Miss World

There was a big sigh of relief in India that there were no tragedies -- women activists going on a self-immolation spree -- to protest against the Miss World contest held in Bangalore on Nov. 23, 1996. Maybe the women realized that following the recent "megaflame" tragedy in the sky near Delhi, any "miniflame" tragedy in Bangalore would be much too much. This made the pageant not only a success, but all parties involved in the event have come through victorious.

First and foremost, came the state government of Karnataka. Adamant that the novel show was not a new plague in town, it purposefully transformed a playground into a garrison. Never mind that the garrison was reminiscent of an East India Company depot, a foreign trade enclave which, on the strength of similar protection, started the British Raj.

Then comes the Karnataka Police. Veerappan, an outlaw over there, has eluded them over a period of 10 long years and has taken the lives of more than 300 police. While the police are mortified, he has become a folk hero and a legend. Given an opportunity to get over the "Veerappan treatment", inspired by world-class beauties, and braving a motley unarmed crowd, the police arrested and jailed more than 1,500 people without the loss of a single police officer's life. A spectacular police victory. Who knows? Veerappan may parley for surrender.

The organizer must be congratulated for the magnificent cultural extravaganza they put on. The powerful display of the cultural majesty of India swallowed up the contestants, reducing them to strutting zombies in a vibrant and splendorous cultural setting. The Bangalore pageant has indeed opened the eyes of Indians: Beauty contests are fleeting and spurious; Indian culture is solid and genuine. So the protesters have no reasons to wear sackcloth. Having triggered a tremendous cultural onslaught, they ought to feel vindicated.

Please do not think that the upstaged contestants have no reasons to feel victorious. With young, handsome police officers attached to each beauty during all her waking hours, and dedicated to dying gallantly along with each beauty (if it came to that) the contestants were all winners, crown or no crown.

The people of Bangalore will be celebrating the event as a milestone. So far, the world has only heard and seen shotgun weddings. Now India has established a record: a shotgun carnival. Who knows? The event is probably wending its way up into the Guinness Book of Records.

As far as the worldwide spectators were concerned, the Bangalore story was not a storm in a teacup. The event had real patrons who celebrated by snapping up tickets costing as much as US$700 per ticket, thus conveying to a global audience that India, in spite of its meager per capita of $360, is a country full of rich people who, incidentally, call the shots too.

G.S. EDWIN

Jakarta