The last bastions of male dominance have been torn down by the femme fatales - the armed forces. Applause! Bouquets! Sorry to spoil the smooth flow but therein lies the hitch. Are we truly modern?

I mean if girls really are liberated then why-o-why do we conform with those narrow, superficial (do excuse me, I tend to get carried away) concepts of beauty. I mean the age-old ``white is right and black is wrong'' stereotype of good skin colour. And then there's another unhealthy trend, this obsession with tall anorexic bodies.

I have this cousin - pretty as a picture and so very slim... actually thin. At 5'4'' she weighs 45 kilos (she used to be 55). My worried-to-death aunt and uncle have rushed her to every doctor in town. She doesn't, err, pass stools or urine. Now honestly, it requires no genius to figure out that unless you feed an input there isn't going to be any output. Not just that she doesn't eat for days and when she finally does, she immediately measures her waist to see how many centimetres it has increased!

Sounds astonishing? Who's this babe? See, name withheld strictly for security reasons meaning she'll bash my head in if I do tell. ``She's not alone. This disease called anorexia nervosa'' explains the eminent beauty consultant and homoeopath Dr Sharlene Benjers, ``results in the person hating food. And it's getting increasingly common amongst the youngsters. I have so many of these wannabe models with sunken cheeks and falling hair. I mean what's the use of a slim body if your face doesn't speak of youth?''

``You know something?'' observes the microbiologist-to-be Deepti Chaddha, ``It's time we gave a serious thought as to who our role models are. About a year back, a few models were banned from the cover of Vogue, doctors raised a hue cry about their being anorexic... I'm quite sure so many of our models too are medically underweight and I must workout till I resemble a wrung out prune just to be like them.''

Says Anjana Koppiker, Max Mueller Bhavan topper and German interpreter at IBMR, ``I have nothing against the idea of Femina Miss India. But these various sub contests they have - Miss beautiful skin, hair, teeth... yuck! It's bloody dehumanising like cattle being parading at an auction. They even said in case of a tie at the finals, the girl who scored higher at Miss 10 would get top priority... Now how much really does this maxim of `Beauty and Brain' really hold weight when the ultimate deciding factors is the physical aspect?''

``The physical aspect is important,'' opines the svelte Radhika Shrinivasan. This 17-year-old statuesque figure is an upcoming model. ``Show business is beautiful business. Beauty, money, glamour. Fair skin isn't a must, but it does help. Girls have to have a proportionate figure but when the competition is really stiff only the perfect 10s survive.''

``It's a misconception that 36-24-36 is perfect,'' sighs Ms Tiwari owner of the reputed gym Slimline. ``After a point, body shape and fitness need not go hand in hand. Each one of us have a particular, typical shape that is basic and best accepted. I have a client who's quite something to look at, but she's medically underweight. And she is determined to lose more,'' she gasps, ``Then there are those who clamour for a better bustline. But very few of them have the patience to go through the grind, it's silicon implants for them. Health spas are where you gain health, not lose it.'

'Just how enlightened are we? ``Not very,'' confirms Benjers, ``If you ask me the term ignorance best describes the youngsters' attitudes. They are lured by these aggressive marketing tactics, very conscious of their looks, they are willing to try out each and every product off the shelf without reasoning why. All this really amounts to self abuse rather than self care.''

``Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,'' asserts the charming Monalika Bhonsle. A professional catwalker, this young lady has done quite a few prestigious shows. ``I don't really mind make up for my shows. I am naturally slim and except for the occasional workout, I don't kill myself at all. I am myself.''

Benjers who's judged a few beauty pageants says she looks at the inner beauty of the contestant. ``I know a fake when I see one. To me, an attractive girl is first and foremost a beautiful human being... someone whose eyes, thoughts reveal inner warmth, caring and concern for those around her.'' And fair skin?

``I feel the conventional ideas of beauty are changing,'' says Arti Vilas Bumb who was adjudged `best model' at the Symbiosis '97 fashion show. She was called to Mumbai for the preliminary rounds of Miss India but couldn't make the grade because at 5''6'', she's an inch or two shorter than the required standards. But are not Miss India contests about the Indian woman? And Indians are a short people, are they not? ``They look at a girl from the international point by view,'' she elaborates, ``A girl may not have the average pretty-pretty looks but if she has personality, that aura, which has more to do with a great mind than a great face, she's up there!''

And what's a great face about? Fair skin? Unfortunately most of the male chauvinists I spoke to nodded in the affirmative. And these are the future partners of the liberated lassie?

``I hate wearing heels. They hurt my feet. But at 4'11'' I am fed up of being asked how's the air down there,'' wails petit Deepu Bhattacharjee, ``don't those creeps know good things come in small packages?''

There are so many other points that make me ponder... I have these pals gearing in for that absurd blonde look which really doesn't suit their Indian skin tones. And after Rai and Ray (Ash and Lisa), contacts are in. A case of Indian goods in Western packaging? But yet we need the West to teach us to appreciate the cola-eyed and cola-skinned Anjali Mendes, the Nayonikas and the Madhus? Then again what comes in from the West is not by default the best.

The average Indian woman is short, she's dusky, and she's gorgeous. And why are commercials focussed on only girls? Why not the guys? Benjers concludes, ``Besides physical appearance, beauty also has a lot to do with mental health, character and self esteem and above all - your individuality. Every girl, every woman has a magical quality that is unique to herself which can attract people like a magnetic field. If only she concentrates on the haves rather than the have-nots! You are what you were meant to be... be proud of it!''