For all students enrolled in Beauty School's advanced course "Cultural Anthropology of Beauty Pageants," there is a new addition to the syllabus - Making Miss India Miss World. Here's a description of the book (from amazon.com):"For almost half a century, the Miss India competition has been a prominent feature of Indian popular culture, influencing, over time, the conventional standard for female beauty. As India participates increasingly in a global economy, that standard is gradually being shaped by forces beyond the country's borders. Through the unexpected lens of the 2003 beauty pageant, Susan Dewey's Making Miss India Miss World examines what feminine beauty has come to mean in a country transformed by recent political, economic, and cultural developments.
"Dewey offers readers an up-close view of the beauty pageant through her discussion of the contestants' intense training program, a process that involves extensive physical, emotional, and cultural transformations. Covering everything from proper table etiquette to preferred skin tone, the author reveals the exacting standards set by pageant officials and reflected in Indian society. Yet she also recognizes the empowerment these women are afforded by their status as beauty symbols in a culture increasingly shaped by the visual influence of national and international media.
Well, we don't know about all that macroeconomic stuff, but we do know that Miss India did not make the cut at Miss Universe 2003 and that Diana Hayden made a dreamy, marvelous Miss World 1997.
"In dreams begin responsibility" - William Butler Yeats(and the quote that captured the Miss World crown for Diana)
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