I am genuinely happy for Harnaaz Sadhu for winning Miss Universe 2021 and making India proud.

Update by Thinking Boxx Team

No hate here. I am genuinely happy for Harnaaz Sadhu for winning Miss Universe 2021 and making India proud.

But her final answer (which is trending on internet) does not make any sense to me.

The question was, ”What advice would you give young women watching on how to deal with the pressures they face today?’’

And Harnaaz’s reply was, “The biggest pressure the youth of today is facing is to believe in themselves, to know that you are unique and that's what makes you beautiful. Stop comparing yourselves with others and let's talk about more important things that are happening worldwide. This is what you need to understand. Come out, speak for yourselves because you are the leader of your life, you are the voice of your own. I believed in myself and that's why I am standing here today”.

Okay so let me break it into part on why it doesn’t make sense to me:

1. The biggest pressure the youth of today is facing is to believe in themselves, to know that you are unique and that's what makes you beautiful. - The question was about pressures that young women specifically face, not the general youth. As a women rights activist (which she had mentioned in her bio), I was really looking forward to what she would answer for this question.
2. Stop comparing yourselves with others and let's talk about more important things that are happening worldwide. - Well, what are beauty pageants like Miss World and Miss Universe if not about comparing beautiful, slim-waisted women from all around the world? Isn’t that comparing yourself with others? And you wanna talk about more important things? Why don’t we start with the host country Israel? Why not talk about the Israel Palestine issue right there on that stage? Wrong statement to say at the wrong stage.
3. This is what you need to understand. Come out, speak for yourselves because you are the leader of your life, you are the voice of your own. I believed in myself and that's why I am standing here today. - Another generalized statement. I have already heard hundreds of version of the same message. I remember this message being in my 3rd grade English book. ‘Believe in Yourself’ is my school’s motto. It’s. That. Common.

I guess she had a generalized ted-talk type, motivational, confident wala answer in her mind, that she rattafied (by hearted) and just narrated it for the question. It’s not wrong. I just don’t feel that it’s worth the hype that people are making. I did like her answer regarding climate change though!

Edit and Note:

If you check my bio, you would notice that I am a content writer, graphic designer and ambassador for teenage centric organizations. If I was asked a question related to teenagers, I would not give a generic answer even in my sleep. I believe that if you are passionate about something specific, you could talk about it all well and specifically too.

‘She is a strong advocate for women’s rights’. So the generic answer was good but disappointing (at least for me).

Kuddos for her confidence though! This post was not meant to degrade her or her achievement. Read the first two lines of this answer again. I wrote it because I was fed up of the speech popping up in whatsapp, youtube, twitter (in short all social medias) and news channels. After I realized the flaws, it became a bit irritating.

What I meant above my slim-waisted women is that beauty pageants are only participated by conventionally beautiful women. Being slim is one of the criteria. Have you ever seen a person heavier that 55kg, shorter than 5′2, anyone with acne? Isn’t that a ridiculous beauty standard? On the other hand, all of us are unconventionally beautiful in our own way. Again, I express no hate on the participants or winner (I understand that it’s their profession) but I do have a slight distaste for beauty pageant competitions.

What I meant by ‘talk about Israel Palestine conflict’ was that you cannot always talk about serious things. I just mentioned it as an example. Beauty pageants in itself belongs to the entertainment industry…(which I guess is not a serious thing but an entertainment as the name suggests).

For all those 2.3K+ wonderful, beautiful people who upvoted this or showed their appreciation for this answer in the comments section, thanks a lot. This was my first quora answer. I wrote it within 10 minutes (sachi muchi) cause that the break between my classes. I did not even reread for grammatical errors and just posted it. I never knew it would become this viral. Virtual hugs for you guys!

For those wonderful, beautiful people who have different opinions and expressed it in a civilized manner in the comments section, hugs for you all too. It’s great to have a different opinion and agree to disagree!

For those people who are belittling or downright being rude in the comments section… I know that there is a delete comment option, but I won’t delete yours’ because I just don’t care ;)

Good day!