Indian families in Dubai are full of Diwali delight as they gear up to celebrate the joyous holiday in style.
Homes and balconies across the emirate are decked with strings of lights and flowers in honour of the five-day festival of lights, which starts on Monday.
Traditional food and rangoli — patterns on floors made from dry rice and flour — are being busily prepared for an occasion which has family and friendship at its heart.
Many Indian schools in Dubai will close on Monday and Tuesday to allow pupils and parents to make the most of the event.
A time to rejoice
Dr Anil Grover, a specialist in internal medicine at Prime Hospital in Dubai, said this year was special because loved ones could celebrate together, with restrictions imposed due to Covid-19 now greatly reduced.
“We have get-togethers planned for Diwali and my brother was able to come down from the US to celebrate with us,” said Dr Grover.
“Celebrations started early for us on Thursday. We will make rangoli at home and my mother is here from India and has made sweets like pinni for us.”
Pinni is an Indian dessert made from desi ghee, wheat flour, jaggery and almonds.
“The last couple of years there were hardly any celebrations and no gatherings. We just had prayers at home and decorated our homes with lights, but now masks have been removed and we can meet and celebrate,” he said.
Dr Grover and his wife, Dr Pragati Grover, will work during the day on Monday and wear traditional clothes, have a prayer ceremony at home and then celebrate with friends in the evening.
'Just like being in India'
Dr Pragati Grover, an obstetrics and gynaecology specialist at Prime Medical Centre, said she enjoyed driving around the city to see the homes decorated with strings of lights.
“It feels just like being in India,” she said.
“The last two years the celebrations were muted due to Covid.
“I think Diwali in Dubai is just like what we used to celebrate in India or even better than that.”
Natasha Vaswani, an Indian resident in Dubai and owner of Divas Boutique in Meena Bazaar, said the area was decorated for the festivities.
“It's all glitz, glitter and sparkles everywhere,” said Ms Vaswani.
On Monday, the family will dress in traditional Indian clothes and have a prayer ceremony at their workplace.
In the evening, up to 15 members of their family will dress in their finest Indian clothes and celebrate by going out for dinner.
“My five-year-old son looks forward to going around distributing sweets within the building to all his friends on Diwali,” she said.
Praveen Shetty, chairman of the Fortune Group of Hotels, said: “This year, we will be missing our children, as they are away for higher education but then it's a festival that calls for celebrations. We have lit our home with beautiful lights and rangoli done by my wife.
“On Monday, we will start the day with the traditional puja (prayers) and then catch up with family.
“Celebrations are incomplete without bonding with near and dear ones over a hearty meal so we are looking forward to a great time with friends and our neighbours.
“I make it a point to visit all our hotels and exchange greetings. All our hotels are lit up for the occasion. We do puja with our team members and share a special festive meal.”
Snehal Gagwani, an Indian resident working in the travel industry in Dubai, said she had made a special effort to decorate her home this year because it was her son Vir's first Diwali.
The mother decorated her apartment with garlands of marigold flowers and put diyas and lights up.
“My balcony is lit with fairy lights. Also, we have an area in the living room where we will be doing the puja for the Goddess Lakshmi.
“We will be having a Lakshmi puja on Monday and that's done during sunset because it's believed that the goddess enters your house during sunset.”
She said that on Monday the family would start the day with prayers and then host family members at their home.
On Saturday, they also bought some gold to celebrate the first day of Diwali.
Diwali set to dazzle — in pictures
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Fines for littering
In Dubai:
Dh200 for littering or spitting in the Dubai Metro
Dh500 for throwing cigarette butts or chewing gum on the floor, or littering from a vehicle.
Dh1,000 for littering on a beach, spitting in public places, throwing a cigarette butt from a vehicle
In Sharjah and other emirates
Dh500 for littering - including cigarette butts and chewing gum - in public places and beaches in Sharjah
Dh2,000 for littering in Sharjah deserts
Dh500 for littering from a vehicle in Ras Al Khaimah
Dh1,000 for littering from a car in Abu Dhabi
Dh1,000 to Dh100,000 for dumping waste in residential or public areas in Al Ain
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
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Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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Sri Lanka-India Test series schedule
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Read more from Mina Al-Oraibi
Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
