On the ramp at Rustom Baug

A crowd of over 1,200, mostly youths, witnessed Hufriya Bhiwandi-wala score over the 17 other contestants to win the May Queen 2005 title on April 30, 2005. Organized by the managing committee of the Sir Ness Wadia Club, Rustom Baug, "this annual event has become a crown in the activities of the community,” notes a press release giving a recap of the function and the efforts that went in to make it a success.

"The purpose of holding the May Queen Ball every year is not only to gather funds for the sporting and social activities of the youth, but also to bring our youngsters together so that they can learn to sing, dance and make new friends,” declared Dr Porus Turner, president of the Club, in his message carried in the souvenir published on the occasion. Vice president of the Club Hutoxi Doodhwala ensured that the 11th May Queen Ball was a well coordinated event.

From left: Minoo Shroff, Guzder, Bhiwandi­wala and B. Irani

The evening began with the first round of the contest where the 18 competitors put their best foot forward. Whilst the nine finalists were being decided, the youngsters of Rustom Baug sashayed down the ramp displaying a collection of colorful drapes designed by Natasha Bhum­gara and choreographed by Shakir Shaikh. This was followed by dances choreographed by Hormazd Kham­batta on a Bolly­wood mix of cabaret and club songs. In the second round the nine finalists had to each answer a question posed by Burzis Taraporevala, the compere for the evening. Another set of youngsters from Rustom Baug performed a jazz dance choreographed by Nilesh of the Pappoo Malloo group before the names of the winners were announced.

Clockwise from (top left); Doodhwala, Turner, Taraporevala, Kolah, Soparkar and Tamboly

Bhiwandiwala also won the title of Body Beautiful. The first runner up was Hoorzan Irani, and the second runner up was Benaifer Chichgur who won the title for Best Hair too. While the Best Smile title went to Delna Kotwal, Meherzin Sanjana was declared Miss Vivacious and a special encouragement prize was given to Ruzin Deboo.

All the contestants acknowledged that the grooming sessions over the preceding 10 days were "a great learning experience.” The morning sessions entailed subjects like speech, diction and stage presentation, fine dining, etiquette, manners and body language conducted by Doodhwala, ballroom dancing by Sandip Soparkar and ramp walking and body posture by Shakir Shaikh. The afternoon sessions were at Mickey Mehta’s 360° gym, Health Beyond Fitness at Hughes Road where the girls underwent training in yoga, pilates, aerobics, meditation and pranayam to experience physical transformation, mind development and spiritual empowerment. They also got tips on diet and nutrition, grooming, personal hygiene, make-up, hairstyling and posture correction. The daily brunch of soup, salad, sandwich and lemon juice was prepared by Pervin Mistry on Meh­ta’s recommendations.

The participants additionally benefited from the informative and interactive sessions with Bombay Parsi Puncha­yet (BPP) trustee Dinshaw Tamboly who spoke on "Positive Attitude and the Pursuit of Excellence.” Model and veejay Parizad Kolah gave them tips on how to get a foothold in the glamor world. Grasim Mr India 2005, Viraf Patel boos­ted their confidence and explained how a pageant could be won. Ace photographer and actor Boman Irani taught them how to face the camera with ease, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of each of the contestants.

At the finals it was once again Boman Irani who was invited as chief guest with his wife Zenobia. Since the pageant this year was sponsored by the BPP, all the trustees of the Punchayet as also chairman emeritus Jamshed Guzder were thanked for their support. On behalf of Rustom Baug, gratitude was expressed to Nusli Wadia for promoting the May Queen Ball and other activities over the years through Sir Ness Wadia Foundation. Among the others whose cooperation was commended were Dhun Gagrat, Sarosh Daruvala of Mazda Audio Video Labs, Maharukh Edulji, Naazneen and Mahiyar Engineer, and all the tenants of Rustom Baug.