The other Haydon girl

Ask her if she’s ever been mistaken for a relative of former Miss World Diana Hayden and she rolls her big eyes. “All the time,” she says, “I still get that question, even though we spell our last names differently.” The long-legged lass began modelling in Australia at a friend’s suggestion. But it was never her first choice for a career. “I always wanted to be a dancer and I did perform a lot as a kid—jazz, hip hop, even Kathak. I really regret that I haven’t danced since I was 17,” the 23-year-old wistfully says.

For someone brought up in Mumbai, Haydon has had a very unusual upbringing. Her mother Anna has been working with charity organisation Family Care International for two-odd decades now. It was this work that brought her to India, where she met and married Haydon’s father, Venkat. “There were a lot of expats in Mumbai who were working for volunteer organisations and they decided that they wanted to home-school their kids,” the dusky model reveals, “So my siblings and I were all taught at home by our mother. But even though we didn’t attend regular school like other kids, we still had to get up early in the morning, just like them, and sit for exams,” she laughs. These days, she informs, the exams are conducted with even greater strictness than before. “Principals from other schools and colleges are called in to act as external invigilators,” she says. Even the rigour was no different from ordinary schools, she adds. “We each had our own encyclopedia set and we did really study, you know. My mother is an excellent teacher.”

For vacations, the Haydon kids were packed off to Kutch and Orissa and other remote corners of India to help with their parents’ charity work. “Other kids would be shocked to learn that I never had ‘normal’ holidays, but I really don’t feel like I missed out on anything.”

She admits that it might have been the romanticised idea of volunteer work that all children have, but is also quick to say that she misses it. “I’m so busy these days,” she sighs, “I feel awful that I can’t help out as much as I’d like. But I have a busy schedule.” She muses a bit and then adds, “I still do what I can. How can one say no to charity work?”

Haydon, who has three brothers and four sisters, is obviously a very family person, although she admits that she keeps getting confused about all her siblings’ ages. “We have a birthday almost every month, in my family,” she says, “The youngest two are still studying.” Her older sister Malika, is also a model. “But she doesn’t take it too seriously, although she would do really well if she focused on it.”

Haydon is now working on mugging Hindi dialogues for an offbeat film she’s doing. “They’ve cast me in a big role,” she says, “And I’m open to all options. I’ve anyway always been interested in theatre and acting.”