The jewel-bedecked crowns of international beauty pageants bring with them certain social and moral obligations that the winners vehemently promise to keep.
Often in the crucial last round contestants become very vocal about dedicating a good part of their time, energy and money towards causes like upliftment of the poor and downtrodden, spreading literacy, doing that extra bit for the girl child, so on and so forth.
It is now Miss Universe Lara Dutta’s turn to talk and promise. Lara is not talking of illiteracy, poverty or even shouting anti-drug slogans. The beautiful woman has decided to work towards eradicating AIDS and promote gender equality.
Spreading an awareness of AIDS itself is a Himalayan task but Lara is confident she will be able to do it. Having noticed the inequality women face in reproductive rights in rural India, Lara will use her crown to uphold women’s rights and create gender equality.
In the recent past, Indian winners of the coveted crowns in international beauty pageants like Sushmita Sen, Aishwarya Rai, Diana Hayden and Yukta Mookhey have all spelt out causes they would dedicate themselves to. How many promises, in actuality, have been kept or how much of the work has been done is of course, debatable.
No sooner than they win the crowns, beauty queens plunge into showbiz and end up being either top models or film actresses. Recently Yukta Mookhey joined the bandwagon of beauty queen-turned actresses. Though Lara looks determined to keep her promises with the help of the ‘Miss Universe’ title, only time will tell how far she succeeds.
The jewel-bedecked crowns of international beauty pageants bring with them certain social and moral obligations that the winners vehemently promise to keep. 