Sharing in Parvathy's success

Parvathy Omanakuttan, who won the Pantaloon Femina Miss India World 2008, has set Keralites talking. And they are still talking and talking and talking…

Within minutes of her being crowned Miss India World 2008, websites catering to Keralites were working overtime and for good reason.

Parvathy is the first Malayali to become Miss India World. The statuesque 20-year-old hails from Changanacherry in Kottayam district, but is currently based in Mumbai.

Simarn Kaur Mundi won the contest and the title of Miss India Universe 2008, while Harshita Saxena won the title of Miss India Earth.

"It is a great feeling and is something that is beyond expression. I would say there is no better high than seeing your dreams become reality," said a beaming Parvathy, an English Literature graduate from Mithibhai College in Mumbai.

"I was just seven when I saw Sushmita [Sen] and Aishwarya [Rai] winning the pageant. I decided then that one day I would also be like them.'"

What won her the place of Miss India World 2008 was apparently her views on marital relations. Asked whether the rise in the divorce rate in India was a result of Western influence, she said: "Divorces are not the result of Western influence.

At the end of the day it is we who decide one's worth. Marriage is not when one completes the other, but when both share their completeness."

'Sweet girl'

It was her composed answer that set her apart from the rest, and her teachers and former classmates distinctly remember her for that quality.

"She was very sweet and above average," her former teacher told Gulf News from Mumbai.

"Parvathy was quietly confident, you know, the determined type," she said, adding that the "sweet girl" was popular among friends.

Moments after being crowned, Parvathy told television audiences in India: "I always had confidence in myself and my parents have always taught me that when you do something it should be done with your whole heart."

Her friends and neighbours in Mumbai would vouch for that. For months she had wholeheartedly worked to get in shape for the contest.

Her Andheri neighbours recalled how, early in the morning, they used to come across Parvathy, drenched in sweat, jogging around their neighbourhood with her mother in tow.

She was very conscious of her health and her mother was her rock, said a neighbour.

Now all that hard work has paid off and Malayalis in her neighbourhood are a proud lot.

They reeled off their efforts in swelling the SMS vote round in the contest.

After the crowning, when the winners were approached backstage and asked how they planned to unwind, they answered in unison.

After weeks of being on a strict diet, they wanted to party hard and celebrate by indulging in chocolate pastries, brownies, ice-cream and pizzas with cheese toppings!

And how will the Malayalis celebrate?

By continuing to talk and talk and talk…