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MUMBAI: The Dadar gurdwara is the
scene of an unlikely revolution. A svelte beauty wearing
low-waist jeans is reciting the Jap Sahib to her neighbour. At the head of the table, a team of beauty
experts is handing out customised grooming tips for the
next day's beauty pageant.
On Friday evening, 19
beautiful
Sikhnis who avoid trimming their hair and wear the shining
kada on their wrist will compete for the title of Miss
Kaur International 2009, likely the first beauty contest
in India being held exclusively for Sikh women.
Two years ago, Puran Singh Banga who heads the Sat Sri
Akaal Charitable Trust started the Mr Singh contest for
Sikh men. Now comes its female avatar, Miss Kaur
International.
Of course the aim is to promote the panth, so parents and
grandparents in traditional enclaves like Mohali and Jammu
have given their blessings to their girls. The only
semi-rebel is an airhostess from Mumbai. Believing that
her aspiration to win a beauty contest sits oddly with her
present job, she has excused herself from work saying a
prospective bridegroom was visiting her family over the
week.
The gamine assembly of participants comprises IT
professionals, insurance agents, interior designers , even
a student of animation. Miss Chandigarh is there and Miss
Mumbai too. One of them had played the part of Preeto in
the film Singh is Kinng, which last year's male
contestants had decried saying it lampooned the Sikh
religion. The ladies do not share such misgivings.
On January 8, they converged here from all parts of the
country including New Delhi, Amritsar, Jammu and Mohali.
They share living quarters at the Sri Guru Singh Sabha in
Dadar, and it is here that they are being groomed for the
contest. Meals are taken care of at the daily langar.
"We work out in the gymnasium for an hour every morning
and then pray at the gurdwara upstairs. Through the day we
learn how to walk the ramp and take part in grooming
workshops,'' says Ravneet Kaur. Incidentally, none of the
girls uses any last name other than Kaur, just like the
men stopped at Singh.
Living up to their Punjabi lineage , the sharp-featured ,
fairskinned Sikhnis would make the grade at a national
contest with a little help from tweezers and hot wax.
Although some of them have trimmed their
hair
in the past, the liberal organisers allowed them entry
after persuading them to return to the tenets of Sikhism.
"We realise we made a mistake,'' says a proud peacock
running her fingers through her streaked hair, hardly
looking contrite.
Her rival raises a pretty white finger from afar. "I'd
like to make one thing clear. We have all signed an
undertaking that we will never trim our hair henceforth.
If we do, they can take action against us,'' she says.
Truly, should the winner violate the eleventh commandment
and be caught for having cut her hair anytime in future,
she will be divested of the title.
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