Neelam Virvani will certainly be sitting on a throne of her own that too soon as this six feet tall, lass is ready to court international runways with her unique brand of confidence.
By Asmita Aggarwal
You can probably attribute her six feet one inch tall, skinny frame to her cocktail of genesshe has Sindhi and Punjabi blood from her paternal side and Bengali and Roman Catholic DNA from her moms family. But what makes Neelam Virvani an absolute delight is her free spirit and total disregard for any kind of conventional thinking giving her the steed of a wild horse!
Here are some of Neelam-isms: If someone tells me I cant do something I go a little crazy and want to do just that thing and prove them wrong! Here is one side dish— My principal once told me that you are a girl so you need to study and I thought academics has nothing to do with gender.
Neelam left college in second year she was doing B.Com. She has done many jobs, odd ones too, before she found her calling, which is modelling. From being a kids gym instructor, to a librarian, recruiter, and working in a telecom company she has been there, done that. I started participating in pageants and to my surprise won most of them. I was bullied all my life for being so tall and thin, no one in modelling thought I was weird, she laughs.
Neelam has won a genetic lottery as she wrestles to put on weight and even though she has a monstrous appetite most believe she is anorexic thanks to her rather large frame that enables her to eat copious amounts of food that disappears in the vast length and breadth of her body.
It is not just big people who are fat shamed, skinny girls face a lot of flak for looking the way they do, she explains. What got Neelam addicted to modelling is the fact that there is no book that teaches you anything, also she believes it is a voyage of self-discovery and that the struggle you face, makes you stronger. It is fuelled by uncertainty as the coin is in the air on whether you will make it or not and this kind of excites me. As in a regular job you know time will give you both perks and a raise. Plus, no one knows that so many beautiful girls some doctors, engineers, dentists and pilots are now walking the ramp, giving up conventional professions and opting to bungee jump into the unknown, she admits.
Even though Neelams mother was upset she gave up college, the greenhorn was adamant and said that anything that becomes monotonous is not up her street. Thats one of the reasons why she wants to walk the Paris and Milan runways as staying in a new country, not knowing the ways offer a deep adrenaline rush where it is survival of the fittest, the rule of the jungle. It will be a new experience to stay on my own and I am really looking forward to it. It will make me uncomfortable, but also teach me a few important lessons of life, says Neelam.
Interesting, besides hosting for Fashion TV, in 2015, she also participated in Indias Next Top Model (Season 2), after which she quit modelling for a year. Reality TV is a lot different from what actually happens, it is far divorced from the truth, they are always looking for some drama, she confesses and is also unhappy with the fact that it got so dramatic that they shaved off half her head.
The first time she went on the runway the nervousness almost made her breakdown, now she has learnt breathing techniques and always says a little prayer but fear dissolves into fortitude in the blinding lights after a few seconds. Modelling, people say, has a shelf life but we have models like Sonalika Sahay, Laxmi Rana and Noyonika Chatterjee, who have children and are still ruling the catwalks, so obviously this is a misnomer, she adds. She does have a Plan B and that is to become a writer, something that she did when she was in college, and even though she is reticent to show what she writes as it is too personal she believes it is a skill that can be sharpened with time and practise.
You would most certainly break into a giggle when you hear Neelam and might also be a bit astonished at her candidness bordering on vulnerability. I have been to one family wedding till now, and I am 24, as everyone in my house prefers to run away and get married, she chuckles.