The fairest of them all...

I moved back to Durban just after the new millenium to work as the Public Relations Director for the 1st Miss India Worldwide in South Africa. This was a competition including 100 girls of Indian decent from around the world. I reckon, I will never go grey again, after keeping my sanity and all my dark black main during that time of Bombay, Johannesburg, negotiations, pre-Madonna's, breyani, curries and all things bling.

I enjoyed every experience and got to work closely with two very special ladies, the then reigning Miss India South Africa and the Miss India Worldwide.  I was sometimes a driver, other times I looked like the security but most of the times I was the mover and shaker who had to facilitate and make things happen. Such fun!! So much sari and panjabi wearing for one township girl from Ntuzuma.

 Some of my duties included networking, school visits, hospital visits, prison visits and introducing the ladies to business and government leaders alike...*takes a bow*. Every African-American coming to South Africa wants to meet Madiba and so it would only be fair that one of my projects include introducing the ladies to this great man who fought for the liberation of our dear rainbow nation: South Africa.

 Sarika the Miss India Worldwide 2001 got married and became a Public Relations Officer and blossomed into the beauty that she always was. Sorisha became a celebrated individual, writing Sunday Paper articles as a journalist, hosted a radio show and left her hospitality industry career and became a soapie opera actor and then a very successful business woman. Everytime I bumped into her, I was in awe of her gregarious and humble character. She never once did a "so who are you?" or "please remind me where I know you from.?"...oooh I have had plenty of those, until the next time the schlep-britty needed a favour.

It's when I did not recognise her because she had become so fair that I started to wonder what happened to my beauty queen. She was on billboards and magazines as a model of her very own brand of soaps and skin lightning creams. This is a phenomena I have seen a lot as I grew up, the only difference is that my mothers generation used a product called He Man, that left their skin with burn like marks and very sensitive to the sun.

I am thee light and I will keep shining in my dark tanned skin thank you. I fear attracting to much attention, that's all. Either way, in the language of all beauty queens, I believe "beauty comes from within" and for the sake of world peace I just rather not be the fairest of them all.