Natasha Suri

"A lot of prayers have been answered," says Pond's Femina Miss India-World Natasha Suri who's already bagged two titles at the Miss World contest — Ist runner up Miss World Beach Wear and the IInd runner up Miss World Dress Designer Award." And I am euphoric," she says from Warsaw , Poland where the final contest will be held on September 30. "To be chosen out of 106 girls, all of whom are equally stunning, for these two titles was just great," says Natasha. Talking about the Beach Wear round, Natasha says, "We were all given Miss World uniform bikinis. There were stringent eliminations – from 106, first 20 were chosen, then 10 and then from five, three were selected. You can imagine how many heartbeats I must have skipped as the names were announced. When I bagged my title, I was ecstatic. "The contestants, informs Natasha, were divided into six continents." All the girls were required to wear two-piece bikinis – white coloured with black prints on them. Each group had different hued straps which the girls wore around the waist. And my group – Asian – had redcoloured straps," informs
Natasha. And she sure has reasons to smile." A lot of hard work has gone into the preparation for this round. My fitness expert Deanne Pandey wanted me to be amongst the top three. And here I am," she smiles. The preparations for this sub-contest included a strict diet-plan and workouts. "But ever since I've come here, I've just been able to do the former. With the schedule that we have, there's no time for workouts really."

And when Natasha sashayed down the ramp Thursday night "in a fashion show in which all the girls wear the outfit they will be wearing for the final night," she walked away with yet another honour – the IInd runner up title. This is the first time it has been won by an Indian contestant. "I wore a beautiful gown , designed by Hemant Trevedi. The dress was completely his creation. The only request I had was that I wanted it in the colour blue, for it is my favourite, my lucky colour." Of course, as Natasha says, "All the contestants wore their best gowns. And not once did the judges reveal their preferences for any of the outfits. They kept smiling throughout, encouraging us. Right till the end, their decision was a secret," says Natasha. Says designer Hemant Trevedi, "I'm overwhelmed. I've worked very hard for this dress which is based on the saree. I've fused two elements together – since Natasha, being an Indian, will be presenting it on the world stage. So, my creation has a choli, pallu and the pleats with embroidery on two strategic places – on one shoulder and on the hip since Natasha has an incredible waistline."