Kerala’s, I mean India’s Parvathy Omanakuttan was almost Miss World 2008; in the end, however, it was Russia’s glamazon who won the crown. Just another instance of a brown girl being passed over in favor of some blue-eyed blonde…KIDDING. Sort of. 😉 Here is her biodata, I mean, bio (thanks, nik and mithua):
Parvathy, hailing from Kottayam, grew up in Mumbai. Having graduated in Arts, she has studied Sociology, Psychology & English Literature.
Parvathy’s ambition is to further her studies in Psychology to learn more about human behaviour in depth…The lanky beauty is an ardent sports fan with a special interest in basketball, badminton and swimming.
She has a special talent for whistling. She likes listening to music, singing, reading, glass painting, acting, modelling, dancing (varying from local dances to ballroom and Latin dances) and learning new languages.[zee]
I have to ask, why is whistling important? Apart from being extra-able to hail a cab, re-enact the “Whistle while you work” scene from Snow White or tell some hottie that he or she is foine–in a rather inappropriate way–what is it good for? Never mind , I answered my own question with that list.
Parvathy is also very fond of a beautiful quote by former President APJ Abdul Kalam ‘Dreams are not what you see in your sleep, but dreams are that, which do not allow you to sleep’, hence her motto in life is ‘Dream with your eyes open’. [zee]
She might be fond of that dreamy quote, but I’m fond of the fact that she’s athletic. We at SM love us some sporty brown girls.
Speaking of those of us at SM, feast your eyes on this inter-bunker haterade Ennis sent to me, via G-chat:
4:30 PM Ennis: everybody knows mallu chicks are too short to win a pageant 😉
For your information, HATER, she is either 5’8 or 5’9; I’ve seen both heights listed in the 20+ articles I trudged through for this post (which were all filled with the same lame quotes). Either way, she’s tall enough. Oh, when will the North-South hate end? When, I ask? When? 😉
Reading the following made me smile with recognition:
Prior to witnessing the event on TV, close family members visited a few temples to offer prayers for Parvathy’s success.
Those present couldn’t contain their joy when Parvathy’s name was announced in the five semi finalists.
Then followed tense moments as they waited for the winner to be announced, and when the news came that she was the first runner up, not everyone was happy.
“Anyway, we are happy that she came second. If she had not won anything then it would have been bad. We are happy with what she has won,” Shantakumari said. [Hindu]
Shantakumari is Parvathy’s grandmother, and she wasn’t the only one who had great expectations for her grandchild:
“I’ll try my best to make every Indian all over the world proud,†Parvathy Omanakkuttan had said two days prior to the Miss World 2008 beauty pageant at Johannesburg. [express]
We’re very proud of you, penne. No need for the gnashing of teeth and bitter agonizing over what could have been:
“I have performed better than others in the personality and question-answer round. This is not just. All those who watched it yesterday felt like that. I feel the jury’s decision was unfair”, Parvathy told India Vision channel on Sunday.
“I had confidence. I could do well. The question-round did not come as a challenge to me considering my background in literature,” Parvathy, who hails from Kottayam in Kerala, said. [NDTV]
She reminds me of one of my cousins in Kerala, a pedantess who once apologized to my Aunt and Uncle for getting a 98 on a test, while simultaneously insisting that the grade was unfair. My father proudly related this anecdote about perfectionism to me, to inspire me to emulate such fastidiousness. I responded, “I ain’t the one“. I then received a lecture on how “ain’t” was a word, but that’s a tangent to be abused on a future post.
Miss World is the original and most popular beauty pageant in the world, which was launched in 1951. Each year young women from every country compete to go through rounds such as the Most Beautiful Smile, the Swimsuit round, Miss Talented and the Question & Answer round, etc, and judges select the contestant who has the winning combination of beauty, glamour, poise and intelligence. [Zee]
Well, I learned something new. I didn’t know that the Miss World pageant is more popular than Miss Universe. I also didn’t know that first runner-up was such a bad thing. I’m lying. I’m Desi. I totally know that.
i guess mrs. rushdie no. 5 has picked herself. now, if only she had been born in america, she could’ve been the republican candidate for 2012!
1 · salmon said
Oh, I don’t know…out of Rushdie’s first four wives, only one was brown…but I like the way you think. 😉
95% Lemurian. Mooku may be from Levant
she’s one of the strongest miss indias in recent years.
“4:30 PM Ennis: everybody knows mallu chicks are too short to win a pageant 😉 For your information, HATER, she is either 5’8 or 5’9; I’ve seen both heights listed in the 20+ articles I trudged through for this post (which were all filled with the same lame quotes).”
celina jaitley, not a mallu, was a pint-sized 5′ 6″, and managed to make it to the top 5, i think, at miss universe.
“when will the North-South hate end? When, I ask? When? ;)”
well, the woman voted the most beautiful pageant winner of all time (miss world, miss universe etc.) some time ago by those who take these things seriously is from the south of india.
neither 8′ or 9′, wiki does things in half measures. except for the “vital” measurements of 32-27-36.
I think this would have been perfectly desi if she had added, “also the question was out of syllabus.”
She kinda reminds me of Rekha. And yes she was jobbed, Ms.Chile too. :p
Oh really?
forget the north/south discussion, what I am most impressed with are her whistling skillz. I remember how upset and cross my dad would get whenever I happened to pop out a whistle or two as a kid. apparently, whistling is seen as unladylie and of poor manners in certain south Asian communities. well, screw that! go chica!!!
Anna – thanks for the monday morning eye candy 🙂 sure did brighten up the day
whistling is easy when you’re taught it right,,,
8 · campmuir said
I was told by my grandmother that whistling too much would attract snakes. Whether this was an actual superstition at the time or just my grandmother trying to capitalize on a little boy’s fear of snakes to make him shut up I cannot say.
I wonder if Achutanandan is going to visit the house of a Keralite who’s done the nation proud.
Is it just me or do they all look the same?
Did you forget me?
6 · Nemo said
No she doesn’t. If anything, she looks like Rupa Ganguly, who is one of the hottest women in the history of hot.
This achievement is a blessing on many levels. Helps me argue against that towering stereotype that Shakeela had so carefully built through her impressive body(!) of work.
I meant, I don’t think she looks like Rekha.
My brain is having trouble processing the combination of her last name and her hotness.
My grandfather used to call my grandmother “Omana”. Doesn’t it mean something like “dear” in malayalam ? And “kuttan” means “little boy”, right ? Which makes a very unsexy last name :).
18 · ashvin said
hmm.. is she catholic by any chance?
Is it just me or does her face comes off as a little masculine in that picture?
At first I didn’t want to seem like one of those internet losers who makes tiny superficial nit-picks on hot super models they could never land in real life (‘her knees are too pointy’) but… ultimately that’s what I am
2 · A N N A said
well, once you go for the mallus, you don’t settle for any other kind of flooze…
no chance. No catholic would ever name a daughter Parvathy.
yes – quite true. Although Omana is more darling / sweetheart in the context you heard. Her name should be read as Omanakutty.
Doesn’t “Omana” mean “naked”? Or is it “Omanam”?
Omana means pet/darling/beloved/dear one
There is no malayalam word “omanam”
Parvathy Omanakuttan belongs to hindu “Nair” community
22 · melbourne desi said
J-O-K-E!
check out all the contestants.
21 · salmon said
Flooze? I guess I should be happy that it took a whole 20 comments before someone said something disrespectful.
27 · SM Intern said
aww, ease up, it’s a joke! you try finding something that rhymes with mallus.
Although, I know a Mallu Christian named Lakshmi.
And flooze isn’t even a real word, I was really stretching!
She is not an Omanakutty (unless Melbourne Desi meant it as an endearment and not as a name 😉 Omanakuttan is her father. For men, in their fifties and above it is not such a rare name, though Omana for women is more common.
While Parvathy is a Hindu, a Mallu X’tian being named Parvathi shouldn’t be that shocking. I personally know Mallu Christians named Seeta, Rahim, Salim, Raghu etc.
Interesting. I have Mallu relatives, and they tell their little brat not to run around “omanam” when he’s starkers. I have to check with them whether they were speaking Mallu or only saying the Tamil “amanam”.
24 · Dash said
Rubbish. Omanakuttan means little boy who works/worked in Oman.
23 · pingpong said
You are thinking of Ammanam or Ummanam, which means naked in Tamil. The Malayalam word is Omana and Omanakuttan is most likely her father’s name.
Once when I was really little I had a nightmare that I had whistled at night (another parameter added by my mother) and that our entire backyard had turned into a field of snakes. There was also a snake in front of each door, keeping our family hostage inside the house. The one on our patio nearly bit my dad when he tried to kill it.
Lol, needless to say, I have an irrational fear of whistling at night now.
What’s in a name? That which we call a jalebi by any other name would taste as sweet.
32 · pingpong said
i think they’re saying eminem, to refer to the poisonous culture of scantily clad extras that crowd every scene of a rap video, which all good desis cannot abide.
Yes – I know. You did read that correctly. Omanakutty is far more sweet. And yes she is hottt – any pics of her in a bikini ?
i would love to go mano e omano with her, if you know what i mean.
38 · melbourne desi said
yes, but i think she competed under the name of komanakutty in that round…
OMG, all the “omanam” comments are making me laugh out loud. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who was thinking, “Doesn’t that mean naked?”
She definitely sounds like one of the smartest Miss Indias in recent times; it’s a pity she didn’t win. And she’s cute! Aww, little kutti Mallu girl. I just hope she doesn’t go into Bollywood like all the rest of them. Or, if she does, I hope she does NOT become another plastic Barbie like Aishwarya Rai.
(Sorry to all the Aishwarya fans – don’t kill me)
SHE SHOULD BE THE ACTUAL MISS WORLD INSTEAD OD THAT STUPID RUSSIAN……PARVATHY HAS ALL QUALITIES OF BEING THE WINNER AND THEN WTF MADE THE JURIES CHOOSE THAT UGLY RUSSIAN……
40 · salmon said
Brilliant!
she doesn’t look as good as aishwarya or sushmita. her attitude was so bad and she is a bit overweight.
Not to be a total loser, but I think desiwoman is right with the first part of her comment. She’s definitely not on par with Aish, Priyanka, Sushmita, etc. Don’t get me wrong, she’s not UGLY, but I don’t think she’s gorgeous. Her nose just seems kind of odd to me. But, anyhow, nice to see another brown female face in the spotlight.
Oh, and she’s totally NOT overweight–what are you on, desiwoman??! If she’s overweight, then I’m obsese!
You know, I always thought South Indians were taller and North Indians were shorter. Maybe I have my stereotypes confused.
46 · Kam said
yes. 2.3-delta1 south indians = 1.7+delta2 north indians. delta1 and delta2 start at 0, increase gradually, and approach 0.3 as you get closer to indore.
44 · desiwoman said
Mom?
Overweight?? Seriously?? She’s 5’8.5 and probably 120 pounds soaking wet.
She has a wide face, which may be what’s gotten you confused.
She has gorgeous hair and I really like the sari in that picture, but she’s wearing way too much eye make-up in every picture I see of her (but that’s typical of many Indian actresses and models, I think).
Malayalee girls are damn hot. Some of the most beautiful indian women are from Kerala – especially Padma Lakshmi.
On a separate note, One of my favorites is Malaika Arora Khan. You may remember her from Dil Se. She was the Chaiya Chaiya girl dancing on top of the train… Since she’s half Malayalee Syrian Catholic and half Punjabi Hindu, I think she has the best attributes of both North and South Indians. She is smokin’ hot!!
http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADBR_enUS301US301&q=malaika+arora&um=1&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://lh4.ggpht.com/y8H0HKSZcUY/Resclhhek6I/AAAAAAAAAV8/9_16bvPeisM/Chaiyya-Chaiyya-Dil-Se-06.jpg&imgrefurl=http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xWiapcc8QADItxql78yG2g&usg=_ImlS7c-ZNtkyrlEvKRRQgmR0DGE=&h=210&w=360&sz=13&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=jHOb0uQ1HW_v6M:&tbnh=71&tbnw=121&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmalaika%2Barora,%2Bdil%2Bse%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4ADBR_enUS301US301