What is beauty without purpose!

What is beauty without purpose!

By — Purnima Sriram 

Last Updated: 03rd February 2018 03:15 AM 

HYDERABAD: She sauntered into the room, looking like an Indian princess in cobalt blue ensemble, embellished with heavy golden motifs by Anita Dongre. An enticing fragrance enveloped the room as she walked in. We weren’t sure if the beauty of the prestigious tiara bejeweled with tall crystals and embedded with diamonds and sapphires was accelerating her beauty or if she was enriching the crown’s glory. Manushi Chillar, the girl who brought the Miss World crown back to the country after 17 years, was in the city to promote her pet project – Project Shakthi.

Her passion to reach out to young girls and enlighten them on menstruation and menstrual hygiene is a testament to her stardust heart. She kick started the first edition of Feminine Hygiene Awareness Campaign with support from government of Telangana and eight other Miss World fame with an aim to create more awareness on the same.

Manushi, who also won ‘beauty with a purpose’ title for working on menstrual hygiene – Project Shakthi says it was not just her, but girls from a few other countries too brought the same subject to the table at the pageant. “I never gave it the name Project Shakthi. It was the people,who gave the name Shakthi. Thanks to my doctor parents, who always encouraged me to work on menstrual hygiene in rural areas. I started this initiative before Miss World. But the momentum picked up with Miss World committee giving me a platform to execute my ideologies,” she says. How thoughtful of naming it Shakthi. Shakthi means ultimate power and of course, if not for menstruation, would there be a world out there.

Having worked in hospitals and frequenting the women’s ward, she learnt about the plight of women menstruation, awareness, hygiene and taboo around the topic and also how they is ignorance prevailing around menstruation. “I was taken aback learning about the stigma. I travelled extensively around villages and schools in Haryana and Delhi to talk about the whole cycle and decode the myths for them. I was shocked to learn that women in remote areas use ash, dry wood chips, paper as substitutes for a sanitary napkin. What was more saddening was these mothers do not talk to their daughters about menstruation. Many girls confessed that they were ashamed of periods.

A few others thought that bleeding could cause death. A few girls were pulled out of schools and denied education for the same reason,” she shares. “I have personally visited a few schools to ensure these girls rejoin. I am glad, a few have already joined school again and a few other will do shortly,” she beams with gratification.

This Harayana girl who is proud of her state which has introduced great women achievers to the world, also adds that even other countries are not vocal about this issue and she is happy that India is taking steps to overcome this issue with mainstream Bollywood movies, advertisements and campaigns. Manushi is not just aiming at creating awareness about menstrual hygiene, but also taking the project a notch up by collaborating with Pari sanitary napkins and Walmart India for the availability of sanitary napkins. Manushi has donated more than 20,000 packets of sanitary napkins so far. She is making it a sustainable model by encouraging women to be entrepreneurs by trading napkins.

“This was just done in three states in North India. Now, we want to implement this model on a larger scale by taking it all over the country and also the world. I want to bring big brands to involve into this project. We want to bring more light to it,” the dimpled beauty further adds. Her mother, like any of us, is enamored by Aishwarya Rai’s beauty and of course, she kept telling her daughter about the 1994 Miss World. Little did she know,her daughter would be fascinated by her words and become Miss World, just like her favourite.

“I always wanted to be an icon for health care. But my mom never knew I would take beauty pageant to seriously. I once attended a campus beauty pageant and got selected as campus princess. I always wanted to apply for Miss India, but wasn’t sure. I wanted to prepare myself well before participating. Finally, I told myself that this year, I should go for it,” she shares while also revealing that she is currently considering the acting monster, Ranveer Singh, her favourite actor.

This 20 year-old, who lived in Bangalore for seven years, says she loves visiting south of India for its own beauty. Overwhelmed by how her life has gone topsy-turvy post Miss World, she says she is equally fervent about medicine and wishes to resume pursuing, once she accomplishes the duties of Miss World. This aspiring cardiac surgeon has no plans of venturing into Bollywood for now, but if there is any good project coming her way, she is open to embrace acting too.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/hyderabad/2018/feb/02/what-is-beauty-without-purpose-1767386.html