by B. R. GOWANI
Miss New York Nina Davuluri is crowned as Miss America 2014 by Miss America 2013 Mallory Hagan. PHOTO/Reuters/Lucas Jackson/New York Daily News
Miss America 2014
It took a few years for Nina Davuluri to get rid of 53 pounds to feel fit to compete and look pretty in the eyes of Miss America pageant judges. Tia Falcone, her physical trainer, said:
“Nina is probably more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside.”
Claiming that the inside is beautiful is the easiest part. But in today’s world, for most of the people, it is the outside which is the most troublesome because it is hostage to the merchants of cosmetics and body modifications. This makes it difficult for most of the people to feel handsome. Davuluri also fought an eating disorder called bulimia nervosa.
Falcone further added:
“She had to really work hard to get to where she is. It makes you more humble.”
Her humbleness showed up in July when she allegedly called Miss America 2013 Mallory Hagan, “fat as s-?-t”.
During the ceremony, instead of the bitchiness, the only thing visible is camaraderie. There everything seems fine. The winner’s eyes are full of tears and all the losers, most of the time, don’t show any ill feelings and instead hug the winner with a big smile.
Hagan’s normal looking photos showed up in the media this spring. But for the custodians of beauty, that is, the fashion, beauty, and entertainment industries, any extra flesh over and above their conceived limit is considered overweight. So she had to defend herself to a reporter:
“Well you know I think that I am human I like to equate getting ready for the Miss America pageant to getting ready for a boxing match. We get in shape and then afterwords life goes back to normal.”
Hagan, at least, admits that the bodies prepared for the pageants cannot be called normal.
To show that it’s not a skin show only, the contestants are also required to answer one randomly asked question. Davuluri was asked a question about CBS TV news anchor and show host Julie Chen‘s East Asian blepharoplasty or “double eyelid surgery”. Chen had undergone the procedure due to pressure from a previous news director, because her “Asian eyes” were a barrier to her professional progress.
“I don’t agree with plastic surgery, however I can understand that from a standpoint. More importantly I’ve always viewed Miss America as the girl next door. And Miss America is always evolving. . . I wouldn’t want to change someone’s looks. Be confident in who you are.”
Nina Davuluri = 9/11 + 7/11
Nina Davuluri = 9/11 + 7/11 is not some kind of a great equation trying to compete with Albert Einstein‘s famous E = MC² equation. It is about the many racist comments passed about Davuluri due to her color and origin. Her parents are from South Asia, but she herself was born in the United States.
One should try not to feel bad about people passing racist comments. It is the damn system that is to be blamed. because some of the white-controlled institutes, corporations, and other places are so slow to admit people of color that the common person, that is, white, gets used to seeing his/her color in those places all the time and so when they see some non-white person emerging from those places it becomes difficult for them to accept.
The white people were used to seeing white Miss America for almost fifty years. Rule #7 of the 1948 Miss America Pageant Contract states:
It was only in 1970 that the first black person Cheryl Brown was allowed to participate in the competition. Then ii took 13 more years before the first black participant Vanessa Williams was to win the Miss America title.
Williams had received very many racist remarks and hate mails. So it was nothing new that Davuluri was attacked in a similar manner. Now there is one more fast venue for attack, the twitterverse. Here are some of the ugly comments:
“How the fuck does a foreigner win miss America? She is a Arab!“
“9/11 was 4 days ago and she gets miss America?”
7-Eleven is an international chain of convenience stores. In the US, most of them are run by people from South Asia, Middles East, and Far East. And so the derogatory remark.
“Congratulations Al-Qaeda. Our Miss America is one of you.”
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com