Beauty with brains and a heart of gold

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 24

“Dreams are extremely important, you can’t do it unless you imagine it”, the saying has given wings to Himachali girl Jagriti Bahri Khoond, who recently won the Mrs India Universe-Globe 2017 title.

Her next move is to realise the dreams of underprivileged girls in her village.

“All I wish is to educate and motivate married and unmarried women to believe in themselves. Dream big and follow your heart. Life is full of surprises. I am overwhelmed with the love showered on me by village girls who say I am an inspiration for them. I wouldn’t have asked for more,” she said.

“My achievement will inspire a lot of women, especially those who are married, to chase their dreams. I want to work towards empowering the girl child through education. There should be no discrimination when it comes to educating boys and girls. I want to be the voice of hope and motivate people. Dare to dream and act,” Jagriti said.

On her visit to her native village Addu near Nankhari in Shimla district, she decided to take responsibility of an underprivileged girl and support her education. The aim is to rope in family members, friends and like-minded people for the cause.

Jagriti spent her initial years in Shimla Public School before moving to Chennai, where her father had apple trading business, She still cherishes those days when she would stroll the Mall Road and her apple orchards. The best days were the ones spent at her grandmother’s place in Kotgarh, she added.

Married to Vivek, the man behind her success, Jagriti is a mother of two kids and is settled in the UK. She quit her career in journalism to pursue a degree in teaching and child psychology. She has also bagged the title of Mrs Beautiful and will compete in Mrs Universe and Mrs United Nations contests next year.