She glides on the runway looking like a million bucks, calm and composed, posing for the snaparazzi. For the ringside viewer at the Lakme Fashion Week or those catching the action on the telly, a model’s life is a catwalk.

But where the runway ends, the chaos begins. As I walk backstage, navigating exposed wires, metal trunks, the temperature’s rising in the green room. “Glamour toh sirf ramp par hai. Koi peeche aakar hamara haal toh dekhe,” says a model as she yells out for someone to get water . Model Achala Sachdev, who is putting on her shoes, laughs and nods.

Walking the runway at fashion weeks is a matter of prestige for models but it’s also about 13 shows in a span of five days — a lot of money, and, hard work. “Now with two fashion weeks in different cities, models are making hay while the sun shines,” laughs choreographer Lubna Adams. Even otherwise, the pace isn’t slow for a top model: “I’ve flown to three different cities in three days,” Nina Manuel tells me. Doing three shows a day for a fashion week is hard work. “It’s become a job now. But earlier as the fashion week would end, I would take off for a holiday,” laughs Manuel.

And don’t even mention competition. Choreographer Marc Robinson says that hundreds of models audition of whom a few make the cut. “The screening is stringent but you can only work with what you have. Seven years ago we had the best of the best, now we pick the best of the worst,” he says. No wonder then that despite the demand for fresh talent, old-timers like Jesse Randhawa and Diandra Soares still rule the runway.

... contd.