Sargam Koushal has brought back the Mrs World crown to India, after 21 years of model-actor Aditi Govitrikar’s win! The 32-year-old, who hails from Jammu, had worked as an English literature teacher in Mumbai before she picked the mantle of representing India at the pageant. Married to Indian Navy officer Aditya Manohar Sharma, her first thought, after recently landing back in India, was: “Being a soldier’s wife, this is my chance to make the country proud.”
For her, it’s her husband who has been the wind beneath her wings. She explains, “He has been like a child, taking calls, receiving congratulations,” she shares, adding, “Usually the wives are the invisible soldiers working behind the curtains, doing the messy work. But now, I am leading from the front and making India proud, and he has been the backbone of my entire journey.”
Set to rule the world, she had never travelled outside India, until now. “The Mrs World pageant was my first visit to Las Vegas and anywhere outside India (laughs),” says Koushal, adding, “I had never even set foot outside the country! Representing India at the pageant was my first visit abroad and that too solo! But, I was not alone. I carried every Indian woman in my heart.”
This feeling of being India’s daughter is what drove her choices in the pageant as well. Koushal says her journey is about empowerment, strength, and the grit of Indian women. Even her national costume was thus perfused with peacock feathers and motifs. “It’s about the resilience we have from within,” remarks Koushal, sharing that her gypsy costume was a homage to her Jammu roots: “It’s a Kashmiri phiran, handcrafted by the indigenous women from the war-torn villages of Kashmir. They play the role of both the man and the woman because their husbands are often lost in violence. The embroidery on it has the artisans names in Urdu. In fact, all my outfits were created by an assortment of Indian designers. So it’s not just my victory, it’s our victory!”
{{/usCountry}}This feeling of being India’s daughter is what drove her choices in the pageant as well. Koushal says her journey is about empowerment, strength, and the grit of Indian women. Even her national costume was thus perfused with peacock feathers and motifs. “It’s about the resilience we have from within,” remarks Koushal, sharing that her gypsy costume was a homage to her Jammu roots: “It’s a Kashmiri phiran, handcrafted by the indigenous women from the war-torn villages of Kashmir. They play the role of both the man and the woman because their husbands are often lost in violence. The embroidery on it has the artisans names in Urdu. In fact, all my outfits were created by an assortment of Indian designers. So it’s not just my victory, it’s our victory!”
{{/usCountry}}When the love started pouring in on social media that’s when Koushal came to terms with the magnanimity of her achievement. “Driving from the airport to the hotel, I thought I have made it. Sargam is India’s daughter. People know Sargam as Mrs World from India! The love what I’m getting (to experience) is not just mine, it’s India’s,” she confesses, recalling her journey at the pageant that started off as a personal dream. Encouraged by her father, she took it head on, and ended up finding her own community with other participants whom she now calls “sister queens”. She reminisces: “Be it sharing makeup artists, or lending dresses, we always had each other’s back. In fact, Mrs Norway Valeria and I gave each other piggyback rides all the time (chuckles).”
Author tweets @KritiKambiri
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