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| Sunday, 1 September 2002 |
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By Jayanthi Liyanage
In a ceremony which brought back the soft, classic, feminine elegance of long-forgotten hey-days of "Miss Ceylon", the softened flamboyancy of Anoja's hand-painted cotton sheath heightened the crimson on her high-cheek bones and, for a moment, she appeared a vision from the past - a tall, magnificent "signorina" of a costal chateau in the 17th century Sri Lanka. Any wonder she bagged triple crowns - Miss Swim Suit and Miss Photogenic being the other two? "Well, I am a De Mel from Panadura and probably, there could be some Portugese descent in my lineage," she explains the classical characteristics of her looks and a height of 5' 7" which placed her among the tallest of the contestants. In contrast, at 18, the tall beauty was also one of the youngest, with her next birthday cropping up close to her "Grand Day" of the world pageant. Had her parents and friends not literally pushed her to apply for the contest, we would have been doomed not to see the majestic, yet soft-voiced, mild-mannered Anoja cat-walking up Ceylon Continental Hotel ramp on that star-studded night. "I had heard that people squabble over trifles to win and had second thoughts about taking part," she says. But fate had other things in mind for her, and now she crosses her fingers and counts the days for her biggest ramp performance - to be ranked among the best of 60 international beauties vying for the prestigious crown 'Miss Tourism International'. "Please publish in your article that I thank Mr.Sabestian Perera and Mrs. Yvonne De Rozairo for training me and putting me through my paces before the local pageant," says Anoja. This is one young woman who is emphatically independent and wants to succeed from her own pedestal. She lives her convictions by running her own garment business with a bevy of 15 young women working under her as seamstresses. "After my O/Ls at Ladies College, I did a fashion designer's course at J.D. Institute as my ambition is to become a fashion designer." And the rabbits? "A pole-cat killed my female pet," says this young pet-lover sadly, "I was so terrified when I saw it. But the two males, her 'boy-friends' are safe with me." Anoja was the only contestant of the pageant to tackle the 'question-and-answer' round of the pageant, in the most ubiquitous global language, English. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
"Designer"
genes. Cyber-chats. And rabbits. This seemingly incongruous mix sums up
Jenita Anoja Miriam De Mel, the shy-smiled teenager who was crowned the
newest beauty-queen in town. The envy of many enterprising young belles in
Sri Lanka, being crowned 'Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Tourism International',
means she will be competing with seasoned veternas at the world pageant
which is barely a month away.
