Yesterday the most awaited event of the year happened... Hidden Treasure’s Miss Nepal 2014. The eyes of the entire nation was on NTV and NTV2 (those were the only official broadcasters of the entire event) for who will be crowned Miss Nepal 2014. Will it be Prisha Shrestha? Aastha Pokharel? Rashmita Maharjan?

Subin Limbu was successful in bagging the crown and the hearts. Perfect answers which were precise and accurate. The final round answer which she presented were far better than the ones given by others. It looked as if she didn’t mug it up and has done her homework properly over the language as well.

 Last couple of Miss Nepal pageants has not lived upto my expectations and the competition looked pretty fabricated and planned. Miss Nepal not only means pretty face and beautiful body but it equally means sharp mind and intelligence. And Subin Limbu, Prisha Shrestha and Soni Rajbhandari looked pretty deserving for the titles that they have won.

Couple of weeks ago I have written a thread “ from Malina Joshi to Aastha Pokharel” in which I have raised a question on their multiple participation in different pageants (Please refer to the thread for more information). My fear has come true and Aastha couldn’t even make it to the top 3. I guess this was also not meant for her and she would take it as a part of life with a pinch of salt.

The Emcees were much better than last year though they sounded a bit too scripted and the dress of the lady was too safe from a fashion point of view ( I feel wearing black is playing safe from criticism….I would have loved her clad in red or a mauve gown rather than a typical black one piece dress by Subekshya Bhadel…hoina ra?).

Over all it was a good event, from the participants and the tough competition to the styling and dresses. Done by Sabah Nepal, the Dhaka printed dresses where very fine and elegant. Equally the chic and wearable collection by Antee and Ajay Gurung, a sibling duo dress designers are commendable and professionally done.

But which took my majority attention was a big disappointment, where I see some lady doing a Flamenco dance to entertain the audition. She was amazing and very graceful. I would love to dance and move like her. My question is, WHY Flamenco and why not any of our ethnic Nepali dance form? It just didn’t feel right for me.

 I love the art of dancing from any part of the world, but when we are doing Miss Nepal where we are talking about our identity and our culture being represented by our beautiful girls, why was Flamenco dance promoted. Chariya is a beautiful Nepali dance so is Tamang Celo, a Newar girl dressed as Manjushree doing some mundras would have been such a pleasant sight for the eyes. But the organizers choose the Spanish dance form Flamenco over the many Nepali dance form which still are far more graceful and difficult to perform.

This kind of attitude coming from such a prestigious company demotivates dances who are trying to keep alive the culture and art of Nepal. I am not saying that just coz its Miss Nepal it needs to have everything Nepali but if we can promote our own art why not do that, after all we all are proud of the rich culture and heritage we come from..aren’t we??