‘Dubai lets me be rebellious’, says mum of two entering Miss Universe India Pageant

By Manjusha Radhakrishnan

“You’re surrounded by ambition here,” Tasneem adds. “You feel it in the air. That energy fuels me.”

This isn’t a woman trying to prove she’s still relevant. She’s never stopped being relevant — she’s just changing the narrative.

Mums who reclaim the mirror

We all know the script. Motherhood is beautiful, rewarding, sacred — and somehow, code for “fade to the background.” Not in Tasneem’s world.

“I had to ask myself: am I done?” she says. “Do I just play the support role for the rest of my life? And the answer was a very clear no. I still have dreams, and I’m allowed to chase them.”

She talks about parenting like a boss — literally.

“Being a mum made me more resilient, more intuitive, and ten times more efficient,” she says. “I don’t waste time — I know who I am.”

Yes, she’s managing school runs and PTA WhatsApp groups. But she’s also fitting in media training, photo shoots, and Q&A drills between kids’ sports day and curfews.

A love-hate relationship with pageants

For someone walking headfirst into the glitz of a beauty pageant, Tasneem is refreshingly real about its flaws.

“Beauty contests can be incredibly reductive,” she admits.

“They can reduce women to how they look in a dress, or how eloquently they answer a question in 30 seconds. But if you know your worth, you can flip that script.”

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