Towards intellectual beauty?

ANNA AUDITORIUM was a trifle dilapidated. To be precise, it had bad ventilation, poor acoustics and water-stained ceiling panels.

Uncle Sam had a field day, though. Children traipsed around the aisles holding Domino's pizzas and cans of Coke or Pepsi. Public relations, a concept introduced by the American held sway. Plus, a participant in the contest hailed Bill Clinton as someone who would "really help India."

It was Miss C' 2K - the Intellectual Beauty Contest - organised by Rausche Fulbright Pan India and held on the evening of April 8 to adjudge a beauty who could also show she had grey matter.

Beauty contests are apparently catching on fast in Chennai, thanks to the string of Miss Worlds the country has produced in the last few years. "About four or five years ago, some schools did not allow their students to take part in beauty contests. But that has gradually changed. Beauty contests are finding more acceptance now," says Mr. Ashok, father of the winning contestant.

It is true that glamorous beauties sometimes get a raw deal. Commonly portrayed as a dumb blonde, Marilyn Monroe was more intelligent than her managers gave her credit for. For instance, there are probably not many people in the world who know that Monroe read Rainer Maria Rilke and was deeply influenced by his Letters to a Young Poet.

In the case of Miss C' 2K, the real problem was perhaps that the very difficult concept of "intellect" had been tagged on to a beauty contest quite unnecessarily. The show would have worked quite well as a variety programme because there was a fairly good mix of entertainment. Or even as a straight beauty contest like any other.

Intellect is a hard term to define and even harder to operationalise. Answering questions such as "What's god's greatest gift to you?" or "What would you do if you lost your purse?" or "How would you react if you got an indecent proposal from a very decent person?" could require some thinking, but not exactly of the intellectual kind.

All said, the contestants, whether intellectual or not, were definitely street-smart. First prize-winner Shamini Ashok, a student at JBAS, is in the beauty contest circuit because she thinks it will take her places.

Neetu Jessani, a student at Vaishnav College, who walked away with the Runner-up, Miss Smile and Miss Photogenic titles wants to be a professional model or fashion designer. "I pick up knowledge wherever I can and I believe in being practical," she says.

Simran Chandhok, youngest of the contestants and still a schoolgirl, won the Second Runner-Up title. She wants to have a shot at Miss World. At the same time, she may also be the most down-to-earth of the winners because she realises that beauty contest laurels are ephemeral. "I do these beauty contests as a hobby. This is not going to be my profession because it is not going to last very long. People will get tired of seeing me after a while."

NACHAMMAI RAMAN

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