Beauty with a Purpose
Miss India (World), Aditi Arya talks about her journey to success and what it takes to stay calm in stressful situations
By : saumya bhatia
Update: 2015-04-18 23:45 GMT
It’s a childhood dream of many young girls who dream of becoming a beauty queen. This is where the similarity ends for this year’s winner of Miss India (World) Aditi Arya. Twenty-one-year-old Aditi never dreamt about wearing the crown, it wasn’t her childhood wish, for her the pageant became a platform to voice her opinions. She reveals, “Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be an opinion maker and wanted to have influence over people’s thoughts. For me, the means really didn’t matter. I didn’t know that Miss India could be a way to reach out to people. It was six months ago that my friends and family pushed the thought in my head to enter the pageant and as I read more about it, I realised that it’s the best and fastest way you can have an impact on people’s opinion. This desire to be heard and to be able to be the voice of India and represent it as a delegate at as many platforms as possible got me here.”
So while for Aditi this was a medium to be heard, it was a different place for her to be in where nearly every girl has her eyes set on the crown. She is mature and insightful to see the small steps that brought her to where she is. Talking about three key factors that led her to believe she could be a winner, Aditi shares, “First was the online support that I got from people who were rooting for me. It motivated me to give my best. Secondly, somewhere I had an idea of what an ideal beauty queen should be like and I actually met that criteria, I wasn’t faking it. The third and the biggest factor was, without even planning, I happened to be there.
It was as if destiny just held my hand and took me there. Looking back at all the events, like I was trying for a certain job but got a different job instead. Luckily, I found a workspace (she’s working as a research analyst with Ernst & Young), which is very flexible in the work arrangements. I felt that if destiny is being so kind to me, it will continue to be so.”
When asked to describe the feeling when she was crowned the winner, Aditi laughs and says, “I was frozen for the next few seconds. My mind had travelled to a different dimension altogether. Honestly, I didn’t expect this, for someone who probably has been thinking about this ever since she was a kid, it might have been different, she would have imagined herself being crowned, but I did not. It happened within a very short span of time and before I could register it, I had the crown on my head.”
Her friends, family are elated, but for Aditi it’s her little sister’s smile that means much more than anything. “My younger sister Diya is the happiest. For a 12-year-old it’s very awe-inspiring to see her older sister being crowned on the stage. She looked up to me even when I was nothing.”Aditi has already started her training for Miss World, at the same time, she’s also focused on further studies. She will be pursuing her MBA from the Indian School of Business and has enrolled for the year 2016-2017. Striking a balance between different aspects, she says, “Since I work from home, that obviously slashes my salary down ,but I am comfortable with this. If there’s a training session that gets intensified too much, I will take my loss of ‘pay leaves’. I am prepping for Miss World and a crown by itself doesn’t really do it.
You have to supplement it with your own personality and thoughts. When you come from an educational background that is very strong, opinions that you have tend to have a lot of substance. And I don’t want to lose that substance by quitting my job or my education plan that I have with the ISB. The education supplements the crown and the crown supplements education. I can create wonders with such a combination. We all talk about changing the world, but simply studies can’t really help you do that. You need to draw attention to yourself which I am doing through my crown and the education that I have will be able to help me make those actions worthwhile.”
When asked who’s her role model in life? Pat comes the reply, “Priyanka Chopra. Just like me, she doesn’t believe in restricting herself. She is utilising her potential in every way possible through her social work, acting, singing, representing India at the United Nations. I want to live a life like that where I am not defining life, my capabilities and opportunities define it for me.”