Toronto, July 28, 2004
Ashok Agarwal
Parul Sharma, 19 years old, from Ottawa has been crowned Miss India-Canada
2004. It was a glittering ceremony here. She was chosen from among the
16 finalists of the 14th annual pageant organised by Canada-India Beauty
Quest. She was crowned by outgoing 2003 Miss India-Canada. Paru Sharma
plans to pursue a career in law or business administration and now an
undergraduate at the University of Ottawa.
The ceremony was attended by Canada's Minister for Health Ujjal Dosanjh,
Indian film star Dino Morea, Canadian MPs Gurbux Malhi and Ruby Dhalla,
Indian Consul General in Toronto Divyabh Manchanda, popular Indian television
host, and former Miss India-Canada Ruby Bhatia as well as Kush Agnihotri,
president of Canada-India Beauty Quest. More than 800 guests attended
the the ceremony, who paid $100 a ticket.
Top five finalists - Farah Bhanji, Monika Chandan, Tara Omaid, Dimple
Sharma, and Parul Sharma were chosen from the group of 16 contests.
The director of operations, Mr. Sanjay Agnihotri said this year's winner
will visit the Canadian Cancer Society apart from doing other charitable
work.
Finding another use for
beauty
Defying the trend, Canada's ethnic communities are throwing
beauty pageants like never before
Toronto, July 28, 2004
ANDREW MILLS
Toronto Star
Backstage, a half-hour before the start of the Miss India-Canada Pageant,
Navroop Gill, a.k.a. contestant No. 7, is having second thoughts as
the team of hairstylists redoes her hair for the third time.
"I am not liking this any more," she muttered through clenched
teeth. "I was meant to study, not to do this."
Gill researches congenital heart defects at the Hospital for Sick Children,
has twice been published by the American College of Cardiology Journal,
and is going to optometry school in the fall. She's 23.
Sixteen contestants, pulled from fields such as entertainment, computer
engineering and business management, had come to Brampton Friday night
to vie for the crown they hoped would be a springboard to bigger things.
At a time when beauty pageants like Miss Universe and Miss America
are being pushed to the margins of popular culture, ethnic communities
in Canada are throwing pageants like never before, and they're not just
about beauty and talent.
"Evening gowns, where are we? Hell-oooo," called out pageant
choreographer Eda Cucakovich. "Okay. Relax your fingertips. Good.
Now chin up." It was mid-afternoon on Friday and the 16 contestants
were rehearsing their walk down the runway stage.
Cucakovich, a matronly woman dressed all in black and with disorderly
red curls, reigned as Miss CHIN Italia in 1976. She is not Indian but
she relives her pageant days by co-ordinating pageants like this one,
which she has worked on for 12 years.
Judges for the Miss India-Canada Pageant have chosen the 16 contestants
from a pool of 50 or so applicants. They each had to be 18 to 28 years
old, residents of Canada, of Indian origin and single. After paying
a $500 entry fee, they came to Brampton on Wednesday where Cucakovich
sequestered them in an airport hotel for two days to teach them to walk
and talk like beauty queens.
Friday afternoon was their final chance to rehearse the opening dance,
the segments in both evening gowns and traditional Indian outfits (there
was no bathing-suit component, since organizers deemed it too racy for
Canada's conservative Indian community) and the three-minute talent
competition.
Gill was to sing an Indian song. Parul Sharma, who entered the pageant
hoping it would help launch her musical career, was to sing a pop song
she co-wrote. Others planned to dance, some in a classical Indian style,
others to hip-hop moves.
While the contestants rehearsed, Sanjay Agnihotri, 26, was running
around ensuring that everything was in order. Were the microphones in
the right place? Was there an iron to get the wrinkles out of the contestants'
saris? Where would the Consul General of India sit?
"It's a bit crazy," he said. His father started the pageant
14 years ago, "at the time when Miss Canada was going out of fashion,"
Agnihotri said, referring to the cancellation of the pageant in 1992
because of faltering TV and advertiser interest, and rising feminist
condemnation.
"I don't understand these feminists and their blah blah blah,"
choreographer Cucakovich said, taking a break from the rehearsal. "These
girls asked to be on stage. They want to be there."
While some Canadians might still see beauty pageants as degrading to
women, many outside of North America don't share the same view, Agnihotri
said, which explains the boom in ethnic pageants in Canada. "They
regard it as something more, that leads a person to bigger and better
things," he said.
Immigrants import that embrace of beauty pageants to Canada, and pageants
become a way to connect with the culture of the home country, said Jimmy
Steele, a Canadian pageant coach. "There are dozens of these events,"
Steele said, listing off Miss Nigeria, Miss Malta and the biggest pageant
in Canada, Miss Chinese Toronto.
"Oh, it's amazing," Cucakovich gushed. "The Chinese
people have money. When they do something, they do it top-class."
At 7 p.m., the banquet hall was filled with 800 guests, most of them
Indian, who paid $100 each for a ticket
In attendance was Ruby Dhalla, the newly elected member of Parliament
for Brampton-Springdale, who finished second in the 1993 pageant. "Whether
it's in entertainment or media or law or politics," Dhalla said,
"this pageant is such a platform."
Also there was Ruby Bhatia, who was crowned Miss India-Canada in 1993
and became a famous TV personality in India. "When I went to India,
it was like a password," Bhatia said. "Whenever I said I was
Miss India-Canada, I would get into appointments and auditions."
She credits the pageant with "making my life and my career."
But backstage, Navroop Gill was still not so sure. As the stylists
put the finishing touches on her long black hair, she was in a trance,
mouthing the words to the song she would sing in the talent competition.
Beside her, Nazneen Mehta was also having a hair crisis. Too much frizz.
She called for her mom.
Not all of the contestants were so anxious. "I'm not taking this
too seriously, you know," said Rajni Bhal, 23. "Well, not
as seriously as some of the other girls."
By 8:30 everyone's hair was in place and the contestants gathered in
the dressing room for one last moment together.
"Remember what I told you, girls. You're 16 winners," Cucakovich
said. "The cards will fall where the cards will fall."
Several hours later, with most of the pageant out of the way, a crestfallen
Nazneen Mehta was sitting on the floor, resting her head on her knees
and looking blankly out on stage where the judges were tabulating scores.
"How are you doing?" someone asked.
She hesitated and then forced that beauty-queen smile one last time.
"I'm fine," the 22-year-old said. "Really. I'm fine."
Mehta now knew she would not be crowned Miss India-Canada. The judges
had picked the five finalists, and the tension in the banquet hall was
for them, not for her.
In the end, the title went to Parul Sharma, the slight 19-year-old
who entered the pageant hoping to launch her music career. There were
hugs, tears, flowers and a rhinestone crown for her.
For Navroop Gill, who didn't place, there seemed to be relief.