Durban, Aug 6 Medical student Kajal Lutchminarian, 21, who has been crowned Miss India South Africa, is back to doing what she loves best -- helping in preventive healthcare campaigns.

After the glitz and glamour of a week of hectic activity with her fellow contestants from across the country culminating in the crown at the City Hall here last weekend, Lutchminarian is back at the Nelson Mandela Academic hospital in Umtata in the Eastern Cape province, where she is completing six weeks of practical surgery as part of her fourth year of medical studies.

Lutchminarian said the Miss India South Africa 2009 title would help her in her objective of promoting outreach projects for promoting awareness of chronic illnesses which could be avoided through preventive measures.

The only other time that Lutchminarian had taken any special interest in beauty pageants was as a child, when she won the Little Miss India title.

She will now compete with finalists from 30 countries early next year, for the title of Miss India Worldwide 2009.

The founder of the Miss India Worldwide Pageant, Dharmatma Saran of New York, who was here for the South African finals, said that an agreement had been signed to host the 2009 Miss India Worldwide Pageant at the Durban Convention Centre in March next year.

Two young women from Gauteng province were the runners-up in the contest.

A final-year high school student, Yajna Maharaj, 18, was the second princess and journalism student Ayushi Chhabra, 18, was the first princess.

In the earlier Gauteng provincial round of the contest, India-born Chhabra, who has been in South Africa for the past six years with her parents, was named the winner by the judges who joined the audience in lauding her Punjabi dancing and attire.

Chhabra dismissed later concerns by other contestants that she had an unfair advantage over the Indian cultural elements of the Miss India contest because of her childhood spent in India. "If a South African were to participate in a similar contest in India, she would have the same challenges that I have had here."