Manasa Varanasi, an engineer from Telangana, was named winner of the VLCC Femina Miss India 2020 on Wednesday night. Haryana's Manika Sheokand was declared VLCC Femina Miss Grand India 2020, while Manya Singh was crowned runner-up of the pageant.
For Manya, the daughter of a rickshaw driver from Uttar Pradesh, the victory was extra sweet after many sleepless nights and years of hard work. Manya had earlier opened up about the struggles she faced on the road to success, saying that she hoped to inspire others by using the platform provided by Miss India to talk about her journey.
"My blood, sweat, and tears have amalgamated into courage to pursue my dreams," she said in a post shared by the official Instagram handle of Miss India back in December.
Manya, who was born in Kushinagar, said in her post that she grew up in tough circumstances, spending nights without food or sleep and walking miles just to save a few rupees. She yearned for books and clothes that were not hand-me-downs, but luck, she says, was never in her favour.
Her parents mortgaged whatever little jewellery they had to pay Manya's exam fee. "She believes that education is the strongest weapon one can have with themselves at all times," Miss India said about Manya Singh in a post shared last month.
"Doted on by her mother, she has won the Best Student award during her HSC. She has struggled a lot in life till date, from not being able to pay her school fees, not being able to afford books and being neglected by her classmates for being an auto driver's daughter," the post further revealed.
In her post, Manya said that she studied during the day, washed dishes in the evening and worked at a call centre at night to get by. "I've walked hours to reach places so I could save the rickshaw fare," she said.
"I am here today at the VLCC Femina Miss India 2020 stage to uplift my father, my mother, and my young brother and to show the world that all is possible if you are committed to yourself and your dreams."
The Miss India organisation thanked Manya for "sharing her story of struggle and hard work" and hailed her as an inspiration to others.
The Miss India pageant is organised by Femina, a women's magazine published by The Times Group. In an article published on India Times, the group introduced the three winners of the pageant. According to the article, Manya Singh is currently preparing for further education in Management Studies.
After winning the Best Student award in 12th grade, she went to Thakur College for further studies.
