'He never left me:' Pakistani man in Dubai devoted to care of blind Indian neighbor

Tomichan Puthuparambil Thomas, left, and Mohammed Asad talk to Arab News at their apartment in Karama, Dubai on Nov. 7, 2020. (AN photo by Asma Ali Zain)

• The unlikely pair presently share a cramped room with a bunk bed in Dubai’s Karama district
• ‘For sake of humanity,’ Muhammad Asad has been primary caregiver to Indian expat Thomas for 18 months

DUBAI: For a year and a half, a Pakistani man living in Dubai has been the primary, live-in caregiver to his former neighbor, an Indian expat who is visually impaired.
In a touching story of kindness that transcends politics, the two friends, Tomichan Puthuparambil Thomas, 63, from Kerala and Mohammed Asad, 36, from Azad Jammu and Kashmir, come from nuclear-armed, rival countries India and Pakistan, and presently share a tiny room with a bunk bed in Dubai’s busy Karama district.
When Thomas, an electrical engineer diploma holder, suddenly lost his vision in 2018 following two strokes, he was unable to leave Dubai and travel home because of unpaid business dues.
“I suffered two strokes and woke up one day to find that I couldn’t see at all,” Thomas told Arab News on Saturday.
It was then that Asad, a night-time crane operator who lived across from his apartment in Bur Dubai at the time, moved in to help him cope. He took the role of nurse seriously-- assisting Thomas on trips to the bathroom, feeding him and preparing his meals before leaving for work every evening.
“We have our differences and fights and I tell Asad to go away but he has never left me,” Thomas said.
In a week’s time, Thomas is finally flying home to Kerala to be with his family and to seek medical treatment with the support of the Indian expat community. Doctors have told him that with the right treatment, he could regain vision in one eye.
“It is the heart that should be big,” Asad said, sitting in their cramped Karama room with his knees almost touching the wall.
“Then there is space for everything else.” 
For 16 years, Asad who is originally from the city of Muzaffarabad, has been living and working in the UAE. Despite his small income, he said he has no problem contributing what he can to Thomas’ care.
“One should do as much as one can. Don’t see if the person is Indian or Pakistani or whoever. Just do it for the sake of humanity,” he said.
On Saturday, Indian Member of Parliament, Shashi Tharoor also tweeted about the pair and said, “Humanity transcends the man-made divisions, territory and politics.”
Volunteers Rayees Poyilunkhal and Saman Abdulkhadar, who have been helping Thomas, told Arab News that his travel issues had finally been sorted with the help of the Indian Consulate in Dubai and that the expat community had stepped forward to support his treatment once he reached home.
For Thomas, Asad will always remain his savior. 
“I will hang his photo in my house,” he said. 
“And the moment I get my sight back, his face will be the first thing I will look at.”