The Indian Social Club

The aim of the exhibition was to showcase the continuing strong cultural linkages between India and Oman, furthered by strong people to people contact. The exhibition displayed the works of Essa al Mifragi, Mohammed al Balushi, Naila al Mamari, Kholood al Shaepi, Nadia al Balushi, and Radhika Hamlai from Oman and Tarini Agarwal, Sushmita Gupta, Debjani Bharadwaj, Kanak Mitra and Komal Talati, among others. Omani photographer Abdulaziz bin Shihab al Shukaili is one of the many Omani and Indian photographers who remain inspired by landscapes, people and places and aims to capture them in new and interesting ways. Abdulaziz has captured various traditional Omani and Indian festivities along with people living their everyday lives. As he says, “I capture the photographs about people because I empathise with them and feel the need to capture their emotions in the moment to save forever”. Many photographers have gone on to become very popular on social media as well. Indian artists have been experimenting with various media and making use of different resident artist programmes to find self-expression. Private galleries like Bait Zubair’s Sarah Gallery, Stall Gallery, Bait Muzna Gallery and Ghalya Museum of Modern Art have all offered platforms for the display of artistic work. This has also found commercial recognition with various public spaces like those of hotels giving opportunities for established and emerging artists to share their work. The Oman International Art Fair, the Affordable Art Fair and other such increasingly popular events also provide opportunities for the sale of artwork. Other forms of art such as calligraphy, jewellery design and quiltmaking are equally popular among Indians in Oman. The Muscat Quilt Guild, for example, is a diverse group of enthusiasts who use the Omani tradition of needlecraft and learn to create various objects using a mix of quilting, patchwork and sewing. Some of the Indian members of this group like Naina Purecha and Hina Dharamsey have been inspired by Omani colours and landscapes, which they have recreated through their quiltwork.

The Indian Social Club

The roots of the present Indian Social Club (ISC) go back to 1950, when the Indian Association was established. After 1977, as the number of Indians in the community increased, the association took a more active interest in bringing members together as the need to have a better representation of the cultural and social interests of the community was expressed. In 1994, the government of Oman registered all the expatriate clubs under the Ministry of Social Development and renamed the organization as the Indian Social Club. There are 29 linguistic wings under the ISC. The ISC and its various regional, linguistic and sports wings actively promote

Indian culture in Oman, celebrating National Days, festivals and various occasions of each state26. Presently chaired by Satish Nambiar, the club is divided into various linguistic wings, in keeping with the diversity of India. One of the most active wings is the Kerala wing and their annual festival ‘Keralastovam’ has now been re-named ‘Indian Community Festival’, to reflect the Pan-Indian nature of ‘the largest festival in Oman outside the Muscat festival’. The ISC has organized concerts with such stalwarts as Ustad Willayat Khan, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasiya, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, late Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Zakir Hussain, the Kathak exponent Pandit Birju Maharaj and late Bismillah Khan. The club has hosted luminaries from Bollywood on various occasions, like Lata Mangeshkar, Madhuri Dixit and Adnan Sami. Social awareness events like the STOP SAD (Smoking, Alcohol and Drugs) that featured the magician Gopinath Muthukad as well as a troupe of specially abled dancers on wheelchairs are some of the well-attended and popular events of the club. The ISC also helped to organize Prime Minister Modi’s visit in February 2018.

June 21 has been declared the International Day of Yoga by the United Nations, and to mark the occasion, the Indian Social Club hosts an event every year in association with the Indian Embassy. It also organizes a book festival with more than 100 books in 12 languags being exhibited and reputed speakers invited to this event. During the COVID-19 lockdown, specialists, through the embassy as well as in the community, were offering online yoga classes. Indian food festivals, Festival of India, Calligraphy Exhibition, poetry readings and mushairas, painting exhibitions for social causes and book launches are a permanent feature of the social and cultural calendar of the Indian community in Oman. Festivals of Holi and Dusshera are also celebrated at public venues with the cooperation and logistical support of local bodies. It has recently added a Poetry and Literary Group “to engage, inspire, motivate and encourage literary activities”. ‘Rangrez’ a platform for artists to interact and exhibit their work has been a recent addition to the ISC.

Some of the landmark events of the Indian Social Club in the last few years include:

The ‘Oman-India short film festival’ held in 2018 as part of a yearlong celebration of 70 years of India’s Independence. The Embassy of India,

26 Information on the ISC has been provided by the clubs, with inputs from ISC chapters in Sohar and Salalah. For more details on the everyday life of Indians in Oman, see

Mehta, S R, & Onley, J (2015). ‘The Hindu community in Muscat: Creating homes in the diaspora’. pp. 156-183.