Bengaluru's Beauty Queens With A Purpose

Uneasy is the head that wears the crown. Meet these city girls who are fabulous at their age and have crossed all hurdles to follow their dreams and win coveted titles with their sheer grit and determination.

- Namita Gupta

THE FIRST STEP: Coming from Mangalore, I had a lot of role models, although participating in a pageant was nowhere in my thoughts. A dear friend, grooming expert and pageant winner Veena Bhat played a role in influencing my decision.

THE TURNING POINT: Having won the Mrs India United Nation crown, the next step was taking it further and participating in an international pageant. I just had three months to prepare ahead of the Mrs Global International pageant at Moscow, Russia. There were three categories of Miss, Queen and Classic. There were contestants from 30 countries. There were 16 contestants in the Classic category. I had already toned down and my body was in good shape, I just had to keep the momentum going. On the flip side there was too little time and so much to do. There were a series of trial and fitting sessions with my designers, dance choreography sessions, fitness and training sessions. I had to work on my diet and nutrition, and all the while keep my mind active yet composed.

THE CHALLENGES: Most contestants were pretty tall, but height is something one can’t change. So, now the focus was on putting my best foot forward in all other aspects of the competition - the introduction, the interview, the group discussions, the talent round and question and answer round. The difficulty was in remembering the dance choreography. I also learnt the art of makeup. Being pretty hardworking and sincere, I believe that a majority of your success is attributed to hard work and your karmic destiny plays a role too although miniscule. I let my work do the talking. I am very Indian in my thoughts and in my choice of outfits, so that's what I played best.