Shivamogga: Calm, poised and quick-witted- the Shivamogga girl Manisha Varun won the “Mrs. India Universe 2018” pageant held in Sri Lanka recently.

Daughter of the Malur family in the city, Manisha won in the junior section (25 to 35 years age group) of the competition for women. As many as 26 women from across the nation competed for the title in over 8 rounds of competitions. The participants had to be married with at least one child as per the rules.

Mother of two children, Manisha convincingly won the last five rounds of the competition to be crowned the winner.

It was an interaction with Anju Pandey, wife of former district collector of Shivamogga district Pankaj Pandey that inspired her to take part in the pageant, Manisha says. “Anju supported me in this endeavour. She also trained me for four months”, she adds.

“This competition lays emphasis on the inner beauty rather than the external beauty. The organisers of the competition work towards preventing the atrocities against women”, Manisha says.

When asked about who was her role model, Manisha quickly answers that they are her mother and mother-in-law.

Manisha’s family friend S V Shastri says that she impressed the jury in the final rounds of the competition with her brilliant answers to some of the most difficult questions. “Manisha’s win is not just a proud moment for Shivamogga but also for India,” he adds.