By Meena Kar
It was in the Miss Universe 2009 pageant in Nassau, Bahamasand Chutima Durongdej was titled as ‘Miss Photogenic’. Chutima had qualified into the contest after winning the title of Miss Thailand Universe 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand on March 28th, 2009 at Sofitel Centara Grand Bangkok.

Durongdej was educated at the prestigious King’s College, Taunton and Millfield School U.K. She has a degree in Food Science and Nutrition from Nottingham University (2007) as well as a master’s degree in Business Management from City University London. She is perhaps a little discouraged not to receive a more noteworthy title than Miss Photogenic since she had already some experience of beauty pageants beforehand. She had been a participant on Miss London and Miss Wimbledon where she was second runner-up and first runner-up in each contest respectively.

In an interview where she was questioned about her interest in meditation she said, “I always do meditation. I keep considering in my mind to be aware of things coming out of my deeper self. This benefits our daily life in society because we can run up against all disturbances by deliberating myself. Suppose one says bad words to you (the host) you can stop fighting back or any arguments by letting your bad emotions die away immediately.”

Pageant co-owner Donald Trump told reporters that it was the ‘most beautiful group of woman’ he had ever witnessed. The beauty queens entertained several tourists and bystanders at the Atlantis Hotel as they were in preparation before the pageant. Reportedly many contestants succumbed to dehydration problem in the weeks preceding the contest.