Up Close And Personal With The Bold And Beautiful Imlibenla Wati - Eastern Mirror
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Arts and Entertainment

Up close and personal with the bold and beautiful Imlibenla Wati

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By Our Correspondent Updated: Jun 23, 2017 11:44 pm

For those who came in late, Imlibenla Wati is a former Miss Nagaland and the first beauty queen from Nagaland to have won a national title pageant. She was crowned first runner up at Miss India Elite, 2015. She was also officially declared as Miss Asia Pacific-Super talent India 2016. Nagaland’s very own reigning Miss World Beauty India Imlibenla Wati also made history by being the first Naga lady to represent India at the Miss World Beauty Queen in South Korea and bagging the runner up title at the same competition.
Here are the excerpts from the interview:

Eastern Mirror: After all the success and accolades in beauty pageantry industry you went incognito. Can you enlighten us behind your absence?
Imlibenla Wati: I chose to remain away from the spotlight, and also because of some personal commitments, I thought I will quit being in the industry rather take out time for myself and concentrate on various social works I am currently involved in.

Eastern Mirror: Judging by your active involvement in social activities, do the people see you joining politics in the future?
Imlibenla Wati: Well, It is not my ultimate focus to join politics as of now but as a concerned citizen, we ought to be aware of the policies of the government and how it affects everyone because politics touches all the spectrum of our lives.

Eastern Mirror: By the way, what prompted you to follow this path of social activism when you have a bright future in glamour industry?
Imlibenla Wati: I grew up in a humble family and ever since I was a child I was socially active and I also realised the need of good leaders to shape the progress of the society. Speaking from my personal point of view, take for instance the constituency I reside in (27 Town A/C). It is the smallest constituency in the state with educated and enlightened folks but there is little or no progress for more than a decade and I regret that a lot would have been done for the progress and development of our constituency had good individuals with visions taken the mantle of leadership.

Eastern Mirror: People tend to stereotype beauty queens as quiet and reserved but in your case it does seem to contradict all the notions behind it. You seem quite outspoken and opinionated. Why?
Imlibenla Wati: Everyone has their own unique personality and character and I have my own. I speak my mind with the fact that I dare to, and, I do not fear to speak the truth in any kind of situation because I am a less diplomatic person. And about being outspoken and opinionated, I chose not to remain grey and blur between black and white because for me, black is black and white is white- as simple as that. And life should be simple as that.

Eastern Mirror: Speaking about good leadership, can you identify some Naga leaders whom you look forward to bring changes in our Naga society?
Imlibenla Wati: I can see many young and capable Naga leaders but I would like to name four promising leaders namely Khriehu Liezietsu, Kekhaho Assumi and upcoming leaders like Temjen Imna Along Longkumer and Khekrie Yhome.

Eastern Mirror: Apart from all the serious talks, do you feel insecure sometimes that somebody might outshine or overtake your achievements in glamour industry in the near future?
Imlibenla Wati: I would be more than happy to see any woman progressing not just in glamour industry but in other fields too. And, about the spotlight waning away from me, I would like to state that nothing is permanent so was the spotlight. It was an honour representing the state and I am thankful to God for the opportunity He bestowed upon me.
Personally with no offence to anyone, the only person whom I considered worthy to be my competitor and who defeated me gracefully in the international platform was Milett (Miss Peru) and which I have no regret losing to her.
So now the rest of competition lies within I, me and myself because I set personal goals in order to challenge myself with new experiences because I believe that we grow better with new experiences as a person.

Eastern Mirror: Lastly, any message to the readers?
Imlibenla Wati: I would love to see our Naga youngsters encourage one another to be living testimony of pro active and positive Change because when we look around, people seldom accept nor try to become agent of change.
I would also like to request Naga youths not to slumber in the glory of our forefathers and become contributors for a progressive society in their respective fields and make sure that the younger generations will be proud of our contributions and thus leave an exemplary legacy and a better world for all.

6103
By Our Correspondent Updated: Jun 23, 2017 11:44:16 pm
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