The lackadaisical performance of India in the past few years has pushed India into its colonial mentality. Instead of being analytical, the nation simply cringed into the world of inferiority. The inferiority virus did spread like a plague infecting a primetime news host after asking if Indian women are no longer beautiful, including an article that suggests that the victory of India in the pageantry world was a coy to lure Indians to buy cosmetics.
It was like a reflex. Indians instantaneously looked inward not outward. So it could have been a surprise to most of them that Vanya Mishra managed to be in the Top 7 of Miss World 2012 contest. All of the sudden India is back on the game!
And as the year comes to close, India is making great strides in particular with its new albeit inexperience pageant named I Am She. The pageant, under the command of Sushmita Sen, Miss Universe 1994, had been sending India’s candidate to Miss Universe since 2010. It had a wrong start but this year, it is reinforcing the notion that India is slowly coming back to its senses by crowning Urvashi Rautela.
Defying the notion that I Am She is always choosing the wrong girl, Urvashi is not only physically endowed with enormous beauty but she is also an experienced woman in the field of international pageant. She already won an international pageant competition in China.
But all these bright spots that are slowly lifting India from the quagmire is being undermined by the tide of typical Indian pessimism and apathy. For example, ZeeNews headlined the Miss World 2012 as “Vanya Mishra loses the pageant to Miss China”.
The need for a more positive approach and a sunnier disposition is a must for India if it is to fully regain its status as a beauty superpower. Urvashi for example needs support, not negativity, if Indians want her to be successful in ending the Miss Universe drought.
Colin Powell once told Jon Stewart that he believe that things will get better in the morning, and it isn’t so much about having things being sorted out overnight but rather it is an attitude. But if the Indians have a Dev Patel-esque outlook, they will surely have to wait till the end for things to be alright.
