Riya's Masala Site

Priyanka Chopra claims the crown
LONDON: Miss India, paying tribute to Mother Teresa as the woman she
most admired, was crowned Miss World on Thursday - the second
consecutive year India has carried away the title.
Priyanka Chopra, 18, was chosen from among 95 contestants who posed in swimsuits
in recorded footage from the Maldives, and in evening gowns on a chilly night at
London's Millennium Dome. The tall and slender Chopra said she
would use her success as "a platform to influence people's thoughts, minds and actions".
She won $100,000 in prize money. Mother Teresa, she said, was
someone "I admire from the bottom of my heart for being so considerate,
passionate and kind ... giving up her life to put smiles on people's faces".
It was Miss World's 50th annual beauty pageant, and the first since
the death of its creator, Eric Morley, in November.
In some countries - such as India, home of last year's winner Yukta
Mookhey - the event remains enormously popular. But in Britain,
the pageant is widely seen as a quaint, kitsch spectacle. Bookmakers William Hill said bets
slumped this year to an all-time low of 2,570 pounds ($3,600), a far cry
from the mid-1970s when takings in the region of 250,000 pounds
($350,000) were normal.
The five finalists were Miss India, Miss Kazhakstan, Miss Italy, Miss
Uruguay and Miss Turkey. At the semifinal stage, when only 10
contestants remained, Miss India said she didn't feel any tension.
"I work best under pressure," she said. "Without expectation I wouldn't
strive for enthusiasm." She was clearly the audience's favourite,
raucously cheered whenever she stepped on stage and took the
microphone. The panel of judges, including Hot Chocolate lead singer Errol Brown,
had said it was not only looking for beauty - but also women who "speak
on behalf of humanity and charity". In its 1970s heyday, Miss World was a
focus of feminine protests, which helped spur the show's move outside
Britain. Demonstrators flour-bombed the 1970 event at the Royal Albert
Hall. There were echoes of that protest again on Thursday, when
about 200 members of the National Union of Students Women's
Campaign heckled people as they entered the Millennium Dome in south London