Local girl Gurleen Madhok, Second year student of Bachelor of Pharmacy in Chitkara University, has done tricity proud. She has bagged two coveted titles- First Runner Up & Beauty with Purpose at a National level, first of its kind Beauty Pageant, based on Khadi theme- Miss India Khadi. The grand finale of the beauty contest has been held recently at Hotel Taj Palace in New Delhi. It is pertinent to mention that the event was organized by Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) & Khadi Board under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Khadi Mission – ” Khadi for Nation- Khadi for Fashion” which is aimed at popularizing India’s hand-made fabric Khadi as a fashion statement.
Gurleen looked stunning in the Khadi attire and made an impact with her studded crown while interacting with media to share her experiences about the journey of this pageant. It is noteworthy that, Chandigarh’s well known professional advertising and modeling agency SMC BIZZ headed by renowned fashion photographer, grooming expert and pageant director Sunil Bansal has trained Gurleen for this pageant.
Gurleen’s achievement bears significance as nearly 80,000 contestants from more than 200 universities across 22 states in country had competed for the title. Gurleen was among the top 25 participants selected for grand finale. The event started in July, 2017 with auditions in various universities and Chitkara University was also one of the Venue, where in over 100 students of Chitkara University participated & out of them few were selected as state finalist. Introduction & question answer round were taken for evaluation of contestants followed by state level competitions and Grand Finale in New Delhi. A number of eminent personalities including Mr. Akhilesh Mishra, IAS, CEO Khadi Board, Her Excellency Rani Rukshmani from Royal Family of Jaipur, Ms. Koyal Rana, Miss India 2014 , Mr. Ankush Anami, CEO of Miss India Khadi graced the grand finale with their presence.
Along with the promotion of Khadi, all the participants were given tasks on social causes which later on served as the criterion for evaluation of the winner. “After winning the state level finale as Miss India Himachal state winner , I was called for the grand finale.” Explained Gurleen. Out of all the titles, the one which attracted most attention was ‘Beauty with Purpose’. Gurleen was awarded this title for her effort to spread awareness among young girls against sexual harassment. Gurleen with the help of her few college friends made a 7 minute short video on sexual harassment.
Gurleen also held a preview of the video for media. The video which consists of two parts, presented on a situation in which a girl is sexually harassed in first part and the second part carried a message by Gurleen. Ms. Madhok emphasized on the issue by taking into consideration sexual harassment done in a girl’s own home and requested the community to educate girls about the same. Talking about the video on sexual harassment, Gurleen said “I was aware of tremendous increase in sexual harassment specially among young girls of age 8-10 years and hence chose this issue.”
While talking to the media about her motivation behind participating in such an event organized for the first time, she said, “I always wanted to do something for the country at a big level and this platform was one of the best way to do so.”
Taking into account the huge success of the event and in order to inspire the youth towards ‘ Khadi for Nation to Khadi for Fashion’, Gurleen would be honored by Jai Ram Thakur, Honorable Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. A girl form the region reaching to such a great height with a purpose in mind , is highly inspiriting for the younger generation and will go long way to define beauty in its real form.
