UAE-born Miss Universe India Kaziah Liz Mejo on Abu Dhabi dream, chasing shawarma and Shah Rukh Khan hopes

Dubai: When I arranged to meet Miss Universe India Kaziah Liz Mejo during her homecoming in UAE, the choice was between a coffee shop and a salad bar in Dubai Media City. I chose the latter, imagining that a beauty queen weeks away from the Miss Universe stage would probably be watching every that she ate.

Turns out, I had spectacularly misread the room. Kaziah would have happily met over KFC or McDonald’s. And the salad I had so thoughtfully ordered? There was another complication: the crown.

Fun fact from life as Miss Universe India: eating while wearing that rather magnificent piece of hardware wasn't crown protocol or etiquette. Kaziah told me she couldn’t tuck into food with the bedazzled crown on, although sipping water was manageable. So much for my carefully considered salad-bar strategy, and so the food format was swiftly ditched. We talked instead and we talked about food, a lot.

Because beneath the crown is an Abu Dhabi girl who had one very specific craving when she returned to the city where she grew up: a proper Arabic shawarma.

“That was actually the first meal I had when I landed back ,” Kaziah told me.

“That is my go-to Arabic favourite and is my must-have because you’re always craving a good, authentic Arabic shawarma.”

She even reeled off some of her favourite Abu Dhabi shawarma haunts, before our conversation eventually circled right back to the sinfully unhealth, but delicious KFC and McDonald’s best-sellers.

By the end of the interview, we were both hungry enough for Kaziah to declare: “We really need to get that bucket of fried chicken'.

But food was merely the lighter thread running through a conversation about a considerably bigger moment in the 19-year-old's life. The UAE-raised Kaziah is now Miss Universe India, carrying a country’s hopes onto one of pageantry’s biggest stages.

And behind the sparkle is a young woman studying law, advocating against period poverty, dreaming of Bollywood and determined to prove that beauty, brains and ambition don't have to exist in separate boxes.

How Abu Dhabi shaped Miss Universe India Kaziah Liz Mejo

For Kaziah, the UAE wasn’t merely the backdrop to her childhood. Growing up in Abu Dhabi helped shape her understanding of India and what it means to represent the country beyond its borders.

“Being able to be born and brought up in the Gulf, it is such an honour because I get to see first-hand how India is viewed internationally, how India is seen across the world,” she said.

Living in a city populated by people from across the globe also meant that questions about identity began long before there was a crown on her head.

“Even without the crown, as a little girl, I’m representing India because the first question after my name, they ask, ‘Where are you from?’ And I say, ‘India.’”

The answer rarely ended there. She would explain where in India she came from, the languages spoken and inevitably; the food.

“I introduce them to Kerala porottas,” she said. “I bring a piece of home everywhere, so I was always representing India.”

In many ways, Abu Dhabi gave her an early education in being Indian abroad. She learnt to articulate where she came from while simultaneously being exposed to cultures far beyond her own.

“Most importantly, I’m able to interact with people from all walks of life,” she said.

That multicultural upbringing, she believes, has become an asset as she prepares to represent India on a much bigger international stage.

“I want to be a flag bearer of India in everything that I do,” she said.

But Abu Dhabi isn't just the city that shaped her. It is still where she comes back to exhale.

“Just the life here,” she said when I asked what she looked forward to about returning.

“I feel like you experience the most peak life here. You experience everything that you want to.”

“You get to choose what kind of life you want to live when you’re in Abu Dhabi and when you’re in the UAE.”

And amid the frenzy of pageant preparations, there was something even more basic she wanted from this homecoming: time with her family and a fleeting return to normality.

“I’m also excited to be with my family and meet them and just be home for a bit and kind of relax and wind down and be Kaziah.”

It was only a brief breather because she was leaving the following day to resume preparations for Miss Universe, but it neatly captures her relationship with the city.

India may be the country she will represent on the Miss Universe stage, but Abu Dhabi is the place that taught her what representing India abroad could mean; and the place where she can still come home and simply be Kaziah.

From ‘Om Shanti Om’ to Bollywood dreams

So is Bollywood on her radar?

“For me, I’ve always loved to be in front of the camera. To be an actress is one of my biggest dreams as well, and I hope that dream comes true,” she said.

And there’s a distinctly Bollywood origin story to that ambition.

Om Shanti Om, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, was among the first Hindi films that left an impression on her.

“That was actually the movie that sparked my interest to be an actress as well,” she said.

“I felt something when I saw that film, and that film always stayed with me.”

Kaziah also cites Indian beauty queens who went on to build careers far beyond pageantry; including Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen, Priyanka Chopra, Harnaaz Sandhu and Manushi Chhillar; as inspirations.

Beauty queen, law student and school topper

Kaziah is also studying law and is emphatic about the importance of education.

Her parents, she said, always insisted academics and extracurricular ambitions should exist alongside each other rather than compete.

That discipline was tested when she entered pageantry while still at school.

“I’m very stubborn when it comes to something that I want,” she said.

She was equally determined to challenge the stereotype that a young woman interested in beauty and pageantry couldn't also excel academically.

“I’m not going to lack in my studies or prove to people that girls that are pretty or girls that do this sort of industry are dumb, or whatever that misconception is,” she said.

Kaziah says she graduated as her school topper and scored 100 out of 100 in psychology.

“Despite being a Miss Universe and everything, education is as much important as that is, so prioritising growth is very, very important.”

Using the Miss Universe India crown for something bigger

The crown, for her, isn't supposed to be purely ornamental.

She has spent almost four years working on advocacy related to period poverty and creating sustainable menstrual hygiene options for underprivileged communities — work she stresses began before she became Miss Universe India.

“We have one life, and it’s so important that you leave an impact,” she said.

“You’re remembered for what you’ve done for the people, for the impact that you created — not just for your name and how you look, but for the person that you were and for the change that you were able to bring to the world.”

Her decision to study law is tied to that same ambition to create tangible change.

‘That stage has been calling my name’

If the prospect of stepping onto the global Miss Universe stage terrifies her, Kaziah hides it remarkably well. In fact, she insists she isn't nervous.

“I feel the most myself, the most calm, in that silence when I’m on stage,” she said.

“I feel like I belong, and I feel like that stage has been calling my name for too long. It’s time that I answer it.”

She also understands that when she walks onto that stage, she isn't thinking only about herself.

“To me, I believe that I’m representing more than 1.4 billion people,” she said.

“I’m representing all the Indians that have had to immigrate from their country, from their home, for better opportunities.”

For a woman who grew up as part of the Indian diaspora in Abu Dhabi, those words carry a lot of weight.

“I hope that I do you proud and I bring the crown of Miss Universe back to India and back, of course, to the UAE.”

And if she does?

We already have our next interview planned.

This time, I promised her, there will be no salad bar. We’re meeting at KFC or McDonald’s — hopefully with another crown at the table.

For now, though, Kaziah has a rather bigger date to keep.

The Miss Universe stage is calling. And, as she puts it, it’s time to answer.