A statue of Mahatma Gandhi will be installed at an Indian centre in Abu Dhabi to teach young people about his message of peace and nonviolence.
The gold-hued, three-foot, 60-kilogramme statue will be unveiled at the Indian Social and Cultural Centre in the capital on Thursday evening to mark the 70th anniversary of Gandhi’s death.
“We wanted this to be a reminder to the new generation that there was a world leader with a message that people still remember. I feel people are forgetting him, so there is a need to take them back to his philosophy,” said VTV Damodaran, president of Gandhi Sahitya Vedi, a group that organises programmes for children in the UAE on Gandhi’s teachings.
He planned the exhibit and commissioned the work to an artist in his hometown in the southern Indian state of Kerala.
“For last five years, I have been dreaming about getting a statue of Gandhi to Abu Dhabi and it has finally materialised. We have a link to this country and it is only appropriate for the Mahatma’s statue to have a home in this country,” said Mr Damodaran.
Mohandas Gandhi, known as Mahatma Gandhi was revered as "Bapu" or Father of the nation for the leading role he played in the Indian freedom struggle from British colonial rule.
He was shot dead on his way to a prayer meeting in New Delhi on January 30, 1948. The day is marked as Martyr’s Day in India.
The statue is moulded in clay and finished with a fibre mixture. The original idea to create a bronze statue was scrapped due to the weight and cost of shipping it from India.
It was the first overseas assignment for sculptor Chithran Kunhimangalam, who has crafted several busts and life-size images of Gandhi that are on display across India.
"I watched many videos and looked at hundreds of photographs. I needed to study him before I began working on this project," said Kunhimangalam, who teaches drawing to high school children from Payyunur in Kerala.
“It took six months for me to make it but I took more than a year to prepare for it. I have done other characters before but Gandhi is so famous. I had to really study him so it could be as real as possible.”
One of Gandhi’s famous sayings, “My life is my message” will be inscribed at the base of the statue.
For the cultural centre, the statue forms a link between their home and the country Indians have worked in for decades.
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“In the Year of Zayed we thought we could celebrate two leaders and two fathers of our nations. Sheikh Zayed also talked about Gandhi, so this connection came to us when we thought about installing the statue in Abu Dhabi,” said Jayachandran Nair, acting president of the Indian centre.
“Mahatma Gandhi’s message of peace and how he handled fighting for freedom without any weapon is known to every human being. As a community in our foster land, we can celebrate the Year of Zayed and with the statue we hope the Mahatma’s spirit and message will influence people always.”
The statue will be unveiled in a ceremony that is open to all the India Social and Cultural Centre in Abu Dhabi at 7.30pm on Thursday.
The Bio
Favourite place in UAE: Al Rams pearling village
What one book should everyone read: Any book written before electricity was invented. When a writer willingly worked under candlelight, you know he/she had a real passion for their craft
Your favourite type of pearl: All of them. No pearl looks the same and each carries its own unique characteristics, like humans
Best time to swim in the sea: When there is enough light to see beneath the surface
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The Year Earth Changed
Directed by:Tom Beard
Narrated by: Sir David Attenborough
Stars: 4
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Red Sparrow
Dir: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Egerton, Charlotte Rampling, Jeremy Irons
Three stars
