Women's Day Special- First Asian Women To Win Miss World

As Reita Faria, the Indian representative, was about to take the stage for the Miss World pageant at the Lyceum Ballroom on Wellington Street, bookies were feverishly betting who would win the crown — there were 66 contestants that year and Miss UK, 20-year-old Jennifer Lowe, a dairymaid, was tipped to win. Faria’s odds? 1:66.

“I heard there was one Indian who bet on me — out of pure patriotism, I am sure — and I hope he made a small fortune,” says Faria, 73, as she looks back on the night that changed her life forever. The night she created history by becoming the first Asian contestant to win the Miss World title.

The odds had been far greater than the scepticism of the bookies. They came stacked in a suitcase of borrowed clothes, in a purse that contained all of three pounds — the only bit of money she had been allowed to carry to London — and a make-up kit that held nothing fancier than a few lipsticks. “I had borrowed a sari from one of Mumbai’s well-heeled ladies and a bathing suit from Persis Khambatta. But Persis was a bit shorter than me, and when I wore it, the organisers said that it just wouldn’t do — it was too ill-fitting. The same for my flat footwear. With those precious three pounds, I bought another costume and some ungainly heels, which I never wore again, although I have kept them,” reveals Faria, flashing that shy but sure smile that was splashed across newspapers 50 years ago, when the dark horse galloped all the way to the finishing line.

Born to Goan parents in Matunga, Faria had a middle-class upbringing — her father worked at a mineral water factory, and her mother owned a salon in Marine Lines. At 5’8”, Faria was statuesque by Indian standards, and her height often attracted offers from modelling and casting agents. Cecilia Menezes, 74, one of Faria’s childhood friends, remembers her as one with poise. “Reita always carried herself beautifully. We would forever be late when we were going out because she took the longest to get ready. But she was always sure that she wanted to be a doctor,” she says.

So, when the 23-year-old student of medicine at Grant Medical College, Mumbai, entered the Miss Bombay contest organised by the erstwhile Eve’s Weekly magazine, it was “purely on a lark”. “It was supposed to be just a joke, an experience. All I had to do was to send a photograph to the organisers, and my elder sister, Philomena, took me to a studio to get one,” she says.

The Indian beauty pageant industry, Faria recalls, was rather amateurish and not well organised at all. “During the Miss Bombay contest, the organisers realised that since the Miss World had a swimsuit round, it was important to show our legs to the judges. So, they asked the girls to lift their saris to their knees,” she says. By the time the Miss India contest was held, a swimsuit round was introduced in the pageant.

Faria was chosen to represent India at the Miss World, the second Indian woman after Fleur Ezekiel in 1959. But there was no training, no wardrobe to speak of. She would have to do it on her own; her mother got her some items of clothing, and the rest she borrowed. “After I won Miss India, the organisers realised I didn’t even have a passport — so there was a scramble to get my passport made and get a visa,” she says. “I didn’t even have the trophies for Miss Bombay and Miss India — they didn’t have them ready by the time the contest happened. I was given a wooden replica, and a cheque in an envelope,” she says. Her wins tallied to a princely sum in those days — Rs 5,000 for Miss Bombay and Rs 10,000 for Miss India. “I gave the Miss India prize money to my mother, who looked after a child in an orphanage in Mumbai,” says Faria.

When she reached a chilly London a few months after entering the Miss Bombay contest, Faria encountered a world where she felt like “a complete outsider”. She found herself at a disadvantage — the European girls along with the contestants from USA and Canada were glamorous and boasted of great wardrobes. “Many of them had been invited by their embassies to visit; I received no such invitation. But we had the usual sight-seeing through London, getting our pictures taken in front of the House of Commons, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus,” says Faria.

By the time the initial elimination rounds began, the focus of the pageant had broadened to include the women’s personalities and accomplishments. “I guess that’s when I started to move ahead into the top 25 . My height and the heels made me stand out,” says Faria, with a laugh. It was also her background as a medical student that set her apart. As the women were introduced to viewers across the UK and Ireland who had tuned in to watch the pageant, Miss France was described as one who wanted “to invest in a beauty institute”, Miss Germany was a beautician, Miss Canada was a model, and Miss Japan “just wants to become a housewife”.

“The question put to me in the personality round was why I wanted to be a doctor. When I replied that India needed more obstetricians and gynaecologists, they said India has lots of babies. I said that that was something we needed to discourage, which got a lot of applause,” says Faria, who then found herself in the final three, along with Miss Greece and Miss Yugoslavia, who was her favourite for the title.