Venkat Raman
Our ‘Model of the Fortnight Column,’ carrying the pictures of various photographers, is one of the most popular features of the print and web editions and Social Media pages of Indian Newslink.
While space is a major constraint in the print version, we are happy to post almost all the selections of our photographers online while updating our editions either daily or at least every fortnight with a new print edition.
The ever-increasing traffic (more than 150,000 unique visitors a month and about 5000 visitors a day) demonstrates your patronage to this newspaper.
Tough Task
As we end Year 2019 with this issue, we thought of featuring Editor’s Choice of pictures of our models featured throughout the year. We featured just five models in 2019 and here is a sample picture of each of them.
As we wish our past and future models, our photographers and you dear Readers, Merry Christmas and a Happy News Year (!), we wish to reiterate our commitment to bring you the best in terms of news, views, features, and of course the always popular Model of the Fortnight.
Poonam Dayal (February 15): “Fashion Shows, Entertainment and Beauty Contests provide me an opportunity to meet people and participate in charitable causes,” she said.
Migrating to New Zealand with her family comprising her parents, brother and sister from their native Fiji 15 years ago, Poonam has had the best of three cultures- Fijian, Indian and Kiwi.
Shelaila Singh (March 15): A mother of three children, Shelaila takes the profession of modelling seriously and has to her credit several fashion shows including ‘Kaleidoscope Bridal Show 2017,’ ‘Summer Breeze 2017,’ ‘Mrs India New Zealand (at which won the ‘Best Figure Award’) and ‘Mrs New Zealand 2017 (at which she won the ‘Mrs Congeniality Award’).
Raina Farrer (April 15): Perthites (or Perthians or Perthlings) will identify the young beauty in ‘Ek Din Achanack’ (‘Suddenly One Day’), a forthcoming Hindi film as Raina Farrer, a teenager from the fourth most populous city in Australia. A Medical Student at the Curtain University in Perth, Raina is our Model of the Fortnight for another reason: She is a model by her own right and a rising dancer with a number of performances to her credit.
Simran Madan (July 15): “This has been a beautiful journey, enriched by experience and skills each of which I will cherish in my life and career,” Simran Madan said, on her return from the Philippines where she won the ‘Miss Teen Tourism Globe 2019.’
Simran was an enthusiastic participant in the Miss Earth New Zealand Contest held at Waipuna Hotel and Conference Centre, Mount Wellington in Auckland on April 13, 2019.
As well as being crowned ‘Miss Teen Earth New Zealand 2019,’ she won the titles of ‘Miss Water New Zealand 2019,’ ‘Best in Talent’ and ‘Best in Evening Gown.’
Ashley McInroe (October 1): “I wanted to be the next Aishwarya Rai, the next Rani Mukherjee, the next Kajol,” Ashley McInroe said.
Raised in a mixed household (Indian and European), her early years were spent surrounded by an enormous and truly supportive family. Her parents, siblings, aunties, uncles, cousins, and grandparents were her teachers, helping her to understand that beauty and size had nothing to do with each other.
“During my teenage years, I experienced severe bullying and racism (I attended a school with very few other Indian students), and the resulting emotional trauma made that belief in myself fade and I became plagued with depression,” she said.
If you keen or know someone who is interested in being featured as our Model of the Fortnight, please email venkat@indiannewslink.co.nz
