The west might look at Dubai as an escape from the mundane, much like Las Vegas. On a recent trip to Germany I was amazed at the amount of advertising on TV and print for vacations and destinations in the tiny Gulf nation.

As an Indian, I have been aware of skilled laborers seeking a better future there. The movie Syriana had an entire sub plot of an Indian Pakistani father and son who were working at an oil refinery.

Sree over at SAJA had an interesting observation on his post.

From the moment we taxied into the gate (and the guy guiding us in was a desi), to the airline transfer desk officer to the duty-free clerks to the cleaners throughout the airport, we kept seeing desi after desi after desi. And, of course, lots of the travelers themselves were South Asian. Looked to me as if very few native Dubai-wallahs were actually doing much of the work, especially the menial work.

The NYT confirmed Sree’s observation in its article

Many rich countries, including the United States, rely on cheap foreign workers. But no country is as dependent as the United Arab Emirates, where foreigners make up about 85 percent of the population and 99 percent of the private work force. From bankers to barbers, there are 4.5 million foreigners here, compared with 800,000 Emirati citizens, according to the Ministry of Labor. About two-thirds of the foreigners are South Asians, including most of the 1.2 million construction workers.

Last week Aaina Malek, a 19 year old dancer / model from Karachi, Pakistan succumbed to a fire in her apartment. Normally a news article like this would pass under the radar, but the shocking relvalation was that she died because she could not get out of her apartment. She was locked up in the apartment, so she would not leave.

As the news of Aaina’s death broke, the authorities figured that a lot of dancers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal were living under similar conditions.

Even after a stern warning from the authorities, reports that their plight has not changed are surfacing.

An owner of a dance club in Bur Dubai said the girls are taken to a flat or a villa after they finish their performances at 3am. “Although, now senior staff members living with them have keys of flat, they are kept locked and not allowed to go out,” he said.

A post on travel in the NYT, when read with the above information in mind, creates an entirely different perspective on the things happening in Dubai.

Here is a video of one such dancer in Dubai found on youtube (I cannot confirm the authenticity of this).

Tragedy behind the glitz and glamor in Dubai. - Über Desi

Things have come a full circle. Gone are the days when Indians were enslaved by the British and other European powers. Today, Indians are at the forefront of the IT Revolution. Also, these days with the power of Al Gore’s creation at their fingertips, slavemasters can shop for slaves from the comfort of their living room. Isn’t it but natural that some Indians want to combine the two?

That is exactly what desi multimillionaire couple, Varsha and Mahender Sabhnani, are in trouble for.

Federal prosecutors have formally charged the Indian-American multimillionaire couple who are accused of enslaving and abusing two Indonesian women with forced labour and harbouring illegal immigrants.

Now I’m not much of a multi-millionaire or slave owner, so I cannot speak with much authority on the topic but common sense suggests that in this day and age if you own slaves, the least you should do is ensure they don’t draw too much attention to themselves.

The investigation began when one of the women wearing only pants and towel was found wandering near a fast food establishment and the employees called the police. She explained with help of an interpreter that she had been abused and said that there was another woman in the house. The police searched the house and found the other lady also.

Also in this age of political correctness and trade unions, if you’re a private limited slave owner do not treat your slaves like desi consultants treat H1B workers. Also, don’t make bigoted remarks against their religion.

The women, identified as Nona and Samirah, said they were expected to hide when someone came to the house. They were forced to work for long hours, made to sleep on mats in the kitchen and Sabhnani also allegedly made remarks derogatory to their religion — Islam.

And this is an open question for all slave masters - what’s with the punishments? What do you think your slaves are? Contestants in Fear Factor?

Among other things, both women were scalded with hot water, forced to climb stairs repeatedly, take several cold water showers and eat hot chilies as punishment.

Failure to follow above advice may result in jail time. Oh, and don’t skimp on money, desi-ishtyle, by firing your lawyer. From being enslaved to maintaining slaves, Indian people seem to have come a long way and neither one of those is in a positive sense.

Ending on a more serious note, human trafficking is illegal in the United State. Around a million people worldwide are trafficked across border - 80% of them are women and half of those are underage. Around 17,000 persons are smuggled into the US each year as part of this abominable trade.

Desi Couple charged with slavery - Über Desi