The Most Beautiful Baby Competition

Sri Chinmoy once suggested that we keep a photo of ourselves as a child somewhere in our lives to remind us of our childlike, simple, heart qualities and to be more childlike in our daily lives. This advice has inspired a number of interesting spin-offs in New Zealand. One of our fun things is a nationwide Most Beautiful Baby Competition which sees our centre members rummaging through those old albums for that special winning snap. Even hardened baby watchers among us have been known to go all dewy-eyed and ga-ga at the sight of all these stunningly gorgeous little people, all dimples and endearing smiles, lined up on our centre display board.

As a balm to some of the tender egos, in recent years categories have been expanded to include, among others, Most Intellectual Baby, Most Otherworldly Baby, Baby Most Likely to Succeed in Business and Baby Most Likely to go to Prison. Hot favourite, Shardul, was smarting for weeks after being outvoted in this last category by another centre member candidate, Aklesha, whose winning snap revealed a worryingly sinister aspect even at age six.

In a politically inspired goodwill gesture borne of the Every Baby is Beautiful school of thinking, I was voted Best Dressed Baby after submitting a knockout 12x8, sepia coloured portrait of the infant Jogyata, circa 1957, sporting a hand-knitted brown cardigan, sepia brown shorts, knee-high socks, bucketloads of dimples, and hair combed flat and glistening with Brylcream. Even aloof cynics were seen scrambling for the Kleenex.

Nice smile, classic collar, great cardigan! But who is it?? Find out in our Photo Gallery - where too much cute is barely enough...

One year the innocence of these proceedings was marred by a trial Most Ugly Baby category – understandably a boys-only-division – when contestant's photos were maliciously submitted by friends without the candidate's prior knowledge or approval. Allegations of photo tampering also began to arise when unkind comparisions were made between these cute little baby snaps of yesteryear and their reincarnation into a less attractive adulthood now. So great was the disparity in some cases, rumours began to circulate that disciples had cut out look-alikes from Time Magazine's Babies of the Year and submitted these impersonations as their own.

Shardul deepened his general infamy by voting for his own photo in the Most Spiritual Baby category – not once as was legitimate but over twenty times, foolishly in his own handwriting, a slip-up quickly noticed by the judges and which exposed him to the charge of blatant vote-rigging.

My favourite was a childhood snap of oldest Auckland Centre member, 76 year old Harshani, way back in the the 1940's – plump and cherubic with a shock of white curly hair and seated at the wheel of the family's Model T Ford in Capetown – enough to bring a tear to a glass eye. The photo mysteriously disappeared after the inaugural competition but rumours that the photo now has pride of place in Aklesha's personal albums are thought to be groundless.

          - Jogyata.

Time to visit our When We Were Children Photo Gallery Photographs of our members when they were children.