A misnomer

Sir, - Apropos the photo caption, published on page 11 (The Hindu, July 21) of Ms. Lara Dutta of Bangalore, along with the President, Mr. K. R. Narayanan and Mrs. Usha Narayanan, which said, ``Miss Universe Lara Dutta.....'', I wish to point out that the appellation Miss Universe prefixed to Lara Dutta's name is a real misnomer.

Universe comprises at least a hundred million galaxies like our own galaxy - Milky Way - and earth is nothing but a `Winkelsternchen' (Corner Starlet) in this galaxy, to employ Thomas Mann's phraseology. So, it will undoubtedly be most inappropriate to confer the title ``Miss Universe'' on any female of the species inhabiting planet earth. At the most, one can only award the title ``Miss World'' to the winner of a truly international beauty contest.

To call Lara Dutta or for that matter any woman on earth ``Miss Universe'' will be as preposterous as equating planet earth to the Universe in its entirety, especially during these days when the existence of extraterrestrial life is deemed possible.

K. M. Chitharanjan,

Calicut

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