Miss Universe/Earth/World/India...Transvestite. Whatever!

Till a couple of years back, I used to make it a point to at least know the names of the "beauties" who had won the above mentioned contests. These days, there are so many of them that most of us don't even care. At least I don't. Just yesterday, I came across the new ones in the News. It caught my attention mainly because of the statements of one of the winners - "I am pursuing [blah blah] and I believe [blah blah] and the environment are inter-related" she says. "So I could relate to the intellectual side of the pageant very well" she adds. Makes me want to cough. What intellectual side is she exactly talking about? How to apply make-up in three easy steps? How to cat walk and how to keep your tummy tucked? Also, how to act really surprised/shocked when your name is announced and you get to do the balancing act with the tiara placed firmly on your head. Even though this is may be an extreme example, you get the point, right? Maybe I’m being too cynical here, but do we really need pageants like these? Does anyone take the winners seriously? Most of them are reduced to eye candy. All of them talk about their love for the poor and how they will go about changing the world etc., yet, none of these "social acts" done by these beauty queens get any media time. I would think that she would've spoken about the social causes that she supports in this interview, but she dutifully goes on to talk about Bollywood and her interest in pursuing a career in films. Have these beauty pageants become a tool in the hands of women who aspire to get a break in films? I think that's the situation at least in India, if not the rest of the world. The names that come to my mind are Sushmita Sen, Aishwarya Rai, Lara Dutta, Priyanka Chopra, Dia Mirza, Tanushree Dutta…I can go on and on. You get the picture.