Miss India contestant combines brains, beauty

Amin Dhillon has always relied on her smarts to pursue her business aspirations, but the University of Manitoba grad is hoping her beauty can be an equally effective tool.

The Southdale resident was recently crowned Miss India Canada. It’s a distinction no other Manitoban had previously received — and Dhillon isn’t planning on letting it go to waste.

“I first became interested in the pageant world when I was in India and I saw the Miss India competition on television,” said Dhillon, who has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and human resource management.

“These were girls that were aspiring to be engineers and doctors and were entering the pageant to give them a platform to succeed in their goals and I thought the same thing could happen for me.”

A recent graduate of the Asper School of Business, Dhillon is hoping to one day open her own chain of fashion boutiques and would like a pursue a career as a television host.

Those dreams will remain on hold while Dhillon focuses her attention on the 19th annual Miss India Worldwide Pageant.

The pageant is scheduled to take place next March in Durban, South Africa. It will feature competitors from more than 25 countries. All contestants must be of Indian origin, between the ages 17 and 27, single and must have been born or reside in the country they are representing.

“To me it is like the Olympics,” Dhillon said. “You see all the Canadian athletes and how proud they are to represent their country and how hard they are training to bring home the gold.

“It is the same thing in the pageant world when you get selected to represent your country. It is an honour and you really want to represent your country well.”

Unlike most other beauty pageants, Miss India does not feature a swimsuit competition. That fact played a big part in Dhillon’s decision to enter the pageant.

“My opinion is that they do it so it is not a deterrent for girls to enter. It allows girls that might not have the perfect body or may not feel confident wearing a swimsuit to compete,” Dhillon said.

“For myself I didn’t want to be in the situation where I had to build up my body and be focused on that. There is more to me than (having) the perfect body. The focus was on inner beauty and not being a model.”

Dhillon and the rest of the Miss India contestants will be graded in four categories — evening gown, Indian dress, talent and a question-and-answer session.

Dhillon had never competed in a beauty pageant prior to the Miss India Canada competition. She said it was the talent segment of the Canadian contest that caused her the most anxiousness.

“I did a Bollywood dance, which was something I had never performed before and the first time I had ever done something on stage, but I pulled it off because it was just a manner of hard work and determination,” she said.

Dhillon says she plans on hiring a dance choreographer to help plan her next routine and improve her odds of returning with the Miss India Worldwide crown.

Despite the outcome, Hollis Singh co-founder with the Indo-Canadian Arts and Cultural Centre said that Dhillon has already done the Indian community proud by being the first Winnipegger to receive the distinction of Miss India Canada and should be commended as someone others can look up to.

“It is an opportunity for the young people in the community to say that they are part of the wider community and India can be represented in Canada,” said the St. Vital resident.

“It shows we can do everything else in the community that everybody else does, rather than just being an ethnic community on the sideline.”

Should Dhillon win, she says one of her first priorities will be to help those in need.

“I would like to raise some money for some orphanages in India. When I was India I saw how much poverty there was,” Dhillon said.

“For poor women it is especially difficult because many don’t have the opportunity to go to school or might get married off so what I want to do is raise some money and go back and provide some training programs to girls there.”

Dhillon hopes to receive secure some sponsorships to offset the costs of her trip to South Africa.