In picture : Rubina with her father
“From a very young age, I was always encouraged to take up sports, dancing, singing and other hobbies. And so when I took an interest in tennis, I started playing intense sets. If you watch Tennis, you know it's mandatory for girls to wear skorts (tennis skirts) to games. My mother was really uncomfortable with the idea but my father said I must play in a skirt if that’s what the rule of the game was.
I’ve been brought up very differently than you’d expect a girl in a typical conservative Muslim household to be brought up. My father, being the patriarch of the household, never held us back or stopped us from doing anything - by that I mean, absolutely anything. On the contrary, he gave us freedom in ways I saw others didn’t have.
This one time, he was teaching me how to drive and I totally rammed the car into the gas station! He had a good laugh and then told me “ It’s alright, you’re learning. You’re going to make mistakes.”
In picture : Rubina on a fun day out
I’ve taken that philosophy forward into life. I’m opinionated, unapologetic, bold and daring! I do what I feel like and I don’t shy away from mistakes - they are our greatest learning opportunities!
In picture : Rubina and Aydin
Today as a mother, I’m trying to pass on the same learnings to my son, Aydin. Living in Abu Dhabi, a melting pot of cultures, allows me to expose Aydin to new experiences everyday. In the years to come, I will make sure that his education too goes beyond schools and textbooks and that he gets a very wide exposure in life.
In picture : Rubin, her husband and Aydin
Preparing my son to face the real world would be my priority as a mom and I hope I do atleast half as good a job as my father did for me."
~ Rubina (Fighter, Mother, Influencer)
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