Rohru's Ashima emerges Winter Queen at Manali

Abhinav Vashisht

KULLU, JANUARY 7

Ashima Chauhan from Rohru of Shimla was crowned Winter Queen at the concluding ceremony of five-day long national Winter Carnival at Manali yesterday. She was awarded Rs 1,00,000 and a crown by the chief guest Education, Language, Art and Culture minister Govind Singh Thakur.

Ashima said that she was pursuing MBBS degree in Hong Kong and would become a doctor and serve the society. She said that she would continue to participate in beauty contests whenever she got a chance and would spend the money received from these competitions for the education of poor children. She credited her success to her father Balwant and mother Parshotma.

Tapti Thakur of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, was adjudged the first runner-up and Ipshita Kashyap of Dalhousie, Chamba, was the second runner-up. Besides crowns, Tapti was awarded with Rs 50,000 and Ipshita was presented Rs 30,000 by the chief guest.

Abhijeet won the “Voice of Carnival” competition while Urmila Soni stood second and Gurpreet Singh and Gurpreet-2 achieved third place.

Mahila Mandals of the right bank of the Beas won the ‘maha nati’ and were awarded Rs 2 lakh while Mahila Mandals of the left bank remained runners-up and were presented with Rs 1 lakh.

The tug-of-war contest was won by Mahila Mandal of Himri village. Besides awards were presented to the winners of various events like fashion show in traditional dresses, folk dance, classical dance, dance on new and old film songs, folk instruments and talent show, etc.

A lot of enthusiasm could be seen among the people of the valley regarding the carnival as it was being held after two years due to Covid crisis. The tourist influx to the valley had increased due to the arrival of a large number of tourists and participants for the Winter Carnival, increasing the occupancy in the hotels of Manali.

The Winter Carnival committee president and Kullu DC Ashutosh Garg thanked all the members of the Winter Carnival Committee, volunteers and the masses for successful organization of the carnival. He said that such cultural events promote the tourism industry and showcase the traditional heritage of the region.