Kolkata International Women’s Club hosted a special event with Miss Universe India 2010, Ushoshi Sengupta at LMNO_Q on September 2, as part of KIWC’s monthly meeting.
Moderated by KIWC committee member Shirsha Guha, the session started off on an emotional note with Sengupta reminiscing about her early days which offered her immense support to become who she is today.
“My father was watching this news of Sushmita Sen getting crowned. I still remember that night like a photograph. He excitedly called my mother who was in the other room and exclaimed: ‘See a Bengali girl has won Miss Universe.’ I asked my dad what that meant at all and his response was: ‘She is the most beautiful and intelligent girl in the world and if you become beautiful and intelligent like her, you will get this crown too.’ That night I had the realisation that I wanted to be like her and make my father as proud as he was when he saw Sushmita being crowned. Millions of Indians do not know her, but they still root for her and aspire to be like her. I think that was when I realised that I wanted to be like her. I would cut out all her pictures from magazines and newspapers and watch her interviews. When I went to the Miss Universe platform, she was my mentor. I spent one whole year just watching and following her.”
Ushoshi also spoke at length about her association with Playfest and her deep involvement in social causes pertaining to underprivileged girls, including New Light, a registered public charitable trust based out of Calcutta.
“A huge part of my work involves working with women. I was born on July 30, the same day the UN observes World Day against Trafficking in Persons. It is a sheer coincidence. I realised quite early on in life that my purpose was to work in this space and work with survivors of human trafficking and that’s what led me to New Light. New Light has been working relentlessly for years towards providing education to the children of sex workers. My experience of working with the mothers and the children has been truly overwhelming and fulfilling. The kids want to be doctors and engineers and some of them want to be models and actors too. The mothers have so many dreams for their kids,” shared Ushoshi, reflecting the great trajectory of her social work.
The session was followed by a quick make-up tutorial by Rebecca Rajpal from Becks Beauty Bar. She delivered a masterclass on how to create smokey eyes and glossy pouty lips for the monsoon, on KIWC members Debasree Saha and Yukiko Yuasa who volunteered to be models.
Speaking to t2, Raajiv Nathany, co-partner, LMNO_Q, said: “It was an honour to host an afternoon for one of the biggest charity events the city sees, the KIWC pre-monsoon ball event. It’s always motivational to see how women are empowering other women in every field and we would really like to encourage more such events at LMNO_Q in the future.” Palki boutique was the apparel partner and Pernod Ricard was the alcohol partner for the event.