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TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK
DOHA
DOHA-based Indian expatriate Karandoth Moosa Haji (83), who is reported to be one of the earliest Indians to have set foot on the Qatari soil, died in his home state Kerala on Friday. Haji had been living in Qatar for more than 50 years, sources said.
Haji was under treatment for old age diseases. He is survived by sons Nasar and Ismail, who stay in Doha, and three daughters, who live in Kerala.
Haji, when he was alive, often shared his adventurous journey to Qatar without a passport, which appeared very much like a Hollywood tale, with community members. He arrived in Qatar when the country was still under British rule.
According to him, he left home at the age of 18
and it took him 20 months to reach Qatar from Villiappally, a hamlet on the outskirts of Kozhikode in Kerala,
as there were no flights to the region.
He braved the desert heat, lost some friends during the desert trek and evaded arrest by Iranian forces to reach the shores of now gas-rich kingdom. He came to Qatar by a dhow.
Haji’s first job was that of an assistant manager and a cook at a restaurant called Zama, which was close to the present-day Doha Petrol Station and his first salary was Rs150.
The currency in circulation then was the Indian rupee and the British pound.
He applied for a passport for the first time at the Indian consular centre in Muscat, Oman and got it in 1963.
DOHA
DOHA-based Indian expatriate Karandoth Moosa Haji (83), who is reported to be one of the earliest Indians to have set foot on the Qatari soil, died in his home state Kerala on Friday. Haji had been living in Qatar for more than 50 years, sources said.
Haji was under treatment for old age diseases. He is survived by sons Nasar and Ismail, who stay in Doha, and three daughters, who live in Kerala.
Haji, when he was alive, often shared his adventurous journey to Qatar without a passport, which appeared very much like a Hollywood tale, with community members. He arrived in Qatar when the country was still under British rule.
According to him, he left home at the age of 18
and it took him 20 months to reach Qatar from Villiappally, a hamlet on the outskirts of Kozhikode in Kerala,
as there were no flights to the region.
He braved the desert heat, lost some friends during the desert trek and evaded arrest by Iranian forces to reach the shores of now gas-rich kingdom. He came to Qatar by a dhow.
Haji’s first job was that of an assistant manager and a cook at a restaurant called Zama, which was close to the present-day Doha Petrol Station and his first salary was Rs150.
The currency in circulation then was the Indian rupee and the British pound.
He applied for a passport for the first time at the Indian consular centre in Muscat, Oman and got it in 1963.
