Dressing the lock

Meet Utkarsh Arya, a student of Blossom Kochhar College of Creative Arts and Design who became the national hairdressing champion, winning the final rounds of India Skills Hairdressing Competition held recently. Utkarsh will represent India at 45th World Skills Competition 2019, which will be held at Kazan, Russia in August this year.

Utkarsh is clearly overwhelmed after the final rounds of the three-day tedious competition. He says, “I am short of words. I feel grateful to be chosen as a representative of India at world skills and will not miss this opportunity to make my country proud.”

Samantha Kochhar, the Chief expert, Hairdressing, India, and also the Deputy Chief expert, Hairdressing, Worldskills, who supervised the competition says, “It was a journey that started with 50 competitors that went down to 20 then top 10, top 5, top 3, top 2 and then 1, the winner. Utkarsh has proven himself as the best one to be chosen to represent the country. I wish him all the best as the modules are tougher this time and we have more competitors than the last World Skills Competition.”

Hailing from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, Utkarsh is the youngest son and has become an inspiration for everyone back home who wishes to build a career other than the conventional academic ones.

Utkarsh has been a champion in the India skills competition for hairdressing with a streak of golds and silvers from zonals to national levels. He has won the National skills Hairdressing Competition organized by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under the guidance of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) earlier this year and has now qualified after the final phase to represent India for hairdressing at the biggest International competition.

Recalling his journey, Utkarsh says, “Before coming to this field of hairdressing, I had no plans about what to do with life. I was always interested about how styled I am, and use to make different hairstyles on my own. That's when my brother suggested me to become a hairdresser, and from that day on, my life has changed. This field has not only groomed my skills, but has contributed a lot to my personality. From a careless boy with no goals in life, I have become a national champion with the only aim of bringing gold for my country.”

The acknowledgement of these talents prove the progressive and over all psychological development that is taking place in our country.