How did a British decision prevent Dubai from becoming part of India?

Arabian Sea - Exclusive

Sam Dalrymple - Author In the winter of 1956, David Holden, a correspondent for the British newspaper The Times, arrived in Bahrain, which was then still under British protection. After a brief stint teaching geography, Holden was excited to be assigned to a mission in the Arabian Peninsula, but he did not expect to find himself among the flowers at an official ceremony marking the coronation of Queen Victoria as Empress of India - a ritual dating back decades to the days of colonialism. Everywhere he visited in the Gulf, from Dubai to Abu Dhabi and even Oman, he discovered remnants of the British-Indian presence. Holden wrote: "British influence is still present here, but it is lighter than it used to be - it is never invisible, but it is tangible in every detail." He added that "the atmosphere is full of temporal contradictions; servants are still addressed by Indian titles, the laundryman is called 'dhobi', the guard is called 'chowkidar', and even Sundays are not without an old British-Indian ritual, as guests are served a huge curry dish as a tradition inherited from the days of the Empire."