Name : Annie Thomas Height : 170 cm. Eye Color : Black Date of Birth : 1975 Titles won : Miss India, 2nd, 1998

Have you watched the serial "Khwahishen" on SONY India TV, a girl's struggle to become a supermodel? Annie Thomas has ably played the role of this girl and won praises all over India.

Her poise and petite grace make her a great print model. Since the Femina Miss India 1997 contest, Annie has done ramp shows for Ashish Soni, Rohit Bal, J. J. Valaya and Rina Dhaka and shot - successfully -with Ravi Bajaj, that most difficult-to-please designer!

Annie has done print campaigns for NIIT, Ray Ban and prominent magazines. She loves travelling, meeting people, dancing, reading and soft music. Her self imposed restriction: Less chocolate, ma'am. And yes, she works out whenever possible.

Lucky the second time round. (She participated in the Femina Miss India 1996 Contest, but didn't make it.) As she says, "I felt bad the first year. For six months after Jan. '96, I sulked. Then I thought, 'Why give up? That's not the end of the world'." No, it wasn't. And that is when Annie Thomas started preparing for the next Femina Miss India Contest. She chose to make a name for herself in the modelling world, taking good assignments and making sure she was noticed at the right places. She worked on her skin (her one weak point, which she admits to improving on) and body ("though I didn't work on fitness the gym way, I just jogged regularly"). When she felt reasonably prepared, Annie filled up her forms and sent in her portfolio, just the way the others did. And she was chosen (she says, "I didn't expect to be taken again.").

The picture of a '90s' control freak? Not quite. The final question -- should life be taken too seriously since we aren't going to come alive out of it anyway? -- couldn't have been asked to a better person. And no one but Annie could have answered, "Time being of the essence, life has to be taken seriously. But at the same time, one has to keep in mind life's brighter moments." What of the future? "Ultimately, I want to settle down to a happy, married life. If I need to work to support my family, I will. But I would be quite happy siting at home, cooking, looking after my husband and family."

Indeed, for Annie, marriage is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Consider this: "It is better to get married and fall in love for the rest of your life, than to get married for the sake of the four years that you have been in love and live to regret it."