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WORTH A HOBBY

On the main road leading from the Al Khan round-about to the BMW round-about in Sharjah next to a signboard that reads 'street 43' and standing out amidst all the automobile spare parts and rugged tyre shops, is a quaint showroom with airplanes in its window titled "Hobby City"

City Times popped in out of curiosity and encountered its proprietor Sulaiman Abdelrahman al Hajri — a UAE national who was gracious enough to grant us an audience even though he was closing shop for the day. "I got hooked onto this hobby when I was 12 years old" he told City Times. Since flying of model aircraft was not yet known in this region, my father brought me my first model aircraft from Europe. It was a small airplane, which I had to assemble myself. It was an exhilarating experience when the airplane first took off albeit it flew only for about 20 metres, which at the time seemed a great distance. I was really happy to fly something that I had assembled and this drove my passion.

He went on to inform us that he was an engineer by profession and worked with the government. “I have started this business a year ago and it's still a new concept for people to grasp — many of whom come to our showroom and ask some silly questions like ‘does this model fly?’ or ‘what if it flies more than 1 km?’ We do however, attempt to answer and clarify all questions however trivial and help them understand more about this hobby.”

On your query about the status of this hobby in the UAE, he says: “We are working hard with an overseas association to sponsor some of the local championships. There is one club for these hobbies in Dubai and our dream is to establish one in each emirate.”