Ban on beauty contests

Sir, - This refers to your Editorial ``Beauty and the ban'' (Dec. 16). The ban on the beauty pageants by the Uttar Pradesh's BJP Government should be welcomed by all sections of society including women.

The sickening regularity with which nubile lasses from India are walking up the podium makes us wonder if the nation of 1000 millions is being taken for a ride by the MNCs eyeing the clientele which, according to statistics released by their media, spends Rs. 1,600 crores through credit cards, guzzles down 228 crore bottles of beverages, sprinkles 15,100 tonnes of talcum powder and consumes 3,800 tonnes of potato chips and undertakes one crore air journeys.

Notwithstanding BJP's double standards on swadeshi, it must be admitted that practices as abhorrent as beauty contests which exploit femininity and youth must be abruptly stopped, however crude the action might appear.

Post-liberalisation India had indeed nothing to warrant a spurt in beauty, at least of the non-cosmetic variety. This makes one suspect if the beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder of the vast market opportunities India offers.

With yet another Miss World shaking hands with VIPs, walking down ramps, jetting across the country, hapless millions must be ready for another thousand products being foisted on them. Her flashy smiles and glitzy lifestyle would only unleash a cyclone of mass cloning by millions of young girls who will emaciate themselves to physical ruination in pursuit of exacting standards.

This reminds us of the fiat from the Miss World Inc. to the 1996 Miss World from Venezuela, Alicia Machado, to cut those 12 extra kilos that she had put on in violation of the agreement to retain the title for a year. The lady risked losing all that she had been promised while signing with the sponsoring corporates.

As is our wont of overdoing what the West does, one does not know when such pageants go sleazy. And in this case, the prime target of lust of sponsors and fixers would not be merely money, but honour and youth too. Can we afford this?

M. A. Siraj,

Bangalore

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