Kids Ninavu Editors Merin, Serin, Vaishnavi, Gayatri, Gautham &  Aparna had an exclusive chat with the seniormost  Cetatians of UAE and former presidents  of Cetauae  Mr. Malik & Mr. Hareendralal  regarding the past , present and future….in CET, after CET and in UAE

Vaishnavi - When did you pass out from College Of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram (CET)?

Malik - I passed out my Bsc Engg. in 1966
Hareendralal - I passed out my Bsc. Engg. in 1968 and joined for Msc. Engg in 1969 and passed out in 1971.

Merin - Sir , which subject you are specialized for Master’s degree?

Hareendralal - Power System Engineering

Merin - CET was always a reputed college. My mum and Dad always said that it was difficult to get in. What was the trend when you all joined?

Malik - Those days there weren’t many people seeking admissions. Only those people who are interested will come to join colleges, especially professional colleges. Only options for professional courses were Engineering, Medicine & Agriculture. So it was not so difficult. There were no entrance tests. Admissions were based on pre-university marks.

Gautham _ When did you come to UAE?

Malik - In 1969 December .
Hareendralal - In 1993 I went to Saudiarabia and then in 1997 I reached UAE.

Gautham _Could you brief us your work experience before coming to UAE.?

Malik  - I was a Lecturer in a parallel college  before coming to Dubai. These colleges used to give small  training course  in technical subjects. In 1969 September I got married & 1969 December I came to Dubai.

Hareendralal - I finished my MSc Engg’in 1971 and joined Kerala State Electricity Board as Junior Engineer in 1972. I worked for KSEB for 21years and left that service to take up my job in Saudiarabia.Last position I held in KSEB was as an Executive Engineer .
When I was working as an Asst. Executive Engineer I initiated the first computer. I was also in the team of installation of first wind mill in Kerala. I left for Saudiarabia in 1993 and worked as an Elecrical consultant for an Architectural firm and in 1997 I came to Dubai.



















Merin - Could you tell us your first experience / first job in Dubai.

Malik - I’’ll explain that in detail. I reached Dubai in 1969 December. I travelled by ship from Bombay and not by aeroplane. . It took 4nights and 5 days to reach here.  During nights we used to sleep on the deck of the ship and daytime we stay inside the ship.
Those days British people were ruling here. There was no country called UAE. UAE was formed in 1972.All the emirates were called Trucial States. We need a visa to travel from Abudhabi to Dubai. But people used to travel between Dubai & Sharjah.

Those days Keralites were known by the name Malabaris’.  Most of the Keralites working here were domestic helpers, labours, Hotel and restaurant employees, small cafeteria owners etc. If they will go for any interview they will say,  we are ready to do any job. So wherever you’ll go for an interview they are of the assumption that we need not have to give  any job according to our qualification. I also faced same problem when I landed here.

Actually I came under the visa of a refreshment company called FISDROME like Pepsicola. When I was in the ship, the factory and all the equipments of that refreshment company was gutted down in a blaze of fire. They lost everything, their building , equipments, their money etc …My sponsor was in a panic situation and was in tears when I landed here. I was asked to look for other jobs. Those days if you have a visa you can work with anybody. It was not so strict like now.

First I got a job in a company called OTAC which is dealing with the drainage works in Dubai. Their office was in Galadari and I was posted for a job in a pumping station somewhere in the industrial area near Cola junction. Though I am an Electrical engineering graduate I am not considered as an Engineer , I was given the post of a technician. They  gave me  transport from the main office to the site in the backside of a pickup like a labour .I was posted under an Egyptian foreman. First day I was given a hammer and a Chisel and asked to break a concrete slab. I never did anything of this sort before. I thought they gave me this as a test.So I started,  If I will give 5 hits to chisel 2 will blow on my hand. Till lunch I couldn’t  do anything . Foreman was behind me. He was asking me “ you did only this much, You have to finish this today”. That evening both my hands were almost like it had burnt.Next day also I was asked to do the same job of breaking the slab. That  day I managed to break half of that. Third day I was of the hope that I may ask to do some other technical work. But to my surprise what I noticed was that one more person who was working me was shifted to another job and I was all alone to do that job. I am sure that if I‘ll continue, it will take one more week to finish that and may be both my hands will be of no use later. So I decided to leave that job without even claiming for the labour charges (salary) for the work I had done.
Then I started my job search again. Those days most of the offices are around the creek. So every day morning by keeping all the documents with me I started searching for my job from offices to offices. One day an Englishman called John Colligan interviewed me and asked me whether I can do mechanical drawings. I agreed and he offered me the job for Dhs.600/- month.
Those days everything was cheap. One packet of cigarette was only 50fils, one tin of Nido 7.5 Dhs. One crate of egg was only 3dhs. Etc., So my expenses will come around 200dhs.and I was able to save dhs.400/month. for my family. I was posted as the assistant of the Mechanical Engineer. From that day onwards I started working as a Mechanical Engineer  though my qualification was of Electrical engineering.


Merin- Then how you will send your cv’s ? As a Mechanical or Electrical Engineer??


Malik - Qualification I used to write as Electrical Engineering itself but my vast experiences are as of Mechanical Engineer. So I used to look for jobs related to Mechanical works. Frankly speaking I don’t know anything on Electrical now.






















(Hareendralal sir was busy with attending a phone call, so the questions were again asked to Malik sir)


Gayatri- Malik sir Could you please tell us the about the condition of Dubai then-  like buildings, roads, rents etc.

Malik - My first job was the airconditioning of Airport terminal building . After Airport when you will come to Karama till clock tower you could see no buildings, no traffic ,nothing. At  the clock tower junction , if you will look at the left side there was Maktoum bridge and the right side you will see only two buildings. That’s all.
I was living then in Karama. I took a 2 bedroom villa villa with a small yard. What I did I made another room for myself no one cared or bothered about me staying in this villa. I made another 3 bedroom room for myself 1 sitting room and 2 bedrooms. First time and all there were very few supermarkets and only one of them in Karama(Dubai,U.A.E.) where I can get my household things  and groceries.
























Gautham: So at that time UAE was very much under looked?

Malik: Yes UAE was very much under looked so at that sometimes we used to wait for drinking water.

Gautham: Then what prompted you to come here?

Malik : To come here at that time work was an attraction and for fast making of money.

Merin: now coming to the CETA. When was the CETA organization formed?

Malik: Actually 25 years back it was formed something from 25 to 30 years back.

Serin: Sir were you there from the starting sir?

Malik : Yeah.

Malik sir’s mobile rings and he goes to talk with that person who called. At that time-

Hareendralal: So now I will tell about my experience.Even though I was a senior CETAIN what prompted me to join this is the cherishment and my association with professional groups. I joined an international group more popularly known as ICT. And now I have a 26 year’s membership in that group, so that means people from many organizations like help form CETA. And my interactions between these may enroll my knowledge and if I apply this knowledge over here I get more ideas of the programmes things like that. I still am continuing to be a member of this ICT. From 2001 to 2009 when I left India still I continued to be a member of the ICT and during this period I have given many warrants etc.





















Merin: When did you come to Dubai?

Hareendralal: I left India on 1994 and went to Saudi Arabia till 1994 I didn’t want to come out of India but I came out for the purpose of making money so for 2 to 3 years I went to apply for a job and got a job in Saudi Arabia. I was called for the interview and got the job, but fortunately or unfortunately after 3 months the company got some loss and I was recruited from my job, but they gave me 1 month’s salary and said to go. One gentleman found for me another job here. And that’s how I came here. I went for the interview were for 15 minutes I waited and when I was called in for interviewing  I got the job immediately and I think it was because of my membership in ICT and afterwards he actually interviewed me for more than 2 hours. And luckily for me I did not have hardships like Malik sir.

Merin: Now CETA has so many families unlike before how many families were there for the Annual meeting etc…?

Malik : Before only 14 members were there in this CETA organization and most of them had families.

Vaishnavi: And at that time from where did you collect these members?

Malik: At that time we did not contribute from Abu Dhabi (Dubai,UAE). Behind this there are at least 10 people they are me, Sudarshan, Jayaprakash, Harikumar like those some people and we used to get together at S G Nair’s house. Already we are 8 families to find 6 more families it was not a problem.

Merin: Now CETA is very, very different because now we have around 100 to 200 families were there children then?

Malik : At that time children were very little for 14 families most of them were either small or very big we only conduct the annual meeting or we only make the games play in the games everything we used to do 

Aparna:Sir (Hareendralal), when did you come to UAE and when did you become the president of CETA?

Hareendralal:I came to Dubai in June 1997. Some of my friends told me about CETA get together. It was in the Metropolitan Hotel. For 2 to 3 years I used to attend the meetings of CETA. After that I became the committee member.  If I remember in 2000, when Vijaya Kumar and Malik were the organizers, I was the convener for the Dubai meeting. The next year I became the President. During my time we introduced bylaws for the CETA. Another important decision was to change the president and secretary every year so that more members will get opportunity to become the president and secretary.























Serin: You both were the presidents of CETA. So what was your experience at CETA President?

Malik : Actually we were not the presidents. We were one among one of the others. We never sit one side and got the things done from our other members. We went behind each one to see if everything was alright. The members who worked with us were very co-operative. We got very good response from them. For example, when I was the president, we decided to do something for charity. We collected Rs.200,000 for the purpose of sponsoring an engineering student. It was a good experience.
Hareendralal: In the last annual get together held in Abu Dhabi, there was a huge crowd. From 1997 to 2009 I have seen a tremendous growth in the CETA membership. The programs were fantastic. I was really proud to be CETA member. I can see CETA growing and I am very happy that it is in the hands of strong people.
Aparna: How were the programs before compared to the programs now?

Malik: When we used to organize the programs there was so much interactions among the members as the there were not much people. Member who knew singing used to sing, others who did not know singing also used to sing. There was enough time to meet different CETA families. There were not much children at that time and hence most of the programs were presented by the members only. Now the number of members including children and grandchildren has been increased and the programs are getting very attractive and competing. In our time we used to know every detail of the members including the passport number. Now it is very difficult to get to know each other.

Gayathri: Tell us about your family members

Malik:  I have three children, two boys and one girl. Elder son, programmer (IT) is in US, got married and has a daughter. Second son (studied Travel and Tourism) working with Knowledge Village he in UAE and is unmarried. Third daughter, who was working as a coordinator in a company before, has been married last year and is looking for job now.
Hareendralal: I have two sons. Elder son is a software engineer working in Trivandrum.  He has a son, who is 6 years old. Second son, in emirates services also married and now studying for Post Graduation. I am settled in Trivandrum.

Merin: How do you manage time to work for CETA?

Malik - Managing time is easy. 8 or 10 hours will be at work place and then we will find time for CETA meetings. We used to participate in all the meetings. At night we go home to eat food and the family did not have any complaints. So there is no problems.

Hareendralal: 1993 I married to my job. Family was in India. I was working with SEWA. I used to cook by myself. I was an active member in IEEE.  I am so particular about the timing. Here in UAE, especially Malayalis, never keep their timing. If there is a meeting at 7PM, they will arrive at 8.PM. Eg. Annual get together starts at 9.30AM. People come at 10-10.30AM. Meeting starts at 11.00AM.

Vaishnavi: You were the member of Toast Masters, IEEE, CETA, etc. Did you sacrifice anything to accommodate the various functions.
Hareendralal:I used to get up at 4.00AM and practice Yoga. Even now I practice Yoga every day. I could manage the timing very well.



























Gautham: Initiative for CETA Magazine?
Hareendralal: We proposed to start three or four years ago. Once Krishnakumar had asked me to send some articles. It is my fault that I did not send it. So, should I had pushed it at that time it would have been started. Now it has started in a very professional way. It has a good editor and it came out in very well. This will be a land mark for CETA.
Malik: We planned for magazine and diary much before. It did not work out. It is a good thing to have a diary with an album and members photographs. When we go back home, it will become a good source to remember our CETA members.  Fourth edition Kid’s edition will be a successful.

Vaishnavi:. What are your future plans?
Hareendralal: I have settled in Trivandrum. Now I am working in Trichur. After a couple of years I will go back to Trivandrum. It is my dream that I have to write some technical books. I cannot sit idle. Because of all these engagement I am keeping fit.
Malik: In 2002 I retired and went back to Trivandrum. I got sent off from Dubai and Abu Dhabi. I stayed one year in India. Then I came back. I could not live in India. I became sick without doing anything. I cannot sit idle. There is nothing to do, only eating and sleeping. As long as I have health, I wish to work. I do not want to depend on my children. In 67 years old. I want stand on my foot.























Gayathri: Who is your role model?
Malik: I do not have any role model. Before marriage I wish if I had a wife looking like Saroja devi.
Hareendralal: When I am in a dilemma I used to think of my father. In those situations, I see my father in my place and think, had it been my father, what he would have been done.

Aparna:Do you think the fourth edition of the magazine i.e the children special will work out?
Hareendralal-Not confident? Be confident, I am sure such smart children like you all will be able to carry it out well.
Malik-Obviously you all will be able to do it.Best wishes!

Vaishnavi-Do you have any messages for us youngsters?

Malik- One thing that I have to tell you kids is not to waste food.Once I showed my children how some poor kids fought to eat from the garbage. We need to be thankful to God for what he has gifted us and never waste it.
Another thing you all need to remember is to respect your elders.You will need their blessings.Remember they scold you for your good.

Hareendralal- Now there is a trend of discarding parents in their old age.You all shouldn't do that.We need to look after them.

They wished us good luck for our magazine venture and we wrapped up the interview session.





















It was a great experience for us editors to interact with two very learnt and experienced men.We thank Malik sir and Hareendralal sir for spending some moments with us.

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