MUMBAI: Year 1970 Zeenat Aman was crowned Miss Asia Pacific World, year 2000 Dia Mirza, year 2012 Himangini Singh Yadu. Now, year 2013 India has done it again with Srishti Rana.
Twenty one year old Srishti Rana, winner was not among the top three winners of ‘Femina Miss India 2013’ but was amongst the top five finalists.
The gala night was held in Busan, Korea on 30 October, 2013. Srishti Rana outshined among forty nine other contestants in the pageant. The reigning Miss Asia Pacific World 2012, Himangini Singh Yadu from India crowned Srishti, making it second year in a row for our country.
Srishti also won the Best National costume award depicting the national bird of India.
On one hand when the world was falling at her feet, a rude shock awaited her. When Srishti landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai from Busan, South Korea, she was held by the custom officials for carrying a diamond studded crown without any clearance obtained for it.
According to the Indian law, a crown won at the beauty pageant, is not exempted from the customs duty. Therefore, Srishti was also asked to pay duty on the crown once its valuation was done.
But, to everyone’s shock, it turned out that the diamonds and gems studded tiara was nothing but fake! The gems on the crown were made of glass and the metal was an ordinary substance.
As a result, the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of customs at city airport allowed Srishti to leave without paying any duty on it.
All we need to tell the custom offers is – guys take it easy. We know rules are rules, but at the end of the day we need to respect the people who are tying to put India on the global map.
