The first elimination was a nail biter.

The girls are stunned. Sarika's elimination was no surprise, but the second elimination has them saying things like "what's wrong with the judges?" and "I don't understand them".
 
I don't want to spoil it for you, so I'm not going to tell which model was eliminated second. I will tell you this though; when the announcement was finally made, I was relieved and shocked at the same time.
 
I don't understand why it came down to Mizpah and Arika in the first place. Both of them showed way too much potential for them to be sent to the chopping block this early in the game.
 
The next morning, the girls’ mountaineering workout is cancelled. Last night was hard on the models, and they only got to sleep around 3am. So they've been allowed to wake up "late", which means around 7am.
 
It's after breakfast and the contestants are saying goodbye to the girls who are going home. Sarika is disappointed, but she seems more upset about the fact that everyone's behaving like they knew she was going to go. Though that's probably the case, I'm sure most of the girls and even the crew are feeling bad for her. The crew wants everyone to be there to say goodbye — though I have to admit it doesn't feel like all of them want to be here.
 
It's around 10:30am and Alison has started the practice session for the ramp walk in the lobby. Her sense of irritation is very apparent but she's more than happy to point out the improvements that the girls have made. I'm sitting and writing at the hotel computer in a balcony above them. I've got the best seat in the house.

 
It's almost noon and make-up class with Samantha has begun. She's demonstrating on Vj Pia to teach the girls how to do their make up to like a professional. I'm sitting in the class out of sight from the cameras. Samantha is a really good teacher, and you can tell she loves her work.
 
Unfortunately, the girls aren't feeling the same kind of enthusiasm. Most of them are sitting here looking either tired and/or disinterested. Arika's literally falling asleep and a couple of the others are yawning in plain sight. I'm just watching them and trying not to giggle.
 
The class just got done and as a test, Samantha has put them into pairs to do each other's make up. They've got a shoot latter in the day and Samantha's told them that they are going to have to do it with whatever make up their partners apply for them.
 
Kirtana missed the class because she's still a bit under the weather. She's been spending a lot of time resting because apparently she had food poisoning before coming to Gokarna and isn’t fully recovered. She's done a pretty good job with Rachel's make up, especially considering that she wasn't there for the class. Arika however has mucked up Rebecca's face. I think she might have done better if she had managed to stay awake during the class.
 
The girls don't know it yet but they have two big surprises coming up. Paris-based photographer Michel Haddi will be shooting them today. Michel recently launched his very cool fashion and music magazine, "Sly & Chic". He tells me that he plans on doing a 40-page spread on India and that he hopes to use some of the pictures he takes today. How cool is that!
 
I'm sure the girls have never heard of him before, so I don't know how excited they will be about him photographing them. Though, I'm pretty certain they're going to be excited about the second surprise… male models Pawan and Siddharth will be doing this shoot with them.
 
While the girls continue to paint each other's faces I head towards the dining hall. As I sit down for a late breakfast/early lunch, the male models (aka "boy models") walk in.

I’d sat with them last night when we were all watching the eliminations from a distance. I was surprised to find that they were pretty interesting and smart. Siddharth told me that he felt models needed to do more than just modeling because as career it can be rather short lived. They both said that the girls just need to be strong and hang in there. I too am starting to realize that the industry is a hard place to be and the girls need to know themselves very well before they step into it. They need to know their assets and their shortcomings. They need to know when to take people seriously and when not to. They need to be very sorted out in their heads before they can subject themselves to the brutality of the fashion industry where people have neither the time nor inclination to treat you with kid gloves or even kindness.
 
Today, Pawan and Siddharth have to sneak around and make sure none of the girls see them. They invite me to their table and the three of us have a quick lunch. They have to rush back to their rooms to get body make up done for the shoot. Siddharth's eating a proper meal but Pawan just grabs a few quick bites and rushes back to his room. He's forgotten to shave his chest.
 
I join in (the make-artist) Sunny's room to watch the boy models get slathered in bronzer and other body make-up. I think my girlfriends would kill to be in my position right now.

 
It's around 5:30pm and Michel just started the shoot. The man seems eccentric to say the least. He's wearing a dirty baniyan and some pajama-like pants. His own camera is this small, old non digital one. He's also using a digital camera that belongs to the crew to get pictures they can use for the deliberations.
 
The male models have just been brought in. Some of the girls are happy to see them. A few are a little apprehensive about why they are here.
 
Michel is shooting in natural light. There are no spotlights and only a tiny camera, but I must say there’s plenty of action! In order to get his attention and in an attempt to follow his instruction the girls pose with the boys and with each other, two girls to a guy like he had said. After a while, they realize it will take more than the clichéd poses to get his attention and they start to get creative. After a point though things start to get too risqué. And while perhaps only Nidhi and maybe Rachel were able to look graceful or stylish while doing it, on the whole it looked a bit bizarre.

The judges are nearby watching all this go down along with a crew of 90 odd people. I walk up to them to get their reactions on the shoot. The judges are extremely irritated. They feel like there's no point in the girls do a shoot like this after constantly reiterating the need to cut out the vulgarity. They are also worried that the girls will end up with the wrong idea of what the industry wants from them. I think all in all, the shoot was an uncomfortable experience for everyone watching.
 
In the deliberation room, the judges are shocked at how good a lot of the pictures have turned out. I think they just realized that as Michel intended, the picture of the girls reveal their personalities and give a clear indication of their confidence levels. Michel only clicked when the models least expected it, catching them off guard when they were looking confused, jealous, bored, insecure. In one word, the pictures can be described as insightful.
 
I'm done with dinner and I'm sitting with Michel. He was very obviously impressed by Nidhi during the shoot. He tells me that he thinks she would be great internationally. He sees a real star quality in her. I agree. I think she's absolutely stunning.
 
Everyone's getting ready for the second round of eliminations and the girls are tense. Arlette is scared that she's getting eliminated and so is Arika. But it's Rachel who seems to be getting ripped apart by the judges. The judges didn't like the kind of poses Nidhi and she did, though they didn't say anything negative to Nidhi. The judges are being quite harsh with Rachel. I hope she doesn't get eliminated today…