Claim to fame:
The winner of the Miss World 1999 title debuts in Pyaasa along with Aftab Shivdasani and Zulfi Sayed.

How net savvy are you, on a scale of 1 to 10?
I'd rate myself at 4. I know my way around the Net. But I'd rather pick up the phone and talk to someone than send an email. I don't know why people insist on mailing even when they are in the same city. I'd prefer to give them my residence number instead.

What is your daily routine like? How much time do you spend online?
It's not a daily routine, but a monthly routine. I don't get on the Net very often, but when I do, I'm hooked on for four or five hours at a stretch. I hardly surf or check my mail. In fact I don't even know if my account is still open. I am an SMS freak, though. I send a minimum of 50 messages daily.

What do you enjoy doing on the Net?
I mostly surf for information on great personalities, books and entertainment. I like to keep myself updated. Amazon.com is the best site to visit if you wanna look up information on any book. I spend around two or three hours surfing sites on popular people. My all time favourites are Lady Diana, Elvis Presley and Audrey Hepburn. I've downloaded about 600 pictures of Audrey Hepburn. They are so beautiful, I have print outs of all of them, and can probably compile an album of her pictures.

What is your idea of a perfect Web site?
It should load quickly, and have at least a few pictures. Most importantly, it should contain a lot of information because that's what people look for in the first place.

What are your favourite bookmarks?
Amazon.com, Beautifulpeople.com and Popularpeople.com.

Do you go ego-surfing?
I have. There are quite a few sites on me. They have a bit of correct and incorrect information. A guy in the states named Sanjay has made a site on me. It's quite flattering to know that people take so much interest, try and track your life and get detailed information. Quite a bit of the stuff on his site is correct. As far as gossip on the Net goes, it does not affect me anymore. You grow out of it. This kind of stuff will come and go.

Have you bought anything online?
I did buy a couple of books from Amazon.com. They were on motivation, meditation techniques and Feng Shui. The first book on Feng Shui (by Robert Guiansu) proved very useful. It's a basic reference guide.

What is your favourite Web-based gadget?
A digital palmtop is quite a useful gadget - Its handy to keep a note of daily appointments.

What do you like the most about the Internet?
The best thing is that there is so much information out there on anything and everything. It transports you to another world, away from the mundane activities of life.

What do you hate about it?
It's very annoying when people tamper with photographs. They superimpose faces of celebrities on naked bodies. It is not morally right. The Net is a boon and a blessing, so why tamper?

Do you chat with strangers? Did you tell them who you were?
I have chatted with strangers using a fictitious name. At times, I've ended up revealing my true identity and people were very glad to meet me. But it is a one-time fun thing. You should chat and leave it at that, otherwise people try and get to close for comfort at times. Then I am like, "back off".

Any strange experience online?
There are no strange experiences as such. My experience online has been a pleasant one. When I logged on the beauty queen site, I was pleased to find out that I was rated the 7th most popular beauty queen in the history of Miss World.

Is there any one celebrity you would love to chat with online?
There are many: Amitabh Bachchan, Manisha Koirala, Rekha, Bill Gates, Nicholas Cage, Mathew Perry and if Princess Diana were alive, I'd like to chat with her too.

Is there something you are keen to do online, like trading stocks?
In a couple of weeks I'll be downloading music. As for stocks, I'd rather trade in person.

If the internet didn't exist, you would be...
Not very unhappy. People are just too hooked on to the Net. They are glued to the computer in office and then they come home and are stuck to it once again. The personal touch is missing. It takes away from life. It's brilliant that the services of the Net are available to us at a phenomenally low cost, but people are in danger of getting addicted.

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-- Sophiya Haque has bought falsies online
-- Farrokh Chothia says the Net has clicked for him
-- Milind Soman says chatting is escapism
-- Rahul Khanna discovers his email clone
-- Suchitra Pillai talks about her Net habits
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