Mysuru: Mysurean Shruthi Shivalingaiah has entered the finals of the Mrs. India Queen of Substance (MIQS) beauty pageant. The final is scheduled from Apr. 11 to 13 at ITC Welcome Hotel, New Delhi. There are 48 contestants from different States of India.

Shruthi is the daughter of Dr. S. Shivalingaiah, a retired Veterinary Doctor and S. Nanditha, a home-maker. They are residents of Alanahalli. She did her engineering in Computer Science from Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering and is currently working in iManage as a technical writer in Bengaluru. Her husband M. Naveen Chandra, who is working in HAL as Chief Manager, was a student of Sri Jayachamaraja College of Engineering. The couple have an 11-year-old son.

Asked about her roots and the preparation for the finale, Shruthi said she wears Mysuru on her sleeve and always uses the sobriquet ‘Cultural Capital’ when she refers to the city she lived and studied in.

“I am also clearly aware and grateful to the contributions of the Wadiyar dynasty without whom education, culture, art and industrialisation would not have found their rightful place on the map of the country,” she said. According to Shruthi, the preparations for the finale are going on very well as she is reading current affairs, international relations and watching the happenings in the country.

On why pageants are important for married women, Shruthi said, “I am a working woman and I do get a lot of opportunities to express myself. But the MIQS is a pageant that is open for every married woman and hence home-makers also participate. Most of the women are totally immersed in taking care of the family excluding their own interests. Such pageants create a separate space for them,” she opined.

“I always look at weakness as an opportunity and if a married woman comes out of her cocoon and explores the opportunities and the skills sets she has it would do good to her. I believe that the power bestowed by God on woman to not only take care of her family but also find her own self is what is being a true woman all about,” she said.