Music career for beauty queen

Santripti Vellody, Dubai-based singer, model, actress and editor of a children's newspaper, yesterday won the Miss India Worldwide 2002 beauty pageant, defeating 25 contestants of Indian origin from 25 countries in a packed show at the International Convention Centre, Durban, South Africa.

She also won the talent round where she sang a medley of songs in several languages, including Arabic.

"I'm feeling very, very happy. I'm feeling on top of the world," Santripti told Gulf News over the telephone from South Africa yesterday, a few hours after winning the crown.

"I think I won because I wasn't false. I was natural while answering my question. I was asked should we encourage inter-racial marriages? I said I was a product of an inter-community marriage. I didn't think we'd lose out on Indian culture if we had inter-racial marriages. Instead, we could teach children of the marriage the culture of both countries," she added.

"She has really made us proud by carrying herself so well. She has always done that. Even after achieving so much so young, she is very rooted," said mother Anjali Vellody in Dubai.

Her father and her younger sister Shruti were instrumental in getting Santripti to participate in the pageant and give it her best, she added.

"I waited till two in the morning for her call. At three, I got a call from Shekhar Rahate, the pageant's national director for the Middle East region. He was very excited and kept saying 'she has won', 'she has won'....

"When I called her around one-and-a-half hours later, Santripti said 'I hope this does something for my music', because that is the field she wants to work in," Anjali added.

"I'm very happy she won this pageant because here the emphasis is on talent and intelligence rather than on vital statistics. There is no swimsuit round," she pointed out.

Rajshree Iyer of Platinum Springs, promoters of the pageant in the Middle East, said: "From the time the pageant started in 1990, there has been no winner from the Middle East. This is a great achievement for the Indian community in the entire Middle East." Rajshree and Shekhar were both accompanying Santripti.

"Santripti has won Dh3,500 from the India Festival Committee, custodians of the Miss India Worldwide pageant. She has also won airline tickets, designer outfits and a diamond pendant," Rajshree said in a long-distance call.

Santripti returned to Dubai in the early hours this morning. "I just want to sleep because I flew out to South Africa the day after winning the Miss India Middle East pageant here in Dubai," she said.