Recently in town for visit, she makes her way back shortly to her home in Karachi, Pakistan where she lives with her husband. Actually it would be true to say that she is constantly on the move. Her concerts, tours and video shoots take her to places such as England, US and India (mostly Kolkata and Mumbai). She estimates that she spends as much as seven or eight months out of Pakistan.

Shakila's first international exposure was an album of ghazals with Hariharan. The latter composed the music for Nayee Baat, while she sang. The album was a big seller in Urdu- speaking countries, particularly Pakistan, and anywhere the record label had distribution rights.

Shakila has had a busy musical career. She has recorded 20 or more music videos in Urdu and two pop music videos in English (called Illusions and Fire). She also has seven CDs to her credit--one in Bangla, titled Hridoy Binar Tare and the rest in Urdu. Citing some of the more prominent pop songs, she points to numbers such as Chori Chori and Sehra. In ghazals there are Tumhara Ishq and Abh Kise Chahen, among others.

Shakila has trained extensively in classical music. Beginning with Sanjeev Dey in the early '80s in Bangladesh, she went on to learn classical music in Mumbai with Ustad Dilshad Khan from 1990 onwards. She remains his student.

Shakila believes that the environment in Pakistan is very conducive to singing and music in general. She is of the opinion that the country is culturally rich and the people are always eager to listen to music. As a case in point, she cites the proliferation of music channels in Pakistan : Indus Music channel, The Music, The Vibes, MTV and others. Two other musical channels are in the pipeline.

"There are amazing music videos coming up in Pakistan, in terms of photography, creativity, technology, and musical quality. And you can see Pakistani music videos on B4U music, Zee music, and MTV," asserts Shakila.

She is less enthusiastic about the music video scene in Bangladesh. To quote her, "I haven't seen a music video in Bangladesh which can be called a real music video. Yesterday on television I saw a singer standing in one place near a pond and singing like we did 20 years ago on BTV. My idea of a music video is things happening: where there is professional make-up and outfits, fashion, models, actors, actresses and story going on. They are shot on the DG beta--a very advanced format of recording. There are no computer graphics and even the music is nothing to write home about."

The bottom line for Shakila is singing--despite her education in journalism. "Music is very creative. I think you are born an artiste, you can't really nurture and acquire artistry. You can't really do anything else because your heart is not in it. I believe once a musician is always a musician," she maintains.