Name : Madhu Sapre Height : 5' 8" Titles won : Miss India, 1993 and Second Runner Up Miss Universe, 1993

Two years back, Madhu Sapre was the hottest thing happening in the Indian fashion scene. But the leggy beauty soon realised that people surround one only till the fame lasts. And so she reclined and settled over the years. Today, Madhu is more comfortable sitting at home and reading a book or meditating! She has her hands into many pies at the moment. She's thinking of contributing backstage too, and is planning to design clothes. She is also picking up the finer nuances of golf and may even proceed to open a café in Mumbai. Madhu has all plans to even write a book on the lines of Hugh Prather's Notes to Myself.

This Femina Miss India-Universe has sure come a long way. After doing the best of shows and shoots - with pythons and without - MADHU SAPRE (left), who first brought the well-toned body into vogue on the ramp, is planning to write a book.

Madhu Sapre is finally emerging out of her shell. She seems to have found a soulmate in Costa Rican model Mario Carbello. The two have been spotted together hanging out at every happening joint or event in the city. Be it lunches in South Mumbai restaurants, late night movies or parties, Sapre and Carbello strike a picture of an inseparable duo. The two met when Carbello was here for a shoot and it wasn't long before they struck a rapport. However, by the looks of it now, there's definitely more than friendship happening between the two.

MADHU SAPRE's writing a book. You're gonna say you already knew that. But did you know that it will allegedly be on the lines of HUGH PRATHER's Notes To Myself? So we can expect to read musings on life, love and attitude. And about her new beau, MARIO, as well?

Tuff shoes. Madhu Sapre probably rues the day she ever heard the name. The controversy of the nude ad for the shoes brought several consequences. For one, the court battle is still dragging on. Another was that it changed her life. The once life-is-a-party girl is now into vipassana, meditation and all sorts of deep philosophy. All of which came in her efforts to battle her two-year bout of depression.

And like any celebrity worth his or her salt, she's planning a book about it. Apparently Madhu is not wholly without inspiration either. Her book is reputed to be loosely based on Hugh Prather's classic Notes to myself. She's definitely one tuff gal!

Madhu Sapre will always remain the girl who almost became Miss Universe. Like she will always remain the girl with the funny English and the faultless, feline body. She sailed through the swimsuit round of the Miss Universe contest with a score of 9.9 out of 10 and was adjudged the number one in her Sangeeta Chopra evening gown. Then the judges at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok asked her what she would do if she was the prime minister of her country. In her imperfect English, Madhu gave an answer that is probably the most widely discussed and debated retort over given in a pageant: she replied that she would build a sports complex. Even today, Madhu refuses to retract the answer that cost her the crown. "All the officials had told us that our answers had to be truthful," she says, "and coming from the heart. Nobody told us we had to be politically correct. I said what my heart told me and I lost. According to me India has been in poverty for many years, so it was not going to suddenly change in one year by my becoming the prime minister. But there are other areas like art and sports in which we can improve. And being a sportsgirl I had suffered because we don't have the equipment and the grounds in India. In the brief time you get to answer I wanted to say all this but perhaps because of my inadequacy in English, I could not express myself."…

…Madhu had come closer to winning the elusive Miss Universe crown than any Indian girl and when she returned she drew up a battle plan for the future Miss Indias: "I told Pradeep Guha to have a swimsuit round for the Miss India competition. He felt that if they had the swimwear round then only three or four girls would participate. But I urged, 'Then take those three girls and have a contest because they will be the best,' I gave in writing how the Miss Universe contest was conducted, and accordingly he prepared for the next contest." It was this contribution of Madhu Sapre and the willingness of Pradeep Guha to experiment that catapulted the Miss India contest to international standards and eventually won India the Miss Universe crown two years later. India certainly owes a big thank you to Madhu Sapre…

…Back in India, she and her longtime boyfriend, model Milind Soman were captured in flashlit eternity in a contentious advertisement, inspired by Nastassja Kinski's famous poster, which featured them in the raw, coiled by a python. The nationwide debate that this single photograph generated made them both media targets and a free punching bag for one and all. For Madhu Sapre, life for the next few months was like a whirlpool. She rode the controversy and is today wiser for the experience…