From Tents To Tallest Building: UAE's "Remarkable" 50-Year Rise
NDTV
Dubai, a former pearling town and now a brash trade and financial centre, boasts a forest of skyscrapers including the world's tallest building, the 830-metre (2,723 feet) Burj Khalifa.
Ehab Fouad was a teenager when he marched in the parade marking the birth of the United Arab Emirates, that has gone from desert outpost to regional powerhouse in 50 years.
The retired civil engineer, now 64, vividly recalls December 2, 1971, when he proudly held aloft the photo of the oil-rich Gulf state's founding father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, and saw its new flag for the first time.
Fouad, who strode directly behind the flag-bearer, tears up when he remembers the Abu Dhabi parade and reflects on the decades that followed.
"Fifty years later, I feel special," said the Egyptian father of one.
