New Delhi, September 04, 2007 -  For many who entered into the world of glitz and glamour of the fashion industry hoping to make a mark, not everything is a smooth sail. Promising ramp model of the 1990's Gitanjali Nagpal learnt this the hard way and has now been reduced to begging on the streets of Delhi just to get one meal a day.

High levels of stress, excessive alcohol and drug abuse have made way into a new life of begging and slavery for the former model who once walked the ramp with the likes of Sushmita Sen. The shocked fashion industry blames a stressful lifestyle and unrealistic expectations for Nagpal's present condition but are also firm that taking to drugs to combat the pressure is a personal decision which can happen in any profession.

Designer Puja Nayar said: "The case is appalling to say the least but I don't know whether to feel sorry for the girl. Fashion and films are a glamour industry and involve extremely high level of stress but that doesn't mean that one starts abusing substances to such an extreme. Drugs and alcohol abuse are generally associated with our industry but to say that everyone of us suffers from such complexities is to generalise. Maybe Geetanjali's circumstances forced her into such a situation but her's is an exceptional case."

Designer JJ Vallya, who recalled meeting Nagpal while looking at her portfolio in the 90s, said she looked like a very promising model but unexpectedly vanished from the scene suddenly. "She did not get into mainstream modelling and left the fashion industry very abruptly. We only met the models who showed any promise and Nagpal appeared to have a very photogenic structure," he said.

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