A small town Kannadiga brings India its first Miss Universal Petite crown

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Imagine doing a 36-hour shift in a hospital and then turning up willingly the next day to chip away the imperfections to become a beauty queen?

That is what Shruti Hegde, a doctor and a beauty queen from Hubli, Karnataka, has been doing since 2018. This Kannadiga's hard work has paid off though.

A little over a month ago, on June 10, Shruti Hegde became India's first Miss Universal Petite, a pageant that was started in 2009 to give opportunity to shorter women, who found themselves often dwarfed by the amazonian standards when it comes to height.

The pageantry is held in Tampa, Florida in the United States of America, every year. “It was not easy for sure. I realised that being a doctor is a lot more work than I initially thought. Yes, it becomes too much at times. But I don't think I will be choosing one over the other. Instead, I want to find a balance between both,” said Hegde to PTI.

When she took the pageantry route, Hegde said she never gave much thought to winning.

“I am always wanting to do new things, and I guess it is almost every small-town girl's dream – to be a beauty queen. So, I thought I'll just give it a try. It helped that I had a mother who is keener than me that I should do what I want to do,” said Hegde.

That is how Hedge found herself signing up for Miss Dharwad contest in 2018. But when she made it to the finals, things took a serious turn.

“During the course of the contest, I realized that I was learning a lot of life lessons too – the kind that will help me be a better person and be better equipped to tackle any kind of situation. So, I decided to give my all to it, and see where it took me,” said Hegde, who is currently pursuing MD in dermatology in Tumakuru, a city about 70 km away from Bengaluru.

But she soon hit the next roadblock. Not only did a small town like Hubballi have the means for all the preparations required to become a beauty queen, but she also had to take a break and deal with a medical emergency.

“In 2019, I was diagnosed with benign ovarian and uterine tumours and had to undergo surgery. This ate up two years of my life as I recuperated. I thought that was the end of my pageantry career for a while. Again, my mother wouldn't let me off so easily. She stood behind me like a rock,” said Hegde.