They sing old Hindi songs for passengers on request. They peddle at maximum speed when children demand it. They have little baskets to store hot sweet tea and samosas. They are bright yellow in colour.

Cheering up the entrance gates of Global Village, they catch everyone's attention with their yellow four-seater vehicles and bells that beckon.

They are a group of cycle cabs with drivers from Rajasthan and Delhi, in India.

Immortalised in the book and movie City of Joy, cycle cabs are a form of transport that you would often come across in parts of India.

But these young men are not cycle cabbies in the traditional sense, they are entrepreneurs who have taken the opportunity to work at the Global Village and spend time in Dubai. And they own pottery units back home.

But why cycle cabs?
"Why not?" asked Kehar S. from Delhi. "My uncle is a vendor at the Indian pavilion and helped us acquire this job a few years ago," he said.

Hailing from a close knit community helps, as the responsibility of businesses back home can be assigned to relatives, if for a few months.

Productive

He said: "Work at home is slow, especially at this time of the year, so we thought we could be more productive here."

Productive, and how! What started with two cycle cab drivers in 1999, in Global Village, has today grown to 50 in number.

"It's not surprising, because we really do try to keep our customers happy," said Harinder Prasad, one of the first cycle cab drivers in Global Village.

The key to customer satisfaction is "respecting their wishes", he said, whether it's singing Hindi songs on request, or racing with each other to cheer younger passengers.

But, does work ever become tiresome?
Krishna G., from Rajasthan, said: "I am always amazed at how people from various nationalities enjoy our singing."

He claims that UAE nationals and Arab expatriates especially enjoy renditions of Bollywood songs and sometimes sing along as well.

But for Jaldeep, the best part of his job is when young boys ask him to peddle as fast as he can. "They have a lot of fun and cheer me on when I go fast, but of course never at the cost of safety," he said. Nothing is better than "open skies, friendly faces and a great job".

Celebrate

Rainy days are also reasons to celebrate. "People are more generous with tips, sometimes giving as much as Dh50," said Kamal K., who explained that the rain usually puts passengers in a good mood.

However, the cheerful workers admit that they do encounter ill-tempered people. "We just distract them from their troubles with jokes or try and converse in broken Arabic or English," Kehar said, adding that the strategy usually works.

When they're not peddling away, the diligent young men are hard at work at the Indian pavilion, sweeping the floors and preparing for the next day.

"The Indian pavilion is like home away from home, so we take good care of it," Kehar said.

Support

Any homesickness the young men feel is put to rest by the fact that they live together and support each other as brothers and friends. "We share our stories and have fun - it often reminds us of school days," said Kamal, whose upcoming birthday is a cause for excitement in the group.

A makeshift home set up in the Indian pavilion enables the workers to live within the confines of Global Village. He said: "We have everything we need, from food and shelter to the provision of warm clothes."

With evenings spent in strenuous exercise and mornings dedicated to maintaining the pavilion, do they get weary?
"We love our job and we're just grateful we had the opportunity to visit Dubai," Kehar said.

The young cycle cabbies look forward to returning again next year.

Ringing his bell to attract young children, Kehar neatly sums up the advantage of his job: "It isn't every day you are able to sing for your customers."