KARACHI: There was much brouhaha on social media and news channels when photos of supermodel and singer Ayyan Ali emerged on Thursday of her visit to the Department of Public Administration, Karachi University. As the chief guest, she was invited to inaugurate a fast food joint, a venture of Araib Khan and Abdullah Rizwan Sheikh, students of the DPA, who intend to donate a certain part of the revenue generated to the disabled.

Ayyan was not too long ago in the news for a currency smuggling case and her subsequent detention at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi. Since her release she has kept a low profile except for a selfie with TV host Waqar Zaka, which she posted on her Twitter account on July 21.

Smartly clad in a black pantsuit and a pair of shades, she arrived there at around 1pm with her guards and was ushered inside by the entrepreneurs and other excited students.

According to Araib Khan, they were not expecting Ayyan to accept their invitation to inaugurate their modest venture as “we belong to Karachi University and in the past we tried to get in touch with other celebrities but they promptly disconnected the phone when we told them where we studied”.

Not all of them showed such disparaging attitude, Araib Khan was quick to add, as on Aug 13 model and entrepreneur Nadia Hussain with Chef Ammara, winner of MasterChef Pakistan, had come over to support their project that sells chips in four flavours with six types of dips at prices within the reach of university students. The celebrity guests, Araib Khan clarified, charged them nothing.

Ayyan took part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony and after a few moments was called to the podium to share her thoughts with the audience. “After my team did some research on ChipsNDips we all were truly impressed with their activities so far because at this young age they are studying, working out and helping out needy people, which is definitely not an easy task to do. Of course, we decided to support them for this social cause because this is the real youth of Pakistan and the bright future of our nation,” she said.

Hinting at her recent troubles, she said: “One should not create a perception about anything on the basis of rumours. One should know the real fact and then move forward with their vision.” Apparently unperturbed by what she had gone through, the model was seen happily mingling with students and posing for selfies. While she was there for only 20 minutes, the students were bowled over by her down-to-earth attitude and friendliness.

True to their character, the KU is being a party-pooper and rebuking the students for not informing them in advance. For now though, the young enterprisers are savouring the experience and calling it “unforgettable” and “enlightening”.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2015

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