Determination saw Shosha
“You should always take a chance because you never know how absolutely perfect something can turn out to be,” said an elated and satisfied Shoshanna Ramdeen. After not winning the Miss India Guyana crown the first time around in 2017, she came back full swing this year, determined to win the judges’ approval and she did.
In a sit down with The Scene, the 22-year-old stunner shared her pageantry experience, what led to her taking up the challenge and what it has been like since becoming Miss India Guyana 2018.
A shy country girl, Shoshanna grew up in Tuschen on the West Coast Demerara, a life she shared with an older brother and their parents. She attended Greenwich Primary School, then Zeeburg Secondary. According to the young woman she was never one to be taken up with school competitions, concerts or public speaking. She feared standing before a crowd, but she had always dreamed of more for herself and to be needed and able to help those who need her.
The desire to help others began at an early age when she felt helpless seeing relatives dying from cancer, crying out in pain and feeling sorry that she could do nothing but watch. She realized soon enough that she wanted to be the person wearing the white coat and had vowed someday she would be a doctor. On graduating high school, she went on to do advanced levels of Biology, Chemistry and Physics at School of the Nations before enrolling at the Greenheart Medical University where she is currently a third-year student.
It was sometime last year that she felt she wanted to try something new and was up for a challenge. Around that time, she learned of the Miss India Guyana competition. Shoshanna said she was never one for pageantry and only saw it as highlighting the beauty of its contestants at first. But a closer look enlightened her on the platform it allows for raising awareness of illnesses and other benefits. “What I admired especially about the Miss India Guyana pageant was that it promoted culture and morals and I decided this was something I wanted to do. Pageantry I would learn is more than appearance; it’s about a beautiful heart and being strong,” Shoshanna said.
She shared that pageantry has improved her as an individual. She recalled that at last year’s rehearsals, which were spearheaded by trainer Derek Moore, she was often reprimanded by him to smile. Growing up not only had she been timid but very serious. She mentioned that she had never seen a giggling or smiling doctor and could not recall seeing any of her lecturers wearing a smile and she had patterned herself that way too. Derek, she said, had taught her something important, which was if she could not smile during rehearsals, there was no way she would smile when it came to the coronation night and he was right.
That year Canada-based Guyanese Sangeeta Bahadur stole the hearts of the judges and not only did Shoshanna miss her chance at the crown but she also didn’t place. She was however awarded the Miss Beautiful Hair award.
This was more than she could take. It was not like her to not acquire the goal she set out and she was determined to have another try. Shoshanna confessed that even some of her supporters from last year tried to dissuade her from participating again telling her to not waste her time but to instead focus on getting her degree. This was easier said than done. What they did not realize was that they added fuel to the fire and Shoshanna was more than ever unwavering about following through with her plan; putting university on hold she began self-training. Armed with the internet she started watching pageant tutorials on YouTube, determined to get it right every way she could.
This year under new management of Hashim and Melissa Ali, the contestants were trained by Alicia Bess. Training, the queen said, was rigorous as she recalled many days when they would begin training at around six in the evenings and go until close to midnight. Because of the