‘YES I AM PLUS SIZE’

Women in Punjab flaunt their curves in style

Being plus size is nothing new. However, what is, is that Northern India hosted their first beauty pageant on May 12 for plus size women in Punjab. With only a criteria of a 34” + waist and aged between 21 to 40 years, this was certainly a chance for Northern Indian women to show off their curves. This platform helped all those girls for whom such pageants are a distant dream and they would get a full hand experience to explore and learn. The auditions were conducted in cities like Delhi, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Chandigarh. After conducting the auditions successfully, 40 candidates were selected for the grand finale which was held in Hotel Bella Vista, Panchkula on 12th May.

Hardeep Arora with Daksha Digitas created this platform for such women. Bishamber Das, Britain’s First Asian Plus Size Model who has also been an EBay model and ambassador, Brand Ambassador of Ms Plus Size North India 2017, was the guest Judge at the event.

Vernika Jain who won this beauty pageant said she was short of words to express the feeling . “This pageant was honestly a very enriching experience for us, we got to know so many new things and now, once I step out from here I have evolved into a different personality altogether.”

Sukhminder Kaur from Leicester, UK, was proud to be the only UK applicant representing plus size women. “This is a great opportunity for Indian women to showcase their curves and shout out loud and proud, that YES – I am plus size,” said Sukhminder.

“The West is more accepting of plus size women, however, I am so proud to be part of a platform that is making it acceptable to be my size in my culture. It seems that society still demands that Indian women should be fair or thin and conform to a particular way of looking to be pretty. But, thanks to Ms Plus Size North India 2017, this is the beginning of educating and making people understand that pretty comes in all different shapes and sizes,” Sukhminder added.

Sukhminder was successful to go through to the final of Top 16 and also voted Ms Popularity by her peers.

‘The best girl won and I am so proud to be given the title of Ms Plus Size North India – Top 16 Finalists well as Ms Popularity 2017. This was a wonderful experience and I met some magnificent people during my time in India. I would certainly encourage women to be comfortable in the skin they are in. The more we encourage this, the more it will become acceptable worldwide’.

Written by Sukhminder Kaur
Email: enquiriesforsukh@gmail.com