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Yes, being Miss Mauritius was the benchmark of my life. I grew up, learnt a lot of things, met people I never thought I would have met. I'm neither from a rich family nor I slept with anyone to win it the title. I'm stating this to shut up some of you who think I bribed my way for the coveted crown. But, I soon realized that the coveted crown is a cursed crown.
Everything changes, your life, mindset and people you meet. You lose friends and people judge you in a mordant way. Long lost family will start to talk to you and you discover friends that never were there.
I was suffering from BDS - Body disorder Syndrome. Why? Because I was always told that the definition of beauty is nice white skin, beautiful hair, size zero body and a nice voice tone. I said, "Fine, I am going to prove to everyone that Beauty is not being white skinned, blonde, blue eyed ( according to most Mauritian mentality)
Beauty is what you have stored inside your heart and equally essential, what is stored in your brain. Beauty is when you smile and when you make people around you smile; when you walk, people do not recognize you as ''Miss Mauritius'' but the successful girl who made it. Beauty pageants are supposed to produce women of substance, talent, elegance, capacity, capability and faith.
Unfortunately, it is not. I thought that participating in a beauty pageant would help me prove to the world that I am different and I am happy. Alas, at the end of the day, it is all about how much money you have in your pocket - you are judged by the color of your skin, eyes and size of your body.We go through hell we are told to starve ourselves, speak in a certain way which are not our real self, state things to people which are not true, support causes that we don't actually support in real.
We are asked to shake hands with bawdy high profile people who treat us as objects, we are asked to smile when we don't want to, we are asked to pretend we are in good health when we are not, we are asked to wear things we don't because they are too revealing and we are asked to ''deal with it'' because we are bounded.
We are asked to attend functions/dinners/ceremonies even though we don't want to and backstage competition is vicious - contestants don't hesitate to undermine each other maliciously. The smiles and embraces portrayed on stage are outright fake. The competition in beauty pageants are fiercer than competition in the Olympics and the former indulges in foul play.
Beauty pageants do not acknowledge the strong character in beauty queens; it's just a parade of female bodies. Beauty pageants do not groom or nurture women - they simply garnish women as meals for voyeuristic male eyes
Beauty pageants are not what you think it is. Being strong and being who you are what matters. Being happy the way you look makes you a strong woman. Saying what you mean, you feel and what you think is what makes you progress. Beauty pageants have stringent rules; you are conditioned on how to walk, how to talk, how to smile - there is simply no scope for the women to be themselves what more express themselves! Beauty queens are nothing but assembly line products. How can you celebrate who you are, if you are not listened to, judged and condemned arbitrarily? How can you represent your country if you are oppressed yourself?
Beauty pageants are not beds of roses - they are gnarled beds of thorns and the organizers, judges, audience and the contestants themselves are snaggle toothed creatures in disguise.
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