Mahlia S. Lon

In this issue, we have some thought provoking interviews for you with the easy on the eyes but insightful actor Imran Abbas, star of Pakistani TV and Bollywood flicks, the talented abstract artist Ahmer Farooq, as well as the couturier Saadia Mirza who has recently ventured into the luxury unstitched fabric business.

In addition, interestingly, while researching Shirin and Farhad for the Memorable Romance feature, I discovered that Farhad’s love for Shirin was in fact unrequited. The real love story was between Shirin and Khosrow, as told by Nizami Ganjavi, based on the true story of Khosrau II, the last great Zoroastrian Sasanian Shahnshah of Persia before the advent of Islam there. Not only do we have their story for you, but for all history buffs, we sum up the geopolitical situation of the region at the time. After centuries of wars between Byzantium and Persia, the two great empires lay ravaged leaving a power vacuum that made it easier for Muslim warriors to conquer vast Persian territories, changing the face of the Middle East forever.