For Hong Kong Mrs Universe contestant, multi-tasking comes naturally
Mother, model and flight attendant, Mukta Chopra has already won a regional Mrs Asia title and hopes this week’s pageant for married women will bring more exposure in her home city
Hong Kong-based beauty queen Mukta Chopra breezes confidently into the coffee shop in an exotic off-the-shoulder dress, attracting plenty of attention. If she notices the appreciative glances, it doesn’t show. Besides, the pageant winner gets all the satisfaction she needs from her career, husband and two children. She’s no inexperienced twenty-something.
In the past, there were no contests for married women. They devoted most of their time to taking care of their children and their husbands
The flight attendant and model, an Indian national who has lived in Hong Kong for 20 years, was earlier this summer crowned Mrs South Central Asia. This week she is in Guangzhou, where she is competing for the title of Mrs Universe – the married woman’s equivalent of Miss Universe.
For all her confident air, Chopra hesitates when asked her age, laughing and stroking her hair before revealing that she’s 43. Still, she says, she is proud to be taking part in a tournament that promotes strong, mature women.
“In the past, there were no contests for married women. They devoted most of their time to taking care of their children and their husbands,” she says. “But married women nowadays have careers and are health-conscious. They are doing really well and taking care of themselves.”
Chopra took part against 19 other women in the Mrs South Central Asia contest, held in India, after qualifying by fielding questions about her education, goals and how she could contribute to society. There was another criterion: “All of the contestants had to have won some kind of contest before,” says Chopra, who was named Mrs Beautiful Eyes in the 2014 Mrs India pageant.
