Manya Singh wins Miss India 2020 Runner-Up.
Do you remember the Rin ad in which a girl gets down from an auto-rickshaw and the Manager asks she looks perfect as a banker but why she opted for an auto-rickshaw? To which the girl replies that the driver is her father which leaves the Manager stunned.
Well, the TV ad campaign has been turned into reality by Manya Singh by emerging as Miss India 2020 runner-up at the Femina Miss India pageant which was held on 10th February 2021. And like the girl in the commercial ad, she looked like a proud daughter who would always put her family and country first.
Manya decided to use her father’s auto-rickshaw at a felicitation function organized by her college in Mumbai. It was an emotional moment for her family when she came out from the auto she put her crown on the head of her mother and wiped the tears off her father. It was an emotional moment for her entire family.
This picture has gone viral and has surely inspired many people from her achievement. Although Manasa Varanasi was crowned Miss India World 2020 and Manika Sheokand became Miss Grand India 2020 grabbed the limelight as expected. It was the inspiring journey of Manya that has been making headlines everywhere from Newspaper to the internet.
Journey from Gorakhpur to Mumbai
Manya Singh was born to a lower-middle-class family of four where they were struggling to make ends meet. Her childhood has been marked by poverty where her parents only managed to pay her fees. She always saw other girls enjoying their life, wearing new clothes, she knew that didn’t have the same privilege as others but that didn’t stop her from dreaming big.
While growing up she was also made aware of the gender discrimination in society by people who would feel sorry for her parents for not having a boy as their first child. That was the time when she made up her mind that one day she will let her parents and society know that the daughters are more capable than anyone else.
One day Manya Singh shared her dreams to her parents of becoming Miss India rather than aiming for a simple life and working either as an engineer or a doctor. Hearing this her parents were shocked and advise her not to dream big and concentrate on her studies. That’s when Manya Singh decided to take charge of her life. At the early age of just 14, she ran away from home without telling anyone and took a train from Gorakhpur to Mumbai which later went on to prove that she made the right decision.
Struggling Days in Mumbai
When Manya Singh reached Mumbai she neither had any money nor any contacts. The only things she had was belief in herself and her dreams.
When she walked out of the station, the first thing that she noted was the Pizza Hut. Somehow she managed to get herself a part-time job there & temporary accommodation to manage her day-to-day expenses.
After few days she called her parents and informed them that she was in Mumbai and this was the city where her dreams would be fulfilled. After a lot of convincing both her parents decided to support her and come to the city of dreams. His father would drive an auto and she worked on a part-time basis to meet their daily needs.
But nothing was easy for her as she had to fight patriarchy at home and rejections for not having good looks and also not knowing proper English. But she never gave up.
Once she managed a job at a Pizza outlet she would mop the floor, do the dishes, and sleep in the storeroom. While doing her job, she always uses to observe how people carried themselves, how they would dress up, and talk to each other.
It was a massive learning for her for the entire year that she worked there. Later on Singh went on to join a call center and worked in several companies throughout her graduation from Thakur College of Science and Commerce, Mumbai.
It was here where she polished her language, she worked on her diction and voice. Initially, she had started work to support her education but even that led to shaping up her personality, preparing her for Miss India.
The Reward of Hard Work
She kept on failing to enter the beauty pageant. But she never lost Hope. Whenever she felt low she uses to calm her down by reminding herself that she has seen a lot of struggle and this phase shall also pass. It was her belief in herself that after several failed attempts to enter the beauty pageant she finally made it last year. And as they say, the rest has become history.
Manya Singh won the Miss India 2020 runner-up at the Femina Miss India pageant which was held on 10th February 2021.
