Nikkitasha Marwaha crowned Miss India USA 2008
Nikkitasha Marwaha of Washington D.C. was crowned Nationwide Miss India USA 2008 during a spectacular beauty contest held on November 23 at the Royal Albert’s Palace, Fords, New Jersey. Miss India USA 2007, Richa Gangopadhyay crowned Nikkitasha after she won the coveted crown beating 23 other contestants who vied for the Miss India USA 2008 title. Nikkitasha will represent USA in the Eighteenth Annual Miss India Worldwide Pageant also organized by IFC to be held on February 14, 2009 in Durban, South Africa at the Suncoast Casino and Entertainment World.
Nikkitasha being flanked by the chief organizer, Dharmatma Saran
and Prakash Jha
Described as the longest running Indian pageant outside of India, the twenty-seventh annual pageant was organized by the New York-based IFC, headed by Dharmatma Saran, Founder and the Chief Organizer of the Pageant in association with Royal Albert’s Palace and Nationwide, the financial services firm.
Nikkitasha Marwaha is being crowned by the outgoing queen, Richa
Gangopadhyay.
Nikkitasha, 19 is in her first year at Northwestern University majoring in Media & Mass Communication. Nikkitasha is a classically trained dancer in Kuchipudi, ballet, tap and jazz. She has a strong passion for performing and in her spare time enjoys doing community service. Nikkitasha was also declared the winner of the Best Talent contest.
The panel of judges from L to R - Divya Jain, Aamir Chalisa, Prakash Jha, Swati Vashnav and
Anil Doebe.
Richa Shukla of California and Archana Nair of Minnesota were declared the first and the second runners up respectively, at the end of the more than four long show, which was filled with music, songs, dances and showcasing of beauty and talents by the 24 contestants from various parts of the country. The other five finalists were Shivani Gandhi of Georgia and Manasi Mehta of Virginia. The annual gala event attended by over six hundred people, raised funds for the flood victims in the state of Bihar in India. The effort was collaborated with Dr. Chitra Kumar and Mukesh Roy in association with the American India Foundation. According to the organizers, “It was a grand success with over $25,000 raised for this purpose.”
Bottom photo:The top five from L to R- Manasi Mehta, Nikkitasha Marwaha, Shivani Gandhi,
Richa Shukla and Archana Nair
The pageant started with a stunning performance by all the contestants led by Richa Gangopadhyay and was choreographed by Sonalee Vyas. The outgoing Miss India USA 2007 winner led them on stage as each of the 24 contestants bowed, often with folded hands, sharing with the packed audience their names and the state they represented.
All contestants presented their best in the Indian and the Evening Gown segments after which the top ten were selected. It was truly a wonderful sight to watch the two dozen beautiful young women from across the nation, all dressed in elegant Indian sarees. During Evening Gown Segment they all walked before the cheering audience in the best of colorful Western attire, during which the emcees spelt out the career goals of each contestant, most of which ranged from professional accomplishments to giving back to the society to helping out the needy and to being cultural ambassadors of India and its rich culture abroad. Many of them vowed to be role models to the next generation.
The top ten contestants, chosen after the first two segments, amazed the audience with their talent, which included Bollywood dances, Kathak, Bharat Natyam, Bhangra, Fusion along with singing. Winners of the various sub-contests were Shivani Gandhi – Miss Beautiful Smile, Harprit Patel of California – Miss Beautiful Eyes, Abha Soni of Alabama – Miss Popularity and Miss Congeniality, Bhupinder Kaur of New York – Miss Beautiful Skin, Shweta Garimalla of Pennsylvania – Miss Beautiful Hair and Richa Shukla – Miss Photogenic. Dharmatma Saran presented an appreciation plaque to Aamir Chalisa of Nationwide, Albert Jasani of Royal Albert’s Palace, Sudhir Vaishnav of Sahara TV Network, Sunil Hali of Indian Express and Shekhar Rahate for their support in organizing the pageant. A special recognition plaque was presented to award winning Producer/Director, Prakash Jha for his incredible achievement in providing relief and rehabilitation to thousands of victims of the Bihar Flood. I am very thankful to the Indian community for its support through the years, said Dharmatma Saran, and especially thankful to Aamir Chalisa of Nationwide for supporting the pageant as title sponsor.We are very happy to be part of this pageant, since it promotes Indian culture and values, said Aamir Chalisa of Nationwide.
Santripti Vellody – Miss India Worldwide 2002 and Neha Multani – Miss India New York 2007 were emcees for the function. Arya Dance Academy, Creations Dance Academy, Kalanjali School of Dance and Santripti Vellody provided entertainment. Another highlight of the evening was a dazzling fashion show by Shekhar Rahate.
The panel of judges included Prakash Jha – Producer/Director from Mumbai, Aamir Chalis - Vice President of Marketing & Diversity at Nationwide, Anil Doebe – National Director for Miss India Worldwide in Suriname, Divya Jain – choreographer and classical dance exponent, Swati Vaishnav – an award winning choreographer and dance teach. Ganga Mukkavilli and Associates were the official CPA for the Pageant. Shekhar Rahate and Sonalee Vyas did the choreography.
Earlier, Bhupinder Kaur, 23, was crowned as Maaza Miss India New York 2008. Bhupinder represented New York at the Miss India USA pageant. A student of political science and psychology at Hunter College, Bhupinder was declared winner of the 26th edition of the pageant held over the weekend in Queens borough.
Mansi Shah, 18 from Long Island was declared first runner up and Ruby Kaur, 20 of Sunnyside as second runner up, according to a media release issued by India Festival Committee (IFC), the pageant organizer.
BY AJAY GHOSH
