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Persist...

"At times," recalls Persis, "I had to tell the girls that this was just a chronicle. But it was like a dam had burst; like once they started talking they could not stop until they had said everything that was bottled up within them for so many years. They'd laugh and cry and talk... and talk… and talk!"

About incidents of how contestants for the international titles wore saris for the formal wear round because they did not have a gown. Because many of them did not even know they were supposed to wear gowns. Of shame-faced contestants who did not know where to look as other countries came forward with their presents -- presents that would eventually be auctioned and the money given to charity. It was an unsaid ritual -- a ritual many former contestants were unaware of.

"Later," laughs Persis, "all of us ended up taking a Taj Mahal. Year after year, every Indian contestant would land up there with a little marble Taj Mahal. Or, you know, an elephant. Either a wooden one or a decorated one or…" She could not stop laughing.

"Omigosh," grimaced Diana Hayden, barely a month away from her attempt at winning the Miss World crown. "I had better make really sure that I don't take one too."

Diana was one of the many who was impressed with Persis. "I first saw her when before the Miss India contest -- when all of us were rehearsing for one of the events. She had come into talk to Hemant (Trivedi, the choreographer and designer). We had all heard that she was doing this book and, as she was leaving, she turned around and told us, "I will be interviewing three of you girls for my book." And I said, under my breath, "Persis, I promise you this. I will be one of them."

If Diana was excited about the book, there were others who were not. And these others gave Persis a difficult time. Persis has the tendency to call a spade a spade. An attitude that may or may not have helped her in the long run, but it is, she says, the only attitude she can live with. But her attitude has caused her a lot of heatburn, especially while she was researching for the book.

"Some of the former Miss Indias were easy to locate; but there were others who were practically impossible to meet. I'd call up, not once or twice but 30 times and all the while I'd get different excuses -- she's having a bath, lunch, is sleeping, she's out of town… And then, I'd bump into an acquaintance who would say, 'Hey, Persis, did you manage to get in touch with so-and-so? I bumped into her at a party last night.'

"I mean, these women have the time to go for parties, to do all kinds of things except return the call of a person who has called them at least 30 times. Come on, I was a professional, I know. I used to returned home at night after a hectic day of shooting, be ready to drop dead and find 20 messages on my answering machine. And I'd return each and every call. Those that were not urgent, I would explain that I was tired and could I talk to them later. And these women could not even return one call? Don't they respect other people's time?"

Unprofessionalism is something that leaves Persis fuming. For professionalism was a lesson she learnt early in life, a lesson that was learnt the hard way. On a day when, while shooting for The Willby Conspiracy with Sidney Poitier, she was a minute late on the sets.

"Sidney screamed at me in front of the whole unit. And I was so stunned, I just burst into tears and said. "But I was only a minute late." And then, Sidney hugged me and explained the consequences of that one minute -- of how everyone involved in the production had to be paid for that one extra minute. When you totalled what that one minute cost -- it worked out to a pretty hefty amount."

Since then, Persis has never been late. Ever.

Expectedly, the book launch happened on schedule. With more than 20 former and present Miss Indias gracing the occasion. And as Bombay's creme de la creme roared for Persis, the emotional Khambatta walked on stage. To thank all those who had helped her. And to release, with the help of all her protagonists, the book to which she had devoted more than a year of her life.

The book: Pride of India

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