Upon hearing that Lara Dutta (21) won the Miss Universe pageant on 13 May, I conducted a small, unscientific poll. asked several of my South Asian friends in the United States if they had heard the 'sensational' news: most had, this within hours of the announcement in Nicosia, Cyprus. Then I asked a host of non-South Asians, and I checked the US newspapers. I drew a blank. No one| seemed interested.
So what is Miss Universe, this annual pageant that makes the Indian media go all barmy ("Lara Dutta's sister says she used to love posing for photographs as a child")? And even bring forth this frothy homage from Prime Minister ABV: "I wish to congratulate you on your winning the Miss Universe contest. Your success is a tribute to the Indian woman and her aspirations for excellence."
Founded right after World War II, the Miss Universe jamboree is the junior partner to the Miss World contest. The latter was created by Eric and Julia Morley in 1951 as a promotional device for Morley's company, Mecca, which he likes to call a "leisure group"—travels, entertainment, etc., all, of course, at a high price. In 1970, Julia Morley had this brainwave of coining the phrase "Beauty with a Purpose", thus thrusting what was essentially a parochial British television event into the world stage.
The Miss Universe contest, in comparison, was much smaller, and remained far less 'prestigious' until CBS television and the maverick New York City real estate developer Donald Trump took over the enterprise in late 1996. They chaperoned the contest into the age of liberalisation, in direct rivalry with the UK's Miss World. It is funny, therefore, to hear Trump on the contest: "There is nothing to compare with the Miss Universe organisation. We have a rich history of bringing together some of the most impressive, beautiful and interesting women from many backgrounds and cultures and then helping them achieve their goals."