The Heart Of Beauty- Femina

She's lived half her life all over the globe, yet when she competes at Miss World 2005, Sindhura Gadde's beauty will be fiercely Indian. As it was at the Pond's Femina Miss India Contest 2005 where her Kiwi accent was strangely at odds with her heart-shaped Indian features. Yet the girl who was born and brought up for the first 10 years of her life in Vijaywada, and who then travelled across the world before settling down in New Zealand, believes that that exposure to the East and West will aid her immensely in "representing India in a comprehensive, appealing way to the Western world. At one point, the thought did cross my mind that my accent could hold me back," she adds, "but as the day drew closer, I realised that it would be an advantage since the ultimate aim is not just to be Femina Miss India, but to bring home an international crown."
And since she intends to do just that, the 20-year-old's varied experience will stand her in good stead - she has a double degree in physiology and pharmacology, she has been a newsreader with a New Zealand national programme for eight months, tutored Korean children in maths, English and science, and her chosen pastimes include snowboarding and ice skating. For her talent round, she did a stint of news reading and then broke out into a jazz rendition of Alicia
Keyes' 'Fallen'...
Six months ago, when she decided to explore her 'market' - India - she resolved to be part of a programme that promised to "groom, refine and prepare contestants to take on the world with elegance and grace to represent our country." Coming from a fashion and media background, she had a head start, but she still found the Pond's Femina Miss India training "brilliant". It was the epitome of discipline - we would wake at five and only get to bed after 10 each night; we were on a strictly vegan diet; we worked vigorously." And Sindhura worked herself even harder. "I believe in competing with myself, rather than with my contemporaries or predecessors.I believe in preparing every day to be a little better in myself." Candidly, she admits that for the last question, all her preparation went out the window. "My answer came from my heart - I lost my grandmom to cancer three years ago, and coming from a medical background, inventing a cure for cancer was the first thing that came to mind. And it did win me a Pond's Femina Miss India-Universe title, after all."
And in the time soon after that win, Sindhura admits that she thought not predictably of the Miss World crown, but of friends and family, her fellow contestants..."I was shaking and crying - again unexpectedly for me..." Since those tumultuous moments, she has been occupied with events, a hometown tour - all the nitty-gritties of "filling the shoes of a Pond's Femina Miss India. I plan too, to be involved with the Cancer Society of India with a blood and ribbon drive..." And so in Femina Miss India- World 2005, the subcontinent can assure itself that it has won an ambassador with a beautiful heart as well.