Unclipping the microphone, and placing it on the desk in front, Rabia glances at her watch – its 9:50pm, the prime-time bulletin has just ended, and the next news show is about to start. The producer is doing some last post-bulletin bit in the production control room, as we pass on to the area often visible behind the translucent backdrop. Clad in a traditional garb, Rabia sits on a chair sifting through her phone.

The headline on the news bulletin was PTI's jalsa in Kasur, in which Imran Khan again boasted that PTI will win the 2018 polls. "I doubt it," Rabia says with a hint of smile. There was a time when she really admired him as a leader – “inspiring" she says, "but not anymore". When I ask why, she shrugs off.

“Because I’ve idolised him for things that he didn’t do, I still believe that if he hadn’t lost the elections, my bubble about idolising him wouldn’t have ever burst. I wouldn’t have ever known that Imran Khan is not the Imran Khan after all.”

Being a public figure and the face of the 9pm news bulletin of the country’s number one news channel, Rabia has a celebrity status, nothing less than politicians and because of this fame, she has been courted by various political parties – but she’s uninterested. She says she’s never found politics fascinating, and would rather make a difference by doing what she likes to do.

Almost an hour ago, she was presented with a bunch of political news that she had to deliver off the prompter, with varying degrees of balance. She will muster that high pitch on headlines that need that urgency, but it appears that the pitch and tone is rooted in her since always, not derived after practice. On the other side of the news spectrum, she demonstrates amusement in her diction towards the end of the bulletin with some light news.

With her almond-shaped brown eyes, tossed back hair-sprayed brown tresses and a plummy face, she was never the obvious pick for news anchoring, let alone the prime-time.

Back in 2011 when she was interning for AAJ TV, during her summer break from university, she was told she has a very English accent, not suitable for Urdu news casting. However undeterred she landed a spot at NewsOne and within six months, got a call from ARY, where she got hired right after auditioning. Another nine months later she was in Geo.

“It all just happened so fast, I wanted to work for Geo, and it was truly a dream come true for me, but because it happened so quickly, I never got the chance to pause and cherish it,” she says.

“Someone very high up in my former channel told me that I will never be able to host the 9pm bulletin, but I eventually did.”

But was news anchoring her ambition all along? No, she always wanted to be a host.

“I always wanted to become a morning show host, and that is how I actually had my first encounter with the camera.”

She recalls that there was a Women of Strength competition being hosted by Dr. Shaista and she wanted to participate in it. She took her mom along with her to the event, and her eccentric response that she liked Nadia Khan instead of Shaista in the competition got her praise and she got selected for the competition. A year later when she started working for Geo, she got a morning slot to try new things and since then her career trajectory has been upwards.

“When I came to Geo, I was working with such senior people, that I quickly realised that this is not just fun, I really need to become serious about work. I was young when I started working, and I never had to struggle, so even if I was getting less basic salary, I didn’t feel it because I didn’t need it at that time,” she recalls. She thinks the ability to present news is innate. “Either you are a good anchor or you’re not, it’s the eyes. When you look into the camera, either you are looking into the camera or you’re not, and if it’s the latter, you will never be able to relate to the audience, and that’s the reason a lot of anchors these days are told off that they lack confidence, because they don’t connect with the camera.” 

It was 5pm on December 16, 2014 when Rabia’s car took a turn on to Shahra-e-Faisal to go to work, that she received a call from office, to go back, as she had a flight the very next hour. She had to reach Peshawar to report on ground after that barbaric terror incident rocked Pakistan. For her, the Army Public School massacre was one of the most traumatic moments in her journalistic career.

“I was asked to go because I could speak Pushto fluently. I travelled to Islamabad and from there with Saleem Safi Sahib, I went to Peshawar to report from the ground, it was a traumatic experience,” she says.

Earlier the same year, the attack on Hamid Mir too left a denting impact on her.

But she has had some highs too, she loved the PSL commentary, and the rivalry it initiated between Karachi and Lahore, apart from all that fun and celebration whenever Pakistan won cricket matches. She believes that her coworkers at Geo are like a family, as she has learned so much from working here. When asked if she was tempted to leave and join an up-and-coming rival news channel, she says “never”.

“I did have meetings, but I was just annoyed about the too-much-ness of everything, it was unprofessional, seemed unsustainable and they didn’t know what role they wanted for me, so I made up my mind, and decided not to leave, even though Geo was going through turmoil back in those days.

“I want to work, I don’t want to be greeted with bouquets at the door, or get free mineral water supplies at home, and other such shenanigans, so it just felt off,” she reminisces when she went to meet them with her mother. 

“In future I want a show where I can connect with the audience, I want the prompter to go away from between the camera and myself”

Rabia, who was raised in Karachi, is the fourth after three brothers and belongs to a Pushtun family.

“No one from my immediate or extended family is from the media, and my father has a corporate background,” she beams. She did face some initial opposition from her extended family, when she started appearing on screen, but her parents’ unwavering support helped her achieve what she wanted.

“My father said that he had never interfered in anyone’s lives, and so nobody should do the same when it comes to his kids.”

Schooled at Whitehouse Grammar School in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi, she went on to pursue history from University of Karachi, graduating in 2013. She knew, from a very early age that she wanted to be in front of the camera, but journalism was a far-fetched idea.

“Since my school days, I was very active in extracurricular activities, at times even my grades were suffering, but I was always thinking that an event is coming up and how will I perform in it.”

When she started presenting news, she was still midway through her bachelors, and had to take a break from studies to manage her demanding schedule.

“Attending classes had become so difficult for me, because I was being stalked constantly in the university, or being followed by boys,” she points out, citing that apart from university, she has never had such an experience with people.

But she has had crazy fan encounters. “Literally crazy!” she gasps.

“A few days ago, my mom received a package at home with a gold ring in it, and an extremely expressive love letter. My mother was furious, she said ‘ye kya badtameezi hai’, and she called that guy back and returned it, scolding him over the phone,” she laughs.

Another incident occurred when she was in Islamabad to cover PTI’s dharna, and some teenager with his father followed her into the hotel.

“This kid with his father reached the hotel, even though no one knew where I was staying, and I’m still surprised how he found out; they wanted pictures with me, and then this kid posted it on Twitter, stating that he has ‘met the love of his life’,” she sniggers.

“Kamal log hain,” she says, mentioning another instance in which she was hounded by phone calls from some fan.

“I started getting calls from this guy, who confessed that he had paid some friend in the media fraternity one hundred thousand rupees just to get my phone number. I cross-checked, and it turned out to be true! I had to block every number I got a call from, and the guy eventually stopped.”

Bursting with confidence, and a thirst to try everything, Rabia is unabashedly upfront about her opinion. There isn’t a news or a situation she doesn’t have a well-informed opinion on. A day earlier, we met over late lunch to talk about her upcoming plans, just an hour before she reaches work. Her typical work day begins at six. First things first: she readies herself, followed by make-up, hair, wardrobe et cetera.

“Then I go into the newsroom, and we discuss the bulletin, and all that has been happening throughout the day. Later we go through the headlines that are ready,” she reveals, adding “at times when we have to record a pre-bulletin teaser, we do it and it gets uploaded on Facebook.”

Rabia says that even though her job is to present the news, they are also equally involved in the whole process behind the camera.

“We are at liberty to pitch in our opinion, and present stories in a different way.”

Typically, an hour ahead of the bulletin Rabia and her co-anchor, often Junaid, are already in the studio, reading through the content that they have to present. But she also has to keep an eye on the show that precedes the 9pm bulletin, whether it is Capital Talk or Naya Pakistan.

“After the bulletin, I watch Aaj Shahzaib Khanzada Ke Saath, while having dinner, and then I take a break, or watch a TV show, following which there is the 12am news, and then at 1am we close our systems to go home.”

Her perceptions about news media and journalism are clear. When I ask if she was to describe herself either as an anchor or a journalist, she quips, “I’m a journalist with an edge of presenting news in a better way!”

In the rat race for ratings, Pakistani news media has been reduced to ‘he said, she said’, and Rabia believes the same.

“My subsidiary was Mass Communication, and in my initial years, I had studied one of the fundamentals of journalism, that ‘he said, she said’, isn’t news. These days, if we have 12 headlines, nine of those would be usne ye kaha, jawab mein usne ye kaha, and then phir usne ye kaha,” she gestures in a high-pitched tone.

She believes that although right now, social media is having an impact on electronic media, in the long run, it will be social media alone.

“Right now we don’t take news from social media because we are apprehensive about its veracity or news value, but then other channels air it, and get ratings. Pakistan is too late to realise this. All over the world, due to the growth of digital media, news outlets have started hiring full-time social media teams. We should be live on social media 24/7 like we are on TV, because that’s the future!”

With almost 200k followers on Twitter, she is active on the social media front too, saying it’s a reality that the media needs to come to terms with.

“Nobody knew chai wala will become so popular, nobody knew Qandeel Baloch would get killed – these days becoming a hit or getting killed are both at the mercy of social media,” she points out.

She’s not much of a reader, but she has had her fair share of reading while growing up – from Harry Potter and the Twilight series to classic English Literature - but right now her favourite past time is binge-watching TV shows, and she is currently following Narcos.

“I like to write, and I used to maintain a diary when I was young, but after a few years when I read it, I thought how stupid I was and what if someone read everything I wrote,” she jokes. Though not much of a writer, she still makes notes every day on her phone, scribbling her day-to-day observations.

She’s not a person with money matters in her head, “I spend the most on cosmetics, friends and my mom, so I really can’t save, I’ll leave that on my to-be-husband, and that’s why I’m starting an entrepreneurial venture, Aasaniyan Makeup Studio, that will not just be a rental clothing outlet, but also a place where beautification for women will come at a low price, by using the best products.”

She plans to make it a social entity in the future that will do free make-up for girls who are getting married in shelter homes such as Edhi.

“I don’t just want this to be a go-to place for women to get economical make-up and services, but also rent out designer wear that they otherwise cannot afford; it’ll be one of its kind,” she says, excited about her project on the personal front.

After six years in the news media, is this all that she wants to do in future? Rabia differs, she wants to transition from presenting the news, to having her own show.

“I want a show where I can connect with the audience, I want the prompter to go away from between the camera and myself,” she expresses, adding that she wants to do a show that’s a fusion of Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres.

Will that transition come after she ties the knot? “Yes, may be, I don’t know!” she laughs. And when I ask when that’ll happen, she smiles, “May be in a year or so, my mom and dad have asked me and I’ve told them.”

So will that someone be from the media? “Never, I know the kind of life that male journalists have, so I’ll never marry someone from media,” she chuckles, taking the last sip of her piña colada.

“We are at liberty to pitch in our opinion, and present stories in a different way”

Make-up: Aasaniyan
Photography: Rohail Khalid