“You are a designer piece, God has created”-- Rita Gangwani
This is one of the favourite quotes of Rita Gangwani, the celebrity personality transformation and pageant coach..
Rejections, critical judgements by the society, unrealistic standards of beauty and the flawed concept of perfection were leaving negative consequences by their perverse prejudice upon her naive mind . Born with a short stature , she had to withstand the jest and humour from a society which was enslaved to stereotypical beauty . Fat is ugly, thin is appealing, tall is perfectly beautiful and short is asymmetrical. .....Heavens ...when will this dirty definition of beauty completely be eradicated?
"I thought I wouldn't be able to do anything worthy in life till my mentor showed a 100 Rs note to me and explained the value of it "___ Rita Gangwani .
She felt that she was a black spot of shame for her parents
So self acceptance is a game changer and the moment you start admiring your flaws and shortcomings, you reach the next level of understanding. You realize the essence of life . Her story took a turnaround , when her mentor explained the worth of a 100 Rs note to her..
Folded, crumbled or even rolled, each time that note had the same value . The world will make you feel worthless but it is you who can discover your real purpose of existence . You alone can do it as you know your strengths and weaknesses better ….These were the teachings of her mentor .
“ People ridiculed my short stature. I saw rejections I was made to feel very small as the dimension ,4 ft 10 inches intersected my routes to modeling , etc "___ Rita Gangwani .
Then she realized that she was not the only one with that miniscule dimension and that there was a tall edifice of talents within her. Unfortunately in the hurricane of criticisms and mockery, she rarely explored them, hence was sinking in the tunnels of depression . It was not late, yet. She embarked upon a journey of self exploration and then gradually found her innate being ;strong, curious, confident and keen to embrace the world .
“ The world will make you feel worthless and dirty but you have to learn to value your strengths"___ Rita Gangwani
She thought of making others like her aware of the basic mantra , that being triumphant wasn’t about being flawless, rather the scars showed the routes to success and sparked off uniqueness .
“ My height was such a small part of my Personality. I changed the focus from my height to the positivity ”
A rendezvous with her very ownself, brought her to self love . This beautiful ardour had rainbows,the sparkles of the sunshine, the glitters of the moonglade and the shimmers of the star . Her world changed . The beginning came with an advertisement by Indian Armed Forces in a news daily. She came across it and went ahead with all these glitters of self trust. The battle was tough. All other applicants were tall, she was the shortest, but this time there was a strong machinery of self reliance, faith and dedication that was continuously working in her favour . She came out with the peachy perfect success . Her struggles for being acknowledged by the world ended . She joined the Indian Armed Forces . Commissioned as a Lieutenant general in 198O, she was awarded the best cadet.
“ When you open up for the world and when you are ready to receive the world, good things start happening in your life”. __Rita Gangwani
It has been rightly said, that the moment you are full of gratitude and reverence to the world, is the moment when the best things gravitate towards you from the universe . Her purpose to serve the country, her reason to love herself, her gratitude for all that she had , got her acquainted to the love of her life .
Lord Byron quotes hold so true in this context .
“There are four questions of value in life… What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for and what is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same. Only love.” – Lord Byron.
Year 1982 …love stepped in , like the spring blossoming in a unique artistry, stealthily spreading an ethereal redolence . A young guy met with a road accident . Wounded and shackled , he was brought to the army hospital . This was really sad that someone had to face the pain of an untoward incident . Who knew that his physical pain was slowly getting metamorphosed into a soulful bliss by her expert nursing and care ? She was a trained nursing officer of the Indian army . The man started healing and their love blossoming with the scents of Daffodils and Jasmine. A Mills and Boon courtship , very soon turned into a nuptial knot. Rita Gangwani got married to the king of her heart, Mr Kuldeep Gangwani
A series of successes queued up, one after the other and then after being crowned as Himachal Queen, she never looked back
“She walks in beauty , like the nights of cloudless climes and starry skies "__ Lord Byron.
These words by the romantic poet, Lord Byron go very well with her personality .
Being the leading personality transformation coach and a pageant coach , she has paved ways for millions. Men, women, transgenders, differently abled, all come to her with loads of loathsome doubts and get transformed into confident and successful individuals. At Riga Haus, she builds people, she composes sagas of success, she paints the canvas of confidence .Transforming participants of national and international pageants, she has lent innumerable personalities to the world. Manushi Chillar and Sushmita Sen took the first steps into pageantry, with her and that is how she has been given the title of Queen Maker. She leads people from doubts to dazzles.
Words have power . They can build empires and they are the most vulnerable killers too . Those words had taken away her verve, her zeal to live and had almost shrunken her to a diminished silhouette . Now , her words bring people back to life, her words turn the hesitation into crowning glory, her words have the charismatic power to infuse the divinity into souls .
Being a motivational speaker and soft skills trainer of national and international reputation, her thoughts are flooded with positivity and passion to heal tattered hearts .
“ If you are short, tall, fair, dark, differently abled , then there is a strong reason for which God has created you like this. Find that reason. There is strength in that reason. It can give you a purpose of existence “___ Rita Gangwani
When asked about pageantry and the tips to winning, she says
“ Confidence is the only tool that can lead you to the crown. If you strive for the crown, you will lose your excellence in the race. If you enjoy the journey , the crown will chase you instead “__ Rita Gangwani
Here are some excerpts from the interview
Q. What can be done to eradicate stereotyping of beauty ?
See, it is gradually vanishing. In our days , 4 feet 10 inches was a big taboo but now it isn’t. Beauty comes in all sizes, shapes and colours. You can see the plus size sections of outfits and also pageants are held for everyone.
Q. What is beauty according to you ?
Well, I strongly believe that beauty is one's innate strength, it is there in your imperfections and beauty is your uniqueness . No one likes a carbon copy of an original version. So be yourself and never ape others .Embrace yoyr uniqueness and love yourself
Q. How do you transform people at Riga Haus
I try to bring forth all the realities of their lives , about their past and present. If there’s something that is stopping them, then what is it ..so I first make them open up and we share a lot of stories . They cry and I cry too . Then once I am aware of the reason for their hesitation or the scars that they are ashamed of, I work on that aspect. Gradually we erase that part of their personality or rewrite it .
Q. Your book The Beauty Pageant's Green Room, the ultimate Bible to grooming is an award winning book . What all things are there in the book
It is about the institution called pageantry. It not only prepares you for pageants but also talks of life skills . In better way I would like to say that pageantry itself prepares you for life and its various challenges. There you can get all the necessary information about beauty, hygiene, self care, communication skills and questions answer rounds .
Q. You have been honoured by the World Book of Records . Please share something about it
Yeah, so The World Book of Records , has awarded me as I am the only pageant coach who trains not only the participants for the miss, Mrs, Mr category but also for transgender pageants , differently abkec pageants etc. These are more challenging .
Q. Please share a motivational quote with us
“ Be a stiletto in a room of flats “
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Ravishing , radiant and radical, she is glamour and grace personified. Grounded she , walks in beauty, with the crown of her confidence to spread love and wisdom around .
The legendary icon, Retd Lieutenant, Pageant and Personality Transformation Coach, Author of The Beauty Pageant's Green Room, is in conversation with her students, Arti Singh and Yamini Sinha……
Listen to the full interview..on SPOTIFY Want to join a pageant ? Want to crack a job interview? Want to step out of hesitation ? Want to know the Essentials of an effective personiality ? . .
Join RIGA HAUS , a Personality Transformation house, founded by Rita Gangwani
Watch her motivational stories from The sack full of stories by Rita,Gangwani
Get her book to know about any possible question for the question answer round of pageants , also read about self development, beauty mantras and hygiene
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Today she has a panorama of accolades, galaxies of strengths and unparalleled beauty to win and transform hearts . She stands tall , with her extraordinary potential to mould and metamorphose lives . Height means Humility, height means handiness in moulding lives .... Height is synonymous to her glory.... .
This write up is written with sincere reverence to my mentor, Ms Rita Gangwani ma'am. Experience is the best proof and I have been lucky to experience her excellence.