As a child when ever I heard about Gulf Countries, the picture that came to my mind was that of camels, deserts, oil fields, money, men in white long dress / rob and ladies wearing burkha, totally covered. I had never dreamt of coming to Gulf. I got the opportunity to come to Kuwait when my husband decided to join KOC-Kuwait Oil Company, a premier oil company of the world. As I landed in Kuwait International Airport and drove to my new house, the thing that struck me first was the greenery all around, as I had imagined desert.

The people of Kuwait are widely referred to as peace loving and generous. Although diverse in their make-up, Kuwaitis are united as one entity. Their activities revolve around family life, which is the building block and centrepiece of Kuwaiti society. People who visit Kuwait for the first time leave the country with more or less the same impression about the Kuwaiti people, that they are a generous, hospitable, and sincere loving people who expect nothing in return for such actions. This behaviour is a reflection of the third pillar of Islam known as zakat or almsgiving where Muslims are expected to give a certain percentage of their earnings to the poor and needy. Reaching out to help those in need is therefore considered to be a personal obligation and not entirely the government's job. The Kuwaitis are very respectful towards women and they mostly stop their car to allow a lady to cross the road. I have myself experienced it many times. Most people all over the world have the impression that Kuwait is a dangerous and insecure place. This is very far from truth. It has a very low crime rate and is perfectly safe to go out even late at night.

We had planned to stay in Kuwait for five years, earn some savings and return back to our motherland. How the five years changed to twelve years we didn’t realize. The calm peaceful and relax stay with all updated facilities and a good secure job make life very easy in Kuwait. This is not my case; it’s the same case with most of the expats.

Kuwait has become a second home to lot of expats. Expats who planned to stay for five –six years in Kuwait and return to India, is living here for years. What make Kuwait so special? I talked to few of my friends who is living here for many years. Chanchal from Bihar who is here for the last 33 years, never missed India as its near and whenever situation demanded can easily visit their near and dear ones. Also she feels everything is easily available in Kuwait, its clean, safe, secure with good medical and educational facilities. According to Hemlata who hails from Delhi, and living here for the last 30 years, both her kids did their schooling here and now married and well settled. She is all praise for Kuwait, there is nothing she feels not happy about this peace loving secure country. Mirna from Madras who is here for last 24 years passed her 11th and 12th from Kuwait, married and came back with her husband, kids born here and happily living here. She finds lot of similarity with India, travelling with her kids to India much easy then from USA or Canada, very happy with the education system , feels secure and safe for kids and women, and most importantly she feels best thing about Kuwait is that it’s a law-abiding country . Similarly Neeta from Rajasthan who is here for last 19 years is all praise for Kuwait. The relax hassle free life with a good job and good education system; she is all praise for Kuwait.

So why would not expats love a country like Kuwait ?