Recently, I was honoured to be invited by the Indian ambassador to Qatar, Sanjiv Arora, to attend a ceremony to mark India’s 65th Republic Day.
A host of renowned Qatari and Indian figures attended the ceremony, which featured exceptional Indian traditional art by artists from Indian Cultural Centre who represented the diverse Indian culture.
In his speech, the Indian ambassador commended the strong relations between India and Qatar, which he described as “rooted” in the depth of history and tested by time. The ambassador was right, as relations between the two countries are really strong. He did not say but the truth when he spoke at length about the good relations and multifaceted bonds of cooperation between India and Qatar.
These bonds are growing within an excellent framework provided by historic relations and regular interactions at the highest levels.
Memories of the 1950s are still entrenched in the minds of Qataris who lived through that period, as India existed significantly in our society during that era in many ways, including Indian currency, the rupee and the anna, which people then used in their daily transactions.
Use of the Indian rupee here started in the second half of the 19th century. According to sources, this happened because the influence of the East India Company spread out from India, so it issued silver coins that continued as the currency of India through the British Raj and beyond.
The Indian rupee then started to impose itself on the communities of the Gulf countries due to the steady growth of trade between the Arab Gulf states and India over time.
The Indian market was the main vendor of pearls that were being fished from the deep sea of the Gulf region; it was the lifeblood of Qatar and the rest of the region. The Indian market was the only place that displayed various Indian commodities and goods that still represent a part of our heritage, like our clothes, spices and other important goods.
In my book, published by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage in the second half of the last decade, under the title Pearls of Gulf... The Memory of the 20th Century, I dwelt upon the aforementioned era that witnessed the flourishing of historical relations between Qatar and India, citing verbal and documentary accounts.
However, according to sources, smuggling of rupees out of India to the Gulf region for exchange with Pound Sterling caused huge loss to the Indian economy.
The sales of pearls in India were badly affected, so the Indian government agreed with the governments of the Gulf region to issue a special currency note to be used in the countries of the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula.
This currency was introduced in Qatar and countries of the region by the Indian government in 1959.
