Today was our last day with the women of Matreyi College. We celebrated our time together with an event that almost perfectly encapsulates the world's fascination with Western culture: a beauty pageant. I was surprised, only to realize that, once again, my presumptions were incorrect.
The longer I spent with them the more evident it became that the emphasis was not on the physical beauty of the person. These women were not the "brainless beauties" that so many subjectively associate with our pageants, whose goals are world peace and ending hunger and poverty. They have experienced a culture different to the one Westerners project upon India, one that emphasizes the importance of your beautiful self in a non-judgmental environment.
They twirled on the stage, some in saris while others wore ball gowns, and their talents ranged from interpretive, religious dance, to opera-style singing. Each of their smiles were just as brilliant as the sun that unforgivably shone in the heat, maintaining composure was difficult enough for me, and I was sat in the crowd!
The longer I spent with them the more evident it became that the emphasis was not on the physical beauty of the person. These women were not the "brainless beauties" that so many subjectively associate with our pageants, whose goals are world peace and ending hunger and poverty. They have experienced a culture different to the one Westerners project upon India, one that emphasizes the importance of your beautiful self in a non-judgmental environment.
They twirled on the stage, some in saris while others wore ball gowns, and their talents ranged from interpretive, religious dance, to opera-style singing. Each of their smiles were just as brilliant as the sun that unforgivably shone in the heat, maintaining composure was difficult enough for me, and I was sat in the crowd!
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