhabi
The one book everyone should read: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It will make your mind fly
Favourite documentary: Chasing Coral by Jeff Orlowski. It's a good reality check about one of the most valued ecosystems for humanity
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Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
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Haemoglobin disorders explained
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills