I was hosting and producing 'Planet X', an extreme sports show. It involved, among other things, swinging between two mountain tops, attached to a harness only... how could I not try something like that?"

One simply cannot deny that Kamal Sidhu is pure supermodel material. I walk into her cosy studio flat that nudges a Malabar Hill penthouse to find her hurriedly tucking in a gauzy white shirt into beige utility cargo pants, finished with a functional tan leather belt. She is barefoot, make-up free; currently straightened hair pulled back into a haphazard ponytail. And despite this laid-back get-up, the lady looks fit to dazzle on the ramp - maybe it's her confident air, graceful figure, feline gait or magical complexion that does the trick just perfectly so.

But catwalk dreams were never on the agenda for this former Miss India-Canada. "I was more the sporty sort in Ottawa; our schools there encouraged canoeing, winter camping, mountaineering. I definitely developed a fondness for nature through these mediums. My life then concentrated largely on basketball and volleyball rather than beauty pageants."

The excitement of visiting a commercial capital like Toronto with a bunch of cousins and girlfriends proved hard to resist though, which explains a hurried entry to the Miss India-Canada contest. "I did it just to enjoy a weekend away in a new city; getting selected in the initial rounds and then finally winning meant another desired trip, this time to India, the land of my roots…I had visited once before, seen Punjab, Kashmir and Shimla, but this win allowed me to see Mumbai, which was incredible!"

The then 19-year-old opted for city and cultural tours, all the while assimilating the great poverty-richness divide of the city. "This was another world to me - on one hand, I looked out at the ocean through the large windows of the Sea Rock Hotel and that same window allowed me to witness the conditions of slum dwellers living below. It gave me my first sense of wanting to give back to my society, of encouraging collective group thinking and effort to affect world changes."

Lofty words from one so young, but talking to Sidhu, lending a ear to her numerous theories, is enough to sway many a cynic. And the grown woman today is more than ready to jump into the fray to do her bit. "On one of the episodes I did with National Geographic's Earth Pulse, I visited a reservoir in Periyar, Kerala. The villagers of the area were coping with a crocodile-breeding programme that had gone out of control and were dumping baby crocs into the only reservoir in use. Result - injuries and mutations when using the water for washing and cleaning. Now, if a group of educated and professional individuals could have come forth and given some of their time and expertise to help the illiterate and solve issues to ensure enjoyment of basic human rights, this vicious circle could surely come to an end."