BANGALORE, 12 October 2003 — Nimmon Nilakantan, a housewife and mother of two is shedding the traditional image of a doting daughter-in-law to compete in the Mrs India beauty pageant.
In a country where a majority of women rarely step out of their homes without covering their head with a veil, Nilakantan, 43, represents a new generation of women who want to hog the limelight.
Forty other married women have ventured to take part in the first leg of the contest in the southern city of Bangalore.
“Indian women have long been suppressed. It is time men recognize we are capable of achieving anything we set our minds to,” Nilakantan said. “If they do not, they will be left behind.” The final contest of the fourth edition of Mrs India will be held in the financial capital of Bombay on Nov. 22.
A total of 22 finalists will be picked from the preliminary rounds over the weekend in other cities including Calcutta and New Delhi.
Britannia Industries, an Indian food and beverages company in association with a lifestyle magazine called Glagrags are organizing the contest. Beauty contests have been proliferating in India in recent years, provoking loud protests from women’s groups, which see them as vehicles of commercial exploitation.
A Miss World contest organized in Bangalore in 1996 saw several days of noisy rallies by women’s groups seeking the scrapping of the contest, which however went ahead, thanks to expensive security.
Gender discrimination is common in India, with female infanticide and dowry deaths, in which newly married women who fail to front up with sufficient dowry are mysteriously found burnt to death in their kitchens, rampant in many parts. A wide gulf separates the lives of the urban elite and rural women.
The organizers of the contest said their ideal candidates would be independent women with strong values and personality.
“The pageant is a celebration of the Indian wife as a role model — a wife, an achiever and a complete woman,” said Jean Biswas, spokeswoman for the contest. Devika Dinakar, another contestant, said mothers were the best spokeswomen for beauty.
“An Indian woman brings up her child, looks after the daily household chores and still finds time to indulge herself in her hobbies which she finds satisfying. This was unheard of some time ago,” she said.
Dinakar, 35, is a rookie pilot and indulges in hang-gliding and para jumping in her spare time and works as consultant for a fitness school. “Previously men had a say in everything that happens at home and we had to support their every decision. Now that has changed and it is we who are able to dictate terms,” Dinakar said.
Shivani Dutta, 23, got married three months ago and said her “supportive” husband, a chartered accountant, had given her enough “freedom” to achieve what she wanted.
“I was always being told by my elders what to do. That stage has gone. Indian women should realize life never stops after marriage,” said Dutta, dressed in a saree with mirrorwork.
Komal Ramchandani, 38, a freelance photographer, said taking part in the contest was the realization of a dream. “I left my in-laws’ house to realize this. Now my husband is like a security guard. He follows me and sits out when I shoot. I never thought this day would come in my life,” Ramchandani said.
