Manasa Varanasi, from Telangana, was named winner of the VLCC Femina Miss India 2020 on Wednesday night. Haryana's Manika Sheokand was named VLCC Femina Miss Grand India 2020 and Manya Singh was declared runner-up of the pageant.
Manya is the daughter of a rickshaw driver from Uttar Pradesh, and this victory means the world to her as she spent many sleepless nights and dedicated herself to years of hard work to get here. She had earlier spoken about her struggles she had faced on the road to success. She had said that she had hoped to inspire others by using the platform provided by Miss India to talk about her journey.
"My blood, sweat, and tears have amalgamated into courage to pursue my dreams," she said in a post shared by the official Instagram handle of Miss India back in December.?
Manya was born in Kushinagar and said that she grew up under difficult circumstances. She spent nights without food or sleep or having to walk miles just to save a few rupees.?
She always wanted books and clothes that were not hand-me-downs but she was never that lucky, she said.
Her parents mortgaged all the jewellery they had to pay her exam fee.?
"She believes that education is the strongest weapon one can have with themselves at all times," Miss India said about Manya Singh in a post shared last month.??
"Doted on by her mother, she has won the Best Student award during her HSC. She has struggled a lot in life till date, from not being able to pay her school fees, not being able to afford books and being neglected by her classmates for being an auto driver's daughter," the post further read.
The post also revealed that Manya studied during the day, washed dishes in the evening and worked at a call centre at night to get by.
"I've walked hours to reach places so I could save the rickshaw fare," she said.
"I am here today at the VLCC Femina Miss India 2020 stage to uplift my father, my mother, and my young brother and to show the world that all is possible if you are committed to yourself and your dreams."
Dream big.