Celebrity in focus: Vaneeza Ahmed

Vaneeza Ahmed nicknamed Vinny born on June 29, 1971 is a Pakistani model and actress. She has earned a reputation of being the most famous female model and celebrity in Pakistan. Initially interested in medicine with a degree in psychology, she joined modeling as a casual hobby only to be become the face of some of the leading brands in Pakistan.
She graduated from Kinnaird College with a bachelor's degree in psychology. In her brief stay at the college, she started to model casually. Not much interested in modeling as a career option, she was showered with offers from various fashion designers, some of which were notable in the Pakistani fashion industry including the likes of fashion designer Nilofer Shahid with whom she did her first shoot, and photographer Khawar Riaz. She is a close friend of the makeup duo Athar and Shahzad, as well as designer Umar Syed. Her initial walks at fashion shows led fashion critics to praise her elegance on the cat-walk. 

Over her fifteen year reign in the fashion industry her business etiquette has helped her to survive her chosen career and win all hearts too. In a country where women are not expected to be make smart and calculated decisions in business matters of monetary concerns Vaneeza always stayed with the career for the sake of money. 

She made her acting debut in Jamal Shah's controversial saga Kal and has since acted in Marina Khan's Tum Hi Tau Ho, Janey Anjaney and Tum Say Mil Ker; Armaan; and Talaash. Most famous role to come her way was that of the founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah's daughter “Dina Wadia” in Jamil Dehlavi's 1998 “Jinnah”. Another notable thing about her is that she is a women entrepreneur. She has designed local lawn fabric collection by her own.  The first launch of her collections, also called V9 lawn prints was in March 2006. They were sold-out in a series of exhibition held in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad. Her efforts on the V9 prints were highly appreciated by her so many fans, media persons, and among general public as well. 

She is also well-liked by others in the fashion and showbiz industry because of her nice and friendly nature. She helps her colleagues and guides her juniors in a very friendly way. She is not only soft spoken but also a soft hearted person. She is a very down to earth person. She is more common than any other common girl in her real home life. 

Ramadan merriment of Pakistani inhabitants!

The holiest month ninth at number on the Islamic Calendar is “Ramadan”. It is a month of fasting from sunrise to sunset and self discipline. It is widely observed in Pakistan. Muslim in Pakistan is about 97% of the whole population. They fast, attend mosques with increased frequency, and recite Quran during the entire period of one month in Ramadan.

After completing the fasting month on the first day of Shawwal all the Muslims celebrate “Eid ul fitr”. Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity", while Fitr means "to purify"; and so the holiday symbolizes the purification. Eid-ul-Fiter Salat or Namaz is a Sunnah strongly recommended, just short of obligatory of Muhammad PBUH. The Salat comprise of two raka’ah Namaz which generally offered in an open field called Eid-gaah and also known as “Namaz e Eid”. This Salat should be performed with Jama’at with extra six Takbirs, three of them in the beginning of the first raka'ah and three of them just before ruku' in the second raka'ah. 

Eid ul-Fitr lasts for one day of celebrations. Yet, it is celebrated for two or more days in some countries. It is sometimes also known as the "Smaller Eid".

As daylight begins to fade, Muslims await the Muezzin's call to perform the Maghreb prayers. Once the call is heard they may break fast called Iftari in Arabic. Most will first take some form of thirst-quenching drink. This varies not only by individual preferences but also but local customs. It is quite common in the Middle East to breakfast with water and dates. But in Pakistan it is more common to drink a local fruit juice or rose syrup water with some dates. Then they have a lot of food variety in Iftari such as smosa, pakora, chicken roll, fruit chat, channa chat, and dahi bahlay. And finally after offering prayer they go for their regular evening meal. 

Chand Raat occurs the night before Eid day celebrations commence. It is actually marking the end of the month of Ramadan. In the night known as Chand Raat all people celebrate by various means such as girls putting henna on their hands. People buy gifts and sweets that will be given to friends and families who come over to celebrate the end of Ramadan. The streets, major building and landmarks, even outside of malls and plazas, put on displays of elaborate decorations and colorful light shows. There are large crowds in the city ready to celebrate the beginning of Eid and it is a boom time for business in all essence.