MAKING OF A WINNER

At one point of time, Lara Dutta wanted to be an astronomer. Till she decided she'd rather conquer the world and be a star. Let's find out, what all things she went through before reaching the peak...

Lara Dutta, the reigning Ms Universe, was destined for the fame she has got and that too, much before the world realised; - knew her parents. But one thing they didn't know in the early years of her life that, what option she would chose to reign the world. This was because Lara has played with many ambitions in life. She wanted to be an astronomer when she was very young. She also tried to follow her father's footsteps i.e. becoming a Pilot. But walking, she shelved into the ramps following these valuable pageants and annually winning the coveted Ms Universe crown.

Lara was born in Delhi, while she was brought up in Bangalore. She thought of competing for the Ms India crown at a very tender age of 7. Soon she started finding out all kinds of information relating to the event and started trying the jeer question & answers sessions, all cooked up by her. However, she didn't throw herself in the midst of the glitz and glamour. She is fond of the outdoors. She loves adventure and sports like rock climbing, paragliding, mountaineering as well as bungee jumping.

At the age of 15, when usually girls are involved in the fancies of life, she had prepared herself to walk on the ramps. In 1995, she won the Gladrags Supermodel contest being in school. She also won the International-Germany title.

At the age of 19, she went to Mumbai and started modelling. Just after this she entered the Femina Ms India contest, 2000. In the words of Lara, "..I wanted to represent India internationally ! "After this she knew that she had found her goal in life.

Today the title is hers, but the way towards it was not made of flowers. Instead, she had to work very hard to reach her goal. She wrapped up with all the newsworthy information around her. She managed to polish her speech and diction. Lara also went on decreasing her weight to weigh just 53 kg on a tall 5'8" body.

The woman with the dusky skin and international look, has a whole lot of confidence in her. She walks with absolute grace, and poise holding her firm head on her slim shoulders. One of the most appreciative things in her, is, her never breakable confidence. Before leaving India for the Ms Universe pageant, she had once said : "I know there are going to be representatives from 90 countries. It's going to be overwhelming, but I am not going to be intimidated."

The beautiful crystal crown belong's to Lara today. However, she doesn't want to continue modelling for long and being an Economics student at the Mumbai University, she wants to rise high even further...