THE last entry in her diary read, “I Kill”. Since June 25, the day model Viveka Babajee (right) was found dead inside her rented apartment in Mumbai, Indian newspapers have come up with some juicy detail or other every day about her death, her personal life and the police investigations.
It has been one of the hot stories coming out of India in recent days.
Was she murdered, did she take her own life because she was jilted or was it because she was depressed after having an argument with her fiance, as her family claims? Her businessman boyfriend Gautam Vora has been questioned in connection with her death.
In a statement he said MsBabajee and he were not romantically involved, were friends and that he had been trying to help her overcome her depression.
The media has also been critical of India’s fashion scene where, it said, backstabbing was common, the competition cut-throat and the atmosphere disturbing.
MsBabajee’s death, however, has resulted in the fashion world closing ranks. The DNA newspaper reported that if the murmurs in the fraternity are to be believed, then models and designers who were not on talking terms before her death are sending text messages to each other and bonding over pyjama parties.
Ms Babajee, the former Miss Mauritius World 1993, achieved fame in India for being the face of Kamasutra condom advertisements. The 37-year-old Mauritius-born model had made Mumbai her base and after appearing in a Bollywood flop, largely gave up modelling and launched an event management company with her then boyfriend.
Reacting to the media frenzy over the story, MsLiza Varma, a former Miss India who is now a choreographer, told the Guardian: “We famous people are supposed to live flawless lives. But we are blood and flesh like anyone. We are no different. People have complexes about us.”
Defending the coverage, MrAbhijit Majumdar, the editor of a Mumbai newspaper, told the Guardian: “It is a story about modern life in India, not just the fashion world. There are a lot of young people in Indian cities trying to deal with stress and loneliness and the pressures of modern life. We have under-reported Babajee’s death if anything.”
The media and the fashion world may continue to exchange barbs but there is no denying that today’s models are under a lot more pressure than before.
Society columnist Simi Chandoke was quoted in The Times Of India as saying:
“Modelling in itself is no longer enough; there is the additional pressure to make it big in Bollywood too. Because B Town is now the object of worship, and the fashion frat has been elbowed out of that niche. This wasn’t the case a decade and a half ago. Back then, models were more respected. But today the tables have turned and everything from brand endorsements to shows fall in the lap of film stars.
“Once ousted from the scene, the girls have no education or job to fall back on, and when they don’t find an anchor in a financially stable man, they break and turn to drugs and drinking. Short-lived romances and flings and keeping the wrong company are also part of the culture. It’s a vicious circle. Bollywood, on the other hand, is more grounded and surrounded by family and a strong circle of friends.
There is less scope for loneliness.”
Maybe Ms Babajee’s fate would have been different if she had someone to turn to.
Model Pooja Chopra summed it up well when she told DNA: “Viveka’s incident has proved once again that you need people around you. I think that having a support
system around you is the need of the hour.”
