Some people touch lives; others influence and shape generations. Maghanmal J. Pancholia, the Dubai-based Indian entrepreneur, not only cut new inroads in business but also established the foundations for the Indian expatriate community in Dubai, as we see them today.

Eighty-four years is a landmark in the life of any individual. During that rewarding span, the man, according to Indian tradition, would have witnessed a thousand full moons.
Now, 85, Maghanmal J. Pancholia, the Dubai-based Indian entrepreneur, has seen his share of full moons, alright. Bur more importantly, he has brought sunshine to the lives of countless people – not just Indians. He has also been instrumental in shaping the Indian expatriate community as we see the one million plus people now, serving as their voice to the Dubai Ruling Family and also obtaining for them the pillars of modern society – a full-fledged school, to start with.
Fondly called as Maghaba, the mark of this man is that he is the most unobtrusive individual you could find in a room, even when everyone there has joined to celebrate the launch of his memoir. Like a gentle wind, his persona pervades the room but doesn’t ruffle you. He is effortless, at ease with himself, doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone anymore and from that self-confidence comes across as grace personified.
Age has perhaps slowed his footsteps a bit but there are facets of the man that will never change, as his friends will vouch for. One is his elaborate preparation for any public address. For one, who must have addressed a thousand stages, interacted with luminaries ranging from rulers to prime ministers, you would expect the man to step up on stage and extemporize. Not Maghaba. He prepares his speeches much in advance and makes sure that the basics of a good speech are followed – “Tell them what you are going to tell them; tell them; and then tell them what you told them.”
That is but one of the many facets of the man, who is renowned for a sharp memory that cuts through decades, as is illustrated in his memoir, narrated to Vasanti Sundaram (see box story). ‘Footprints: Memoirs of an Indian Patriarch’ is not about Maghaba but about the world as Maghaba sees it. It is also about what people feel about the grand old man of the Indian expatriate community but the take-home quotient of this book, as with any interaction with Maghaba, is how much one man can accomplish if the priorities in life are never compromised.
The story of Maghaba, like most successful Indian entrepreneurs in the Gulf, goes back in time to the days of “no power, running water and roads,” – as they refer to the Dubai of the early 1900s.
Like most of his peers, Maghaba too was following a family tradition when he sailed in to Sharjah to join his father, but unlike several others, expatriation was not Maghaba’s first choice. He wanted to study and had enrolled at a Karachi college, shelling out a princely Rs500 before he was forced to flee the city, as the waves of nationalism and British protest reached a crescendo.
“The city of Karachi was littered with military personnel and I too got caught in a lathi charge while trying to escape from a protest march,” recalls Maghaba.
That was the turning point in the life of Maghaba, who knew he had to take the road much traveled by his ancestors and family members.
He might have taken the beaten track but the trail he blazed in his new home today stands as a beacon for any success-aspirant.
To emulate that, one must know where Maghaba comes from because he proves with his life that one can grow, flourish and branch out, but there is no ignoring one’s roots.
And as luck would have it, Maghaba’s roots are not even in the country of which he is a passport holder.
“There is nothing that makes me more proud than calling myself an Indian, a Sindhi and a Thattai Bhatia.” That is how Maghaba starts his memoir. But Thatta, where he started his life journey, is in modern-day Pakistan. His family had to flee Thatta during Partition but memories of the place – like all aspects of his life – are etched evergreen in Maghaba.
He can paint a rosy picture of his childhood, about herding cows, playing pranks, making his mother bake fresh bread, all in quick succession. He doesn’t want to return to the Thatta of today because “I believe it is good to allow certain memories to remain as memories. I would rather remember Thatta as it used to be when it was my home.”
And for those who want to learn more about Thatta, the traditional way of living, the customs and practices, the way women went about their chores waiting for husbands living in the Gulf, ‘Footprints’ is perhaps the most powerful referral points available today.
It is not only an evergreen recollection of Maghaba’s memories, it is a strong sketch on the community and how it has branched out to various parts of the world, taking in the pangs of Partition with stoic grace, and rebuilding the community from scratch. 
Maghaba, the frail young boy from Thatta, who eventually witnessed his family relocating in Mumbai, has gone a long way from delivering husk as fodder for cows and returning with milk supplies.
It is a remarkable journey, one that also takes followers through the evolution of a powerful economy – that of Dubai.
In 1942, when he first came to Sharjah, he started off assisting his father and was in charge of a mobile canteen at the Royal Air Force base. Like others of his community, he too did everything – “cooking, cleaning, washing our clothes and fetching water on donkeys and camels.”
Along with the city, under the leadership of the late Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, regarded as the Father of Dubai, Maghaba too charted new growth frontiers in business. From textiles to retail to money exchange, his Arabian Trading Agency became an integral part of the Indian community. About this march to success, he recalls: “We have come a long way from being traders in money exchange, foodstuff and textiles. Diversifying into electronic goods and watches was a good move that worked to our advantage. The fact that we were founder shareholders of certain local banks also helped us to gain credibility with our international business associates.”
He believes that he could have been less conservative in taking risks and implementing bold business strategies.
But the Indian expatriate community, perhaps, must thank him for that. The image of an ultra-shrewd Maghaba hardly befits the loving patriarch that Indians in Dubai know. The very fact that he did not invest his 100 per cent energy, purely for business and personal profit, makes the life of Maghaba worth emulating and revisiting.
“Even as we incorporated the elements of modern working styles into our family business, we made sure that our core values remained intact,” says Maghaba. “That is the reason why the Arabian Trade Agency has grown as a credible launch pad for a variety of businesses that we are aligned with today.”
Alongside that measured, value-based growth, Maghaba did what few others had the vision or inclination to do – he ‘gave back’ to the society.
This was at a time when corporate social responsibility was not part of the business lingo. This was a time when charity events did not make it to the Movers & Shakers columns of dailies. The reward for good work was just that – nothing more.
Perhaps the most commendable and valued contribution of Maghaba to the Indian community is his commitment in establishing The Indian High School, an alma mater for thousands of young Indians, who now occupy places of pride across the world.
Maghaba was instrumental in obtaining free land from the Dubai Government for the school – land that was offered to him thrice earlier but couldn’t be put to use because the required funds for setting up a school could not be raised.
When the land was provided the fourth time, Maghaba gave an assurance to Sheikh Rashid – whom Maghaba considers his role model even today – that he will personally bear the burden to build a school.
That he didn’t have to do so marks the sense of solidarity that continues to prevail in the Indian community today. Those who chipped in funds form the Board of Trustees of the school, which today is one of the foremost educational institutions in Dubai.
“I cannot quantify my gratitude to Sheikh Rashid for having granted me that large expanse of land,” observes Maghaba. “Back then, I could never have dreamed that the school would scale significant milestones and set new benchmarks in education. Obviously, Sheikh Rashid had proved one more time that he was a man of incredible far-sightedness.”
Maghaba’s contribution, however, extends beyond the Indian community. He has served on the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry; was the only Indian on the board of Al Maktoum Hospital; played an instrumental role in the establishment of the Dubai Electric Company – by being the first of five people to chip in Rs10,000 each to buy a generator and form the Indo Arab Electricity Company; and has been closely associated with several banks including the National Bank of Dubai, Oman Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates International Bank and IndusInd Bank.
He also played a leadership role in setting up the Indian Association and the India Club, both referral points of the Indian community in Dubai.
In hindsight, it is easy for us all to brush past all of these achievements under ‘one paragraph’ but imagine the heart-break, the agonies, the sheer stress the man might have endured to accomplish one and all of his commitments.
About all his achievements, Maghaba is quick to thank the ruling family and concerned UAE citizens for their support. It makes one wonder how many of the young Indian entrepreneurs can cut through the distance been ‘expatriate’ and ‘ruling family’ and build lasting bonds. How many of them, some 20 years from now, can stand up, look into the face of the community and say they tried to build the community?
That is precisely why Maghaba’s life makes meaningful read even today.
Yes, here is a man, who hasn’t warmed up even to a cell phone and continues to make small chits about everyone he meets and everything that impresses him; here is a man, who goes on morning walks to collect flowers for worship; here is a man who socializes but prefers to eat at home; here is a man who would opt to listen to the radio than watch the television and upset his wife; here is a man, whose son says watching “my father maintain his composure even under the most stressful situation has been a learning experience;” here is a man who had the resolve to just pack the bags and travel the world for four months… here is Maghaba.