Home away from home: South Asian vendors in an ancient Omani souq

Muttrah, Oman – The palm-lined beaches and backwaters of India’s state of Kerala bear little resemblance to the Omani mountain-ridged harbour coast where the Sultanate of Oman's oldest market is located.

But Furqan Abdul Razzaq, also known as “Lover Boy Addu” – who adopted the nickname as the curator of multiple Whatsapp groups centred around language learning – knows how to deal with tourists in both areas.

The 38-year-old works as a vendor at Muttrah Souq, the labyrinth bazaar just outside the Omani capital Muscat, nestled near a busy port that brings in tourists from cruise ships.

Razzaq was inspired to move to the Gulf country after he met many Omanis while working as a translator for Arab tourists in Kerala, who spoke neither Kerala’s language of Malayam, nor English.

Razzaq majored in Arabic while at university in Kerala, fascinated by the Arab world and culture.

“I chose to come here,” the sprightly salesman told Al Jazeera, describing Omanis as the “best” people.

Razzaq arrived in Oman on a visitor’s visa and once he found work at the souq, his boss, an Indian investor who owns several stores in the market, sponsored him.

Nearly three years later, he is the most knowledgeable vendor, his colleagues say, smooth-talking his way with prospective buyers of the shops’ many trinkets and baubles.

“I'm qualified, you know,” Razzaq explained with an air of confidence. “I can speak Arabic, I know how to deal with people, how to service them, how to respect them.”

Razzaq is just one of the dozens of South Asian vendors at the ancient marketplace in what was historically Oman’s main commercial centre, strategically located near the port that was a pitstop for ships from Europe heading to India and China.

Today, Muttrah is largely a residential and fishing area. And while tourists do flock to its bustling souq, it is very much a market for locals who shop for everything from gold to fabrics, to everyday household items.

While Razzaq moved to the country relatively recently, other shopkeepers have been there for years, some even decades. In fact, South Asians are Oman's largest expatriate population, who can trace their presence there for at least the last century.

Sixty-year-old Patel Abdullah Mohamad moved to Oman in 1987 from India’s Gujarat state, when he was just 25.

Since then, Mohamad has been working as a tailor in a fluorescent-lit shop, selling custom-made Baluchi outfits. The Baloch are an ethnic group found in Oman as well as Iran and Pakistan.

“It’s nice, it’s beautiful,” the mild-mannered Mohamad told Al Jazeera, taking a respite from his sewing machine, which he uses to stitch together the ensemble of embroidered tunics, trousers and scarves.

A tailor back in India as well, Mohamad arrived in Oman after relatives sponsored him to come for work. Over the years, he managed to learn Arabic and Baluchi while speaking to customers, in addition to his native Hindi, but he still struggles with English, he said.

Muhammad Afaq, 56, is another old-timer at the souq, a Pakistani in Oman for the last 35 years after his older brother sponsored him to come. Unlike Mohamad, however, his wife and kids are also in the country with him, his children growing up as Omanis.

“We are both,” Afaq told Al Jazeera when asked if he and his family identify more as Pakistani or Omani.

The Lahore native has been selling gold in Omani designs for decades and describes life in the country as “peaceful”.

Still, he holds his heritage close.

“Oman is a great country but homeland is homeland,” Afaq pressed.

Balayat Hossein, 65, feels the same about his native Bangladesh. In Oman for the last 33 years, unlike Afaq, Hossein said he will eventually return home once he retires.

He sends remittances back to his family, who live in the Bangladeshi city of Feni, from the profits he makes by selling the traditional Omani cap called the kumma.

Working in the souq has sustained his family’s livelihood, he said, adding that Omanis are “very good people”.

But with his family back in Bangladesh, for Hossein, Oman has been a critical economic opportunity, but not a permanent home.

“I will go back to Bangladesh one day,” he told Al Jazeera.

While many of the vendors at the souq do not own the shops they sell in, 39-year-old Sajid Shazad feels fortunate he was eventually able to buy the textiles shop he was working in for years.

He arrived in Oman in 2007, from Pakistani-administered Kashmir, but bought his shop just less than two years ago.

Working in the souq for 15 years gave him the business acumen of knowing what sells when, but there are still periods of struggle, he said.

“Businesses always have ups and downs but you have to take the risk,” Shazad told Al Jazeera, adding that he hopes more Pakistanis adopt an entrepreneurial spirit like him.

“When a man becomes greater, it definitely feels good,” he said, pondering on his success as a small businessman.