{"id":143092,"date":"2020-02-26T13:43:40","date_gmt":"2020-02-26T18:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=143092"},"modified":"2020-02-26T14:34:11","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T19:34:11","slug":"influencers-in-islamabad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/","title":{"rendered":"Influencers in Islamabad"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Photo: Javeria Ali.<\/p><\/div>\n

Javeria Ali, a twenty-six-year-old photographer, was on a walk in an Islamabad market when she spotted a man ladling out cups of milky tea. He was wearing a turquoise shalwar kameez<\/em> with a white scalloped trim. His hair was slightly tousled, with a few stray locks falling above his dark eyebrows, and his cheeks were peppered with stubble. He wore a black thread looped around his wrist to protect him from the evil eye.<\/p>\n

She took three or four pictures of the chaiwala<\/em>, or tea seller, while his head was bowed, then he looked up for a split second and stared right at her. She got the shot. Ali uploaded the photograph (captioned \u201cHot-Tea\u201d) to her Instagram and Facebook pages on October 14, 2016. It was soon shared on various blogs and social media pages, with users commenting on the tea boy\u2019s looks.<\/p>\n

By 2016, there were more than forty-four million social media users in Pakistan. Facebook had the biggest slice of the pie, with thirty-three million users, followed by Twitter with five million and Instagram with nearly four million. Arshad Khan, the blue-eyed chaiwala<\/em>, had joined the ranks of a handful of viral stars in Pakistan: men and women who become household names, their images or videos spilling over from social media sites into millions of conversations on apps like WhatsApp, shared and forwarded on a loop until mainstream media outlets take notice and feature them on the news or on talk shows. <\/p>\n

At the time his photograph was first taken, Arshad did know about these viral stars. He had never had a Facebook account. He could not read or write. His family and neighbors lived without electricity and did not watch TV.<\/p>\n

In just five days, the photograph raked in more than fifty thousand likes and thousands of comments. His fame spread not just in Pakistan but around the world. His \u201cgood looks\u201d were featured on CNN, the BBC noted that his \u201cpiercing eyes\u201d have \u201cthousands\u201d of Twitter users \u201clovestruck,\u201d and BuzzFeed<\/em> described him as \u201cdamn HOT\u201d with \u201ceffortless high-fashion model looks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arshad had not seen his photograph on the news, and he didn\u2019t think of the girl with the camera until she came back to the market, this time with reporters and camera crews. He found out they were looking for him. His memories of the day are hazy. He remembers Ali telling him she had uploaded his photograph to social media and it had gone viral. He panicked. His first instinct was to bolt.<\/p>\n

The next day, Arshad went to work in the market as usual, but the area around the caf\u00e9 was crammed with people who had flocked there to meet him. He was whisked away to a television station for an interview and made to wear a suit. Before he went on air, he heard a member of the crew speaking Pashto, the language Arshad and his parents spoke at home. He pulled the man to one side and pleaded: \u201cCan you tell me what is going on? How is everyone in the world looking at my picture?\u201d<\/p>\n

On a cold evening four months after that day, I met Arshad in an apartment\u2014a makeshift office, said his manager Fahim, a place to \u201cdo deals and whatnot\u201d\u2014in a residential area in Islamabad. Fahim wore a tight black T-shirt, purple velour tracksuit bottoms, and slippers that squelched with each step on the tiled floor. Everything in the apartment was brand new. Someone had thrown the box for a thirty-inch LCD TV onto the small balcony outside one of the bedrooms.<\/p>\n

Arshad was skinny, and his black suit and shirt looked a little too big for him. The trousers were baggy, and a pair of pointed black shoes with silver buckles peeked out from under them. He was tired and not feeling well that day. His whole body ached. His doctor said he was \u201cmentally weak.\u201d His only task that day was to record a video: a congratulatory message for Kismat Connection<\/em>, a TV show that had just aired its hundredth episode. Arshad was a celebrity now, and the producers of the show had requested a short video that they could air during the episode.<\/p>\n

We went into the bedroom with the best natural light. The room was empty save for a folding table in the corner stacked with rolls of bedding and blankets. Arshad\u2019s social media adviser, Rizwan, works in real estate and rents out apartments just like this one. He darted in and out of our meeting while he tended to a group of prospective clients in the apartment\u2019s second bedroom. Arshad relies on Fahim and Rizwan to read his contracts. When a TV anchor had asked him how he would give fans his autograph, he gave her what he thought was a perfectly logical answer for an illiterate person\u2014\u201cI\u2019ll use my thumbprint\u201d\u2014but the audience hooted with laughter and clapped, and Rizwan had to spend hours teaching Arshad how to scribble out a signature. Arshad\u2019s team now included a personal groomer, a photographer, a speech therapist, and a psychologist who, Fahim explained, taught Arshad \u201cdaily life things\u201d and \u201cdoes therapy on how to live your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fahim fed Arshad the lines for the video. \u201cHi, friends!\u201d he said. \u201cNo, wait\u2014say, \u2018Hi, doston<\/em>!\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHi, doston<\/em>,\u201d Arshad repeated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s me, Arshad Khan,\u201d Fahim said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my Arshad Khan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The more emotionless Arshad sounded, the peppier Fahim tried to make his lines.<\/p>\n

Fahim gushed, \u201cI want to congratulate Taher Ali Shah and the whole team of Kismat Connection<\/em> that they have completed a hundred episodes!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI congratulate Taher Ali Shah sahib and the whole Kismat Connection<\/em> team for completing one hundreh episondh,\u201d Arshad said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole team!\u201d Fahim exclaimed. \u201cYou need to sound excited. And say \u2018hundred.\u2019 Hund-rid. And epi-sote.\u201d When Fahim enunciated \u201csote,\u201d it sounded like someone had popped open a can of some fizzy drink. \u201cSote. Not \u2018sondh.\u2019 Sote.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHund-reh,\u201d Arshad said. \u201cEpee-sondh.\u201d<\/p>\n

They did one take and then another. Sometimes Arshad forgot the name of the man he was congratulating. Other times he forgot to sound happy. He repeatedly stumbled over the words \u201chundred\u201d and \u201cepisode.\u201d He sounded morose.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to sound happy,\u201d Fahim explained. \u201cImagine if you bought a new car. I would congratulate you, right? Now imagine that I\u2019m not near you. Maybe I would send you a video, right? That\u2019s what we are doing here for Taher Ali Shah. He\u2019s done something really big. Something we are happy about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like he\u2019s done some umrah<\/em> [pilgrimage to Mecca],\u201d Arshad quipped.<\/p>\n

Ten minutes later, Fahim got a phone call.<\/p>\n

\u201cEp-pee-sone,\u201d Arshad mumbled to himself. \u201cEp-ee-sone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fahim left the room, asking me to try my luck. The door closed, and Arshad turned to me. \u201cWhat is this \u2018episondh?\u2019\u2009\u201d he asked. \u201cIs it the fashion shows? Or those programs that people do?\u201d<\/p>\n

Without a camera pointed at him, Arshad was a fast learner. Between takes, he whispered the words in English to himself over and over again. When Fahim praised him for almost getting it right, he asked, \u201cBut what were the bits I got wrong?\u201d After twenty-five takes, Fahim decided that he could splice together sentences from the recordings and create one seamless video. Arshad clapped his hands with relief. \u201cWe\u2019re done? What a nuisance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the video had been wrapped up, Arshad slumped on a couch in the living room and stared at the new TV. A show on animals in the wild was on. \u201cWhen Fahim has to teach me what to say and how to say it, I wonder how I\u2019ll ever do all of this,\u201d he explained, never turning his gaze away from a lion prowling on the screen. \u201cI feel bad that he has to spend so much time trying to get me to do it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, I\u2019ll explain to you what he means,\u201d Fahim interjected. \u201cHe is confident. He\u2019s not shy. He picks things up fast. But you have to remember the background he has. He didn\u2019t watch TV for even a day in his life. He didn\u2019t know who the people in the newspaper were. For him, words are just black-colored lines. Now for someone like this to come into this world and to do these things is not easy. This isn\u2019t his language and he feels tension that why am I not getting it? Why can\u2019t I do it? I understand him, you see. I have an idea \u2026\u2009\u201d He snapped his fingers to get Arshad\u2019s attention. \u201cDon\u2019t look there. Pay attention here.\u201d He flicked a button on the remote and turned the TV off. \u201cSo, as I was saying, when he tries to do something and he can\u2019t, then he feels shame. Right, Arshad?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d Arshad nodded. \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fahim said that in his ten years of managing artists, he\u2019d never seen anything in Pakistan like Arshad\u2019s rise to stardom. It usually takes years for people to get the kind of attention that Arshad had gained in a very short time. In the early days, when Arshad\u2019s schedule had included up to a dozen interviews in a day and meetings with people throughout the day to work on deals, the team was sleeping only three or four hours a night, and he was mobbed by fans wherever he went. \u201cThis is a star\u2019s goal,\u201d Fahim explained. \u201cStars are used to this and it\u2019s what they work for. But Arshad never had these goals. He was tired and he got sick a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fahim and Rizwan stressed how important it was to them that Arshad think of himself as a star. \u201cIf he is a star with us, only then will he be a star in the market,\u201d Fahim reasoned. \u201cA star\u2019s fans think that he is bigger and better than them. Their idea of you is what they want to see. That\u2019s what you need to give them.\u201d And where the fans go, he said, the industry follows. \u201cIf you\u2019re a producer, why would you choose Arshad Khan for your movie over someone else? Star power. That\u2019s why. The audience you can pull. The fans. If Arshad can guarantee that his movie will make two hundred crore rupees, that\u2019s a safe bet for a producer.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, four months after he was discovered, work had all but dried up for Arshad. In the past two weeks, he had only appeared at a \u201cmeet and greet\u201d breakfast and dinner in Lahore\u2014an opportunity for fans to take selfies with him.<\/p>\n

I asked Fahim if he felt the novelty was wearing thin. After dozens of interviews and appearances on almost all the popular talk shows and morning shows in the country, Arshad\u2019s rags-to-riches story had been told so many times that it had lost one crucial element in a viral star\u2019s ability to draw a crowd: it was no longer surprising or unique. If Arshad wished to forge a career on the strength of one viral photograph\u2014if he wanted the modeling contracts, advertisement offers, and invitations to appear on talk shows\u2014he had to continue to give Pakistanis something they had never seen before.<\/p>\n

But Fahim insisted that Arshad wasn\u2019t being talked about as much because he had become \u201cexclusive.\u201d \u201cActually, we have decreased his appearances ourselves,\u201d he argued. He said that he had recently received inquiries from China, Malaysia, Greece, and Dubai. \u201cWe want him to rest and relax. People think his fame has decreased, but we are making him exclusive. We don\u2019t just give interviews to everyone anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fahim and Rizwan urged me to stay for dinner. They planned to have a big, traditional meal of grilled lamb. But it was late, and I refused. As Arshad saw me out, he grinned. \u201cForget this grilled stuff,\u201d he said. \u201cThe next time you meet me, I\u2019ll be a star. I\u2019ll bring you a live lamb.\u201d<\/p>\n

Six months passed before Arshad was in the news once more. In July 2017, the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) stated that Arshad and his family had come from neighboring Afghanistan and were living in Pakistan illegally. The media contacted Arshad\u2019s team for a comment. \u201cArshad Khan\u2019s manager Malik Fahim \u2026 found the NADRA claim shocking,\u201d an investigative story noted. \u201c[Fahim] made it clear that he did not know Arshad prior to the Chaiwala becoming a celebrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly two years passed before Arshad appeared on television once more. In April 2019, he was interviewed on a morning talk show, and the hosts prompted him to make tea and asked him to say a few sentences in other languages he might speak. He confessed that he could speak Punjabi, but not very well. \u201cCan you say, \u2018This tea does not have enough sugar?\u2019\u2009\u201d the host asked. Arshad repeated the sentence. The hosts appeared delighted. \u201cThis is the kind of stuff that will go viral!\u201d they said. \u201cNo one has ever heard him speak Punjabi before.\u201d The interview failed to generate any buzz.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sanam Maher is a journalist who writes about South Asian art and culture, business, politics, religious minorities, and women. Her work has appeared in the <\/em>New York Times, <\/em>Al Jazeera, and <\/em>Buzzfeed, among other places. <\/em>A Woman Like Her is her first book.<\/em><\/p>\n

Excerpted and adapted from <\/em>A Woman Like Her: The Story behind the Honor Killing of a Social Media Star<\/a>, by Sanam Maher, published by Melville House Books.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2016, a photographer posted a picture of Arshad Khan, a tea seller in Islamabad, with the caption \u201cHot-Tea.\u201d He instantly became a star.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1916,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[419],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-143092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nInfluencers in Islamabad by Sanam Maher<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 2016, a photographer posted a picture of Arshad Khan, a tea seller in Islamabad, with the caption \u201cHot-Tea.\u201d He instantly became a star.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Influencers in Islamabad by Sanam Maher\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"February 26, 2020 \u2013 In 2016, a photographer posted a picture of Arshad Khan, a tea seller in Islamabad, with the caption \u201cHot-Tea.\u201d He instantly became a star.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-26T18:43:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-26T19:34:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/tea.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sanam Maher\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sanam Maher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sanam Maher\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/831b5569052d58d98ed04f5d2b909d22\"},\"headline\":\"Influencers in Islamabad\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-26T18:43:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-26T19:34:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/\"},\"wordCount\":2277,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/tea.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Arts & Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/\",\"name\":\"Influencers in Islamabad by Sanam Maher\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/tea.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-26T18:43:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-26T19:34:11+00:00\",\"description\":\"In 2016, a photographer posted a picture of Arshad Khan, a tea seller in Islamabad, with the caption \u201cHot-Tea.\u201d He instantly became a star.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/tea.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/tea.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":750,\"caption\":\"Photo: Jiah Ali.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Influencers in Islamabad\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/831b5569052d58d98ed04f5d2b909d22\",\"name\":\"Sanam Maher\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ac4f3934a0126f18f13cbd6b63006de91fb5521ba071d3ebfb271229ac050e2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ac4f3934a0126f18f13cbd6b63006de91fb5521ba071d3ebfb271229ac050e2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sanam Maher\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/smaher\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Influencers in Islamabad by Sanam Maher","description":"In 2016, a photographer posted a picture of Arshad Khan, a tea seller in Islamabad, with the caption \u201cHot-Tea.\u201d He instantly became a star.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Influencers in Islamabad by Sanam Maher","og_description":"February 26, 2020 \u2013 In 2016, a photographer posted a picture of Arshad Khan, a tea seller in Islamabad, with the caption \u201cHot-Tea.\u201d He instantly became a star.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2020-02-26T18:43:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-02-26T19:34:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":750,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/tea.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sanam Maher","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sanam Maher","Est. reading time":"11 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/"},"author":{"name":"Sanam Maher","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/831b5569052d58d98ed04f5d2b909d22"},"headline":"Influencers in Islamabad","datePublished":"2020-02-26T18:43:40+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-26T19:34:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/"},"wordCount":2277,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/tea.jpg","articleSection":["Arts & Culture"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/","name":"Influencers in Islamabad by Sanam Maher","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/tea.jpg","datePublished":"2020-02-26T18:43:40+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-26T19:34:11+00:00","description":"In 2016, a photographer posted a picture of Arshad Khan, a tea seller in Islamabad, with the caption \u201cHot-Tea.\u201d He instantly became a star.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/tea.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/tea.jpg","width":1000,"height":750,"caption":"Photo: Jiah Ali."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/26\/influencers-in-islamabad\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Influencers in Islamabad"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/831b5569052d58d98ed04f5d2b909d22","name":"Sanam Maher","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ac4f3934a0126f18f13cbd6b63006de91fb5521ba071d3ebfb271229ac050e2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ac4f3934a0126f18f13cbd6b63006de91fb5521ba071d3ebfb271229ac050e2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sanam Maher"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/smaher\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1916"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143092"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143109,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143092\/revisions\/143109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}