A Woman's Anthem

In a country where a woman's life is a walkathon, talkathon, marathon of pain and suffering, an elevation of anyone of the sisterhood gives rise to an extreme sense of pride, a jingoistic emotional upper, that perhaps only the paen of the national anthem summons from within the psyche.

On Saturday morning, at about the time the temples of India swell to the sounds of the `Suprabhatam', or the awakening of the Lord, I was glued to Zee TV beaming a Miss World brimming with elan, beauty and confidence, Priyanka Chopra.

Beauty pageants may seem passe to some but the visual treat of ninety-odd beauties from globe over is a voyeuristic feast that few can be immune to. Priyanka, a name that I have a tremendous partiality to, won the contest due in no mean measure, to pert cheeky answers, her stunning Hemant Trivedi evening dress and a basking in the `sun of my Indianess confidence' that oozed through her every pore.

When asked the final question by Jerry Springer, the machiavelli of television, `which living woman would you like to emulate and why'? she responded by waxing lyrical on Mother Teresa. Living perhaps Mother is not, but she is surely one of the all time greats that live forever in each one of us. And when she is cannonised, a Saint will be worshipped world over.

Perhaps if a question had been posed to me and `living lady' was a moot point, my vote would have gone to Hillary Clinton. This lady has been to hell and back while being the First Lady, yet being helpless to stop the vilification of her husband by Monica Lewinsky and the Grand Jury.

Here is a woman, who despite being in the eye of the storm, bore her humiliation and went to bid for a humble seat in the Senate. I say humble only because she has been First Lady for two terms, very, very, close to the most powerful man in the world. In pitching to be Senator of New York, she took on the formidable mayor of New York Gullianni, but he had to withdraw from the race due to cancer. And the rest as they say is history or her story. My own intuition tells me that she will be the first lady President of the United States, but we will have to wait till 2004 for that.

Back to the contest, no other finalist came close in the wit and clever turn of phrase department and Priyanka deserved the crown as she was the odds on favourite even with the eagle sharp bookies in London, no mean feat that.

Yukta Mookhey, the outgoing Miss World, was crisp yet emotional when she recounted her wonderful year as Miss World. And, adulation apart, hoped she had brought some joy to the less fortunate that she interacted with on her innumerable missions of charity. Her quick repartee had host Jerry Springer remark `Are, you angling for my job next year this time?' compliment from one of the quickest men of wit and repartee.

Renuka Chaudhary and her threat to drive a tractor to Parliament to espouse the cause of the farmers woes in India found flavour in most of the national dailies, as did her brevity with words when she said `Men were like Kleenex tissue paper. You use it and throw it away'. Great guns gal! Keep it up.

Another salvo fired from the women's brigade this week that had the men at McCann Erikson scuttling for cover was Clarinda D'souza's 1.61 crore plaint for sexual harassment against her bosses. Now that the Apex Court has clearly defined sexual harrassment as retribution. There are millions of women from all walks of life who put up with sexual harassment in one form or the other -- to each and every one of them Clarida represents the voice that spoke up for the oppressed and harassed.

Another lady, who is a friend from my days in sunny Singapore, is Catherine de Montferrand -- the wife of H.E. Bernard de Montferrand, the new Ambassador of France to India. Catherine is warmth and spontaneity, combined with a chic French dressing sense, has a regal bearing that doesn't stop her from reaching out to help anyone in need. She is going to storm Delhi in her classic inimitable style in the days to come.

At a reception hosted in Mumbai last week to welcome his excellency H.E. Montferrand, the Ambassador, and Catherine, the Rendezvous at the Taj was brimming with Mumbai's `A' list all there to meet Bernard and Catherine and welcome them to our city.

I hope to see a lot more of this charming delightful couple and add my own warm welcome to our country. Old friendships in new bottles! Let us cheer and drink away our sorrows and laugh with warmth and spontaneity, that's what friends are for... `Welcome Catherine and Bernard'. Enjoy India.