The feeling of doing something one loves is..

simply amazing.

And that’s what I am looking for. In some of my next posts I will post about what other people truly love doing. It maybe something they do to perhaps express themselves.

Anyone can express him/herself through writing, painting, dancing or just about anything. It can be therapeutic and as well as fun! Plus doing it with other people can make it so much more fun :).

iHeart; Travel & Road Trips

I loveeee traveling.
I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move. ~Robert Louis Stevenson

I Got A Story Like That

http://igotastorylikethat.wordpress.com is looking for artists and writers to meet.

I have had a tremendous amount of fun and personal satisfaction with artists that I have never met sending me selected pieces of their work. Then I create a story/poem about that art.

Visit our site and see the results of our collaborations.

You don’t have to be an artist/writer to see whats happening here.

You might just have a little fun or maybe too much fun.

Anne and Steve

Visit their link and let your creativity juices flow 😉

http://igotastorylikethat.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/attention-all-artists-and-wordsmiths/

About Eimaan

In the beginning when I started my blog I was unsure about what it would be about. But not anymore! I have updated my page:

I am 21 years old girl from Pakistan. I have been born and brought in U.A.E. and recently shifted here. Firstly I am experiencing how it feels like to live in one’s own country rather than being an expatriate.

I like writing so I thought writing a blog would be a great idea! I like to write about different places and their cultures ( I have met people and have friends from various countries during my time in U.A.E.) Plus I like to write about places I have traveled.

Next, I enjoy writing about love, family and relationships as, each relationship nurtures a strength or a weakness with us (Mike Murdock). 

Lastly, I want to do show through my blog how talented and capable the youth of my country, Pakistan is. This is important to me. 

Just in case someone wants to know, Eimaan is an Arabic word which means faith. I was thinking of the name for my blog and asked my mom too. Suddenly we both said Eimaan together at once… and so your most welcome to eimaan.wordpress.com 

Blogger: Najma Aijaz. 

Visualizing Globally at **Global Village**

As I said in my previous post, these are the photos of the Global village:

Rides

Watches

Titanic?? 🙂

Aren’t these cute?

Beautiful

These photos are captured by my dearest friend, Ayisha.i.photography:

Description: Photography is an art of capturing moments. Some photographers capture the drama of the moment, some capture the beauty, some capture the mood, some capture the essence. My mission is to make memorable moments, everlasting.
Gear used: Nikon D3000 [Lenses: 18-55mm & 70-300mm]

Ayisha handles all types of photography that includes:
-Events (Corporate, Personal, Schools, Festivals)
-Family (Portraits, Picnics, Get-together)
-Portfolios (Fashion, Model, Conceptual)
-Product (Conceptual, Artistic, Commercial)
-Facebook profile pictures too.

For bookings and further information email Ayisha at : ayisha.i.photography@gmail.com or

you can simple browse through her facebook page Ayisha.i.photography: http://www.facebook.com/Ayisha.i.photography to view photos taken by her.

P.S.: Ayisha is based in U.A.E.

Najma Aijaz, 3rd April, 2012

Global Village- it’s a crazy place where people smile and laugh and are generally pleased.

Since childhood, every year I used to visit the Global village with my family. It was held every February as the weather at that time of the year in Dubai is cool and breezy, ideal for strolling in an open area.

For those who aren’t aware of what global village is:

Since there are people from many nationalities living in the U.A.E. there are  merchandises from different countries at the many national pavilions in Global Village.  Other than that there are breathtaking live performances, mouth-watering cuisine and authentic handicrafts,  thrilling rides, games and firework displays, to complete ones visit.

We lived in Fujairah, which is a 2 hour drive from Dubai. So I remember waking up at about 11 on a Friday for Friday prayers then getting ready to go to Global Village which opened at 4 p.m. Almost every time we reached on time because we had to go back to Fujairah too.

Firstly we used to head straight towards Pakistani pavilion, being Pakistanis, for food (as the clothes and accessories over there were ones we had already seen and  bought from Pakistan on our vacations.) I was proud that people shopped for marbles and clothes from Pakistan’s pavilion.  Each country’s pavilion demonstrates it’s culture:

Pakistani Pavilion

Indian Pavilon

Outside the African pavilion

Our next stop used to be the Indian pavilion because of it’s desi songs and dances. Then we used to head towards Chinese, Singaporean, Sri lankan (I insisted because those days my best friend was Sri Lankan), Japan, Syria, Jordan, Malaysia for shopping. There were scarfs, home items, and very many unique things. Like, there used to be a locket which had a grain of rice with our name on it. The man at the shop used to write whatever we asked for and placed the rice in a transparent locket. I don’t know what it’s called though. Some kind of calligraphy perhaps? 

Chinese pavilion

Towards the end we used to walk through the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia,Iraq, U.K., Kenya, France, Vietnam’s pavilions, not really with the intention of buying anything just plain sight seeing.

Our last stop used to be the rides section.

When we grew up I got to go twice to the Global Village in a year. One with my family and the other with my friends. Those days there wasn’t any entry fees so it was an ideal place for school-goers and teens. I remember I went with all of my 30 classmates and we wore our sunglasses at 10 p.m (we thought we looked cool and different :)).  No, I’m not being immature, I’m having fun. You should try it 😛 (Anonymous) 

  In the next post I will post more pictures of the Global Village taken by my dearest friend, Ayisha from Ayisha.i.photography.

Najma Aijaz, 2nd April, 2012

Fun. It’s this crazy thing where people smile and laugh and are generally pleased. I could have sworn I saw you smile at least once. 🙂  (Aggy Bird quote)

Information for new script writers by Umera Ahmed

Pir-e-Kamil (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Umera Ahmed is one the most famous Pakistani writers. I am a big fan of her stories. Many of her books have been shown on T.V. as soaps. Personally my most favourite book of hers is Peer e Kamil (SAW) and my favorite soap, written by her is Dur re Shehwar (from Hum T.V.)

I have read English books all my life and I cherish those times of reading. Since I have moved to Pakistan I get to read story books in Urdu as well. It’s totally a new experience and I am loving it. This is because the books written by Pakistan authors have stories that I relate to, at times.

Just like the story of Duur re shehwar for example, it’s a story of how daughters think that  their dad IS the most lovable man in this world (no doubt he is) but sometimes when they get married they start comparing their husbands with their fathers. They think about how their fathers took care of their every need without reconsidering anything while their husbands may not be like that. It’s a beautiful story with amazing dialogues and cast.

Duur re shehwar

Najma Aijaz, 31st March 2012

Umera Ahmed has posted information which new script writers may find it helpful:

By Umera Ahmed: 

A lot of young writers have been writing to me for seeking some advice on their scripts. Some need help in approaching a particular channel or director. Then there are those who want me to work on their storylines and ideas or help them write a script.

It is not possible for me to read and give feeedback on your scripts( don’t get heartbroken,plz). I am also unable to offer you any help as far as writing a script is concerned( scriptwriting can’t be learnt in a day or two). There are many books in the market that will help you better than my councelling or advice. NCA and NAPA are conducting scriptwriting courses and workshops on a regular basis now. Getting yourself enroled for one such courses would indeed benefit you.I generally do not work on others’ ideas but I am open to reading them and I don’t mind if you send them to me just for the sake of sharing.

However, I would still like to help you get your first break. So let me be a facilitator and streamline the whole procedure for you. I am providing you with the email addresses of some of the top directors and producers alongwith the content managers of the major entertainment channels. I have informed them about this thread and have requested them to give you a quick feedback on your oneliners/scripts.

Write a oneliner/synopsis/summary of your story alongwith a cover letter containing some info about yourself and your contact details and email it to the person you want to work with.

My personal recommendations….

Those who are interested in writing telefilms should send their ideas to ARY, TV One, Hum TV, Mehreen Jabbar and Abdullah Kadwani. For serials you can write to Abdullah Kadwani, Babar Javed or Momina Duraid .

1 Abdullah Kadwani ak@7thsky.biz 7th Sky Entertainment

2 Aamra aamra.s@hum.tv Hum TV

3 Asghar Mirza miim72@yahoo.com TV ONE

4 Atif Hussain atifhussain23@hotmail.com Individual

5 Babar Javed babarjawaid@hotmail.com AB Productions

6 Erum Shahid erum@arydigital.tv ARY

7 Faysal Manzoor faysalmanzoor@hotmail.com 7th Sky

8 Haissam Hussain haissam100@hotmail.com Individual

9 Haseeb Hassan haseeb.hasan@geo.tv Geo TV

10 Mehreen Jabbar mj@mehreenjabbar.com Individual

11 Momina Duraid mominaduraid@gmail.com Moomal Productions/Hum TV

12 Samreen Noman samreen.nauman@arydigital.tv ARY

13 Saife Hassan saifehasan@yahoo.com Individual

14 Shahid Bhanji shbhanji@gmail.com Hum TV

15 Sarmad Khoosat sarmadkhoosat@gmail.com Individual

I thank all my directors, producers and channel representatives for their positive and prompt response.

National Geographic Photography – Tigris by dawn, Iraq

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTOGRAPHY – TIGRIS BY DAWN, IRAQ

arabexperience

A man feeds the birds at dawn in Iraq. The river is the Tigris, together with the Euphrates a very important river for the area of Mesopotamia, famous for its fascinating cultural background. Thanks again to National Geographic Photography for letting me start this cloudy friday with such a beautiful picture. The light is magical.

 

 

 

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eimaan

… I’d have a garden to walk in forever.

I went to Al-Ain Paradise in Al-Ain U.A.E. The place got it’s name in the Guinness world records for the largest display of hanging baskets on 20th March 2010. Here are some pictures I took while we were at the place:

And ‘t is my faith, that every flower enjoys the air it breathes – Willian Wordsworth

Flowers are words even a baby can understand – Quentin Crisp 

Each flower is a soul blossoming out to nature – Gerard de Nerval 

Count the garden by the flowers, never by the leaves that fall. Count your life with smiles and not the tears that roll. – Anonymous

Najma Aijaz

10th February 2012

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Fun in the desert- Desert Safarii

Being raised in U.A.E. meant that I spent many of my childhood years playing in the desert sand (only during winters though). Some time back, there was a lucky draw at pizza hut to promote P-zone in which I won tickets for six for the desert safari :).

This is the arrangement at night for dinner after we are done with all the activities. It was beautiful listening to soft music under dim lights with cool breezy air.

Sand dune bashing: It was one  hell of a ride! It’s first activity that’s done at the desert safari:

The music played during sand dune bashing was Arabic which made the experience more fun. It seemed like the car was ‘dancing’ with the music.

                                               Our driver was a local (not surprising as Emaratis absolutely love this sport).

Next there was quad biking which was the first time for me.

Camel riding at the desert safari

To showcase the country’s culture there are Emarati women putting henna on the ladies and wearing traditional outfits.

And of course, there’s sheesha (I don’t really like it personally). 

Tanoora dance

Tanoora dance

 

 sufi music performance with lights

U.A.E.’s national bird: Falcon

It was a once in a lifetime experience. Something anyone should do if they happen to go to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  Everything was just amazing.. the activities, the people and the food :). It’s also a way to know more about the culture and traditions of the people of the Emirates.

There are different packages for Desert Safaris with different timings but the activities are usually the ones that I have mentioned. It’s always a lot more fun going in winters.

 Najma Aijaz, 30th March 2012