Blogdosts, I wrote this a couple of weeks ago, and just this morning I saw lovely pics of Ms. Sen leaving the Mumbai High Court, with her new baby. Sushmita looked jubilant and was quoted as saying she hoped to adopt more kids down the line. Little Alisah's eyes were wide open as Mom met the media outside the court. Welcome to the world .... and the spotlight, Baby Alisah!!

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It is customary for columnists to write a year- ender that reviews the months gone by (notice how EVERYONE exclaims, “How time flies! This year just whizzed past my ears.”) and come up with a report card based on supposedly dramatic milestones that define the rapidly fading annus horribilus ( thank you, Queen Elizabeth!). Frankly, what’s gone is gone and nobody really remembers or cares once the countdown to the next year begins at midnight, come 31^st December. That’s my experience.So, forget journalistic conventions and read on… I want the last column of 2009 to be upbeat and peppy. Cheerful and jaunty. Like Sushmita Sen. My kind of woman! No. Why be sexist? My kind of person. I mean… look at what she pulled off recently – two beautiful, bouncy babies in one go! One, a human – Alisah, a three- month- old infant she adopted this month. The other, an important beauty pageant franchise that she bid for and now owns – the Miss Universe (India) contest. Both babies are in excellent, capable hands, and I’m sure Sushmita will mother them brilliantly.The timing couldn’t have been better. Sushmita had to wait for the new High Court ruling which earlier stated if a girl had already been adopted as the first child, a parent was not allowed to adopt another one. All that changed just three months ago, and now Renee, Sushmita’s older adopted daughter, has a baby sister in her life. The second coup of acquiring the rights to the prestigious Miss Universe title, is equally significant. Sushmita had won the title herself in 1994. Her connect to the pageant is emotional. But more than that, bagging the franchise is an important part of her more ambitious plan to train other young beauty pageant aspirants with similar aspirations, to compete for the crown and bring it back to India. Perhaps without her realizing it, Sushmita has emerged as quite a champ for the cause of women, in a society that is often shockingly discriminatory towards the gender. Both these actions speak for her larger commitments. Only an empowered woman can empower others. And let’s not huff and puff about how ‘sexist’ beauty contests are. I see them as valid career options for women – who are we to sit in judgement over their choices?

I distinctly recall Sushmita’s triumphant ‘Welcome Home’ party at the Taj Mahal Hotel,to which she’d arrived like a warrior- empress in a horse drawn carriage, grandly greeting the crowds and acknowledging their adulation with a royal wave. She was on top of the world , and there she has remained ever since, through all the turbulence in her personal and private life. Sushmita has the mindset of a born winner, regardless of the circumstances that would daunt the faint-hearted. Formidable and imposing , Sushmita has worn her successes and failures with the same degree of equanimity. This is the quality which makes her special. Which is also why when I was looking for a chief guest to launch my tween book, ‘S’s Secret’ recently, I didn’t think beyond Ms. Sen.Unlike a lot of Bollywood super novas with idiotic attitude, Sushmita has unfailingly engaged with people at all levels with the same degree of warmth and graciousness. Let’s put that down to her sensible, middle class upbringing. Today, she plays the unchallenged Bollywood Diva with aplomb ( her old rival, Aishwarya, has settled a bit too comfortably into the domestic Bachchan Bahurani groove) but continues to remain appealingly grounded and accessible at all times. This level of ‘good behaviour’ is indeed unusual in eccentric\erratic\arrogant showbiz. Her refreshing openness has set new standards in an industry that thrives on subterfuge and fibs. As someone who has survived in showbiz without letting her flops affect her standing, Sushmita represents the new breed of power women in Bollywood – there aren’t too many of them around, no, not even in Hollywood, but Julia Roberts comes to mind.Yes, it has been a charmed life for the lady. But not one without trials and tribulations.

2010 is likely to be a pretty sizzling year on all fronts and in all spheres. Who better to represent the mood than our Sush?

Here’s to awesome beginnings, readers. Happy New Year!