This Gujarati food blogger in Karachi is creating strides around the world

During the India-Pakistan partition, many Gujaratis were left in Pakistan, similar to those who left behind families in Pakistan as they migrated to India. With both country gearing up to celebrate their 75th independence day in 2022, it is a delight to find how citizens on both sides of the border still hold on to their families’ roots.
Alina Maniar, 25 belongs to an elite Gujarati family in Karachi. Alina always had interest in social media, but, since there was no appropriate course available in Pakistan, she did a certificate course in Digital Marketing. 
Currently, Alina is a popular and stylish food blogger, much loved among Pakistan's youths with over 40,000 followers across the world. This includes followers from India, UAE, US, UK and other countries, apart from a huge following in Pakistan.
According to Alina, "we landed up on this side of the border due to partition. Our surname 'Maniar' identifies us as Gujarati. According to my family, anybody with 'Maniar' surname in both countries are someway our relatives. There are an estimated 3.5 million people who speak Gujarati in Pakistan. I have many Gujarati friends and our family speaks Gujarati at home since decades, but now Urdu is mixed in our sentences. My grandparents could read and write Gujarati and I am also looking forward to learn it one day. We cook Gujarati food at home, in fact I love Gujarati cuisine more than Pakistani food and 'Dhokla' is my most favourite."
Alina who hails from an opulent family has taken up food blogging with objective to showcase Pakistan to the world the way people do not get to see on media.
As Alina puts it, "very few people outside Pakistan are aware that the food street vendors are very welcoming here. In fact, they love and respect foreign tourists. So much so that most food vendors happily provides his/her most delicious variety complimentary to a foreign tourist. They would not like to charge them for food, but instead wants them to remember Pakistan and its food for a long time. Currently there are many upmarket restaurants in Karachi serving British delicacies like Shepherd's Pie, Trifle, Fish & Chips, Scones and English Breakfast."
Alina's hobby of food blogging earns her over 100,000 PKR a year, but the love she gets from her audience gives her a high. Though she has not been able to visit Gujarat due to visa constraints, sweet stories of family members’ visits to Ahmedabad and Dhandhuka run in the family. She is looking forward to visit Gujarat one day and treat herself with street dosa, mango shrikhand, bhakharvadi, fafda and do street shopping, from the stories she has heard from her parents. The Mohanthal and Ghevar that were sent by relatives from Ahmedabad have left the whole family's lip smacking for days. They have always found Indians very welcoming and loving during their visits.
Pakistani youths like Alina are now showcasing the real essence of their country to the world which is enabling the world to look at the brighter side of the country beyond the television news channels.