Sunita Dholakia, of Rutland, is one of 114 finalists competing in Haut Monde Mrs. India Worldwide, an annual beauty pageant for married Indian women across the globe.
By Lily Doton
While her kids finish the school year and her husband watches over their restaurant, Masala Corner, Sunita Dholakia is in Dubai, ready to take her place in the spotlight.
Out of 25,000 contestants, Dholakia is one of 114 finalists competing in Haut Monde Mrs. India Worldwide, an annual beauty pageant for married Indian women across the globe.
Normally, Dholakia would be here in Rutland, running Just Threading beauty salon and Masala Corner alongside her husband, Mehul Dholakia.
Mehul Dholakia has lived in Rutland since 2000, but in 2014, after eight years of waiting in India for her immigration paperwork to go through, Sunita Dholakia was finally able to join her husband here.
“To begin with, I was not actually thinking that I want to come here. But you know, it’s a destiny,” Dholakia said.
And while the adjustment was difficult at first, particularly because she arrived just before her first Vermont winter, Dholakia has made a home for herself here. Not only has she opened her own businesses, but she is also a board member with the Downtown Rutland Partnership, helping to grow and open new businesses.
“I love (Rutland) the most,” Dholakia said. “The people here are so good. They are so welcoming, and they support what you do.”
Although she used to live in a big city, now she finds places like New York to be “too noisy” and just make her want to come back to Vermont.
“Obviously, adjusting takes time. But once everything fell into place, I think she got her cards together, and she’s coming up on top. I mean, she’s got a great business, she’s doing this (pageant), which is great,” Mehul Dholakia said.
“And of course, she has a great husband,” he added with a laugh.
Though Dholakia loves Rutland and has found success here, she says she’s always been interested in fame and glamour — long before she entered the Mrs. India Worldwide pageant.
“When I was in Mumbai — Mumbai is a city, like, where the Bollywood (industry) is… I was really passionate about (working) in the Bollywood industry since then,” Dholakia said.
Through her connections, Dholakia was able to appear in commercials and TV spots in the mid-2000s.
“My family used to live in Gujarat, which is like six hours, seven hours away from Mumbai and suddenly they saw me on TV,” Dholakia said. “I did not actually tell them that was what (I was) doing because I just wanted to surprise them one day.”
Soon after that, Dholakia got married, settled down and started her family. So, when she received an email about the Mrs. India Worldwide pageant, she jumped on the opportunity.
But to Dholakia, being in the pageant is about more than just the beauty — she wants to empower women and bring attention to the inaccessibility of education for children in India. On top of that, she is working with a nongovernmental organization in India, the Swarg Foundation, with the goal of supporting and providing services for the elderly.
This issue is particularly important to Dholakia because she was not able to be with her grandmother when she passed.
“It broke my heart,” Dholakia said. “She has so many family members, but nobody’s there next to her during her last rituals.”
Ultimately, Dholakia said she hopes that she can use her platform to inspire other women.
“It’s very empowering. And I think that is what convinced me (to enter the pageant),” Dholakia said. “Whatever you dream for, you should do actually, and there should be no age barrier for that.”
Haut Monde’s Mrs. India Worldwide 2024 is taking place through May 7, when the winner will be announced.
Lily Doton reported this story on assignment from the Rutland Herald. The Community News Service is a program in which students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost.