For many of the older participants, it was a chance to travel down memory lane… to a more carefree existence when their life was full of girly chatter, and endless laughter. For the younger set, it was like an extension of college life — where a gang of girls got together for some fun time.
That way, Mrs Homemaker achieved what it set out to do — provide women the time of their lives even as it helped them discover their latent talents.
The event, organised by Chennai-based Twilite Creations, made its debut in the city this year with 60 participants drawn from Coimbatore, Tirupur, Palakkad and Erode. The event has been a staple in Chennai for six years now.
This year, it has expanded to Tier-II cities such as Madurai, Coimbatore and Tiruchi.
Getting creative
The show seeks to do away with the notion that women must necessarily be tested on the basis of their skills in the kitchen, says Sumathi Srinivasan, CEO, Twilite Creations. Which is why they focus on contests that will bring women's creativity to the fore — such as vegetable jewellery, gift wrapping, one-minute makeover and the individual talent rounds. However, cookery does find a slot in the finals!
The ballroom at The Residency, the venue, was abuzz with activity during the gift wrapping and vegetable jewellery rounds. For the former, they used a range of materials, including coconut husk, to come up with eye-catching gift wraps.
Edible jewellery?
Some women were ready with their chopping boards (though they could bring cut vegetables) during the 15-minute jewellery round. As the judges P. Yasotha And S. Geetha Margret from the Department of Costume Design and Fashion, Sri Krishna Arts and Science College, looked on, they peeled, pared, julienned, cubed and chopped vegetables and fruits to come up with near-wearable jewellery.
Carrot, peas and beans were the most popular choice, but some thought out-of-the-box. Like Shobana from Tirupur (she made a neat-looking neckpiece and netthichutti using pumpkin, kottamuthu , yam and other native vegetables) and Beena from Coimbatore, whose interesting neckpiece featured a beetroot pendant and a strand of pomegranate pearls. Another lady used a slice of capsicum studded with red radish to come up with a hair adornment. A few rows further, a contestant had painted shallots golden and strung them into an interesting looking necklace.
The individual talent round saw the participants display their ability to sing, dance and do mimicry, among other skills. This was judged by Sumathi and actor Balaji.
Sumathi says that some of the women who've won the titles earlier have developed enough confidence to turn entrepreneurs or set up boutiques. That's also what we are looking at, she adds.
There were 13 finalists from Coimbatore — Bhuvaneswari, Lavanya, Subhashini Shankaran, Lalitha, Angayarkanni, Meenakshi, Chitra Ramaswamy, Suganthi Muralidharan, Beena, Padmavathy, Punya, Kamala and Hatlin Sugi.
They will go on to compete with the winners from other districts. The finalist will be crowned Mrs. Homemaker Tamil Nadu.
The Hindu was the media partner for the event.
