Beauty contests, talent shows and events bring our young men and women to the centre stage of attention, providing them opportunities to showcase their talent.
Dharmesh Parikh of Rhythm House Events in Auckland conducts ‘Miss Indianz New Zealand’ every year to provide an evening of fun, beauty and entertainment. His shows have gone beyond the ‘Auckland Content’ to encourage young women to add value to the cultural plurality that New Zealand has been experiencing over the years.
There are one or two others who conduct such programmes, the winners in which get a chance to compete at global events.
One such international pageant was ‘Miss India World 2015’ held in Mumbai on September 5, 2015, with our youth representing the Indian Diaspora across the Continents.
Advaita Shetty of Auckland and Monisha Goundar (also of Auckland but representing her native Fiji) were among the New Zealand representatives at the event. A report on them appears in another part of this Anniversary.
Omani Winner
Following is a report that appeared in India West, an Indian newspaper published from San Leandro, California:
Stephanie Lohale of Oman was crowned Miss India Worldwide 2015 at the 24th Annual Miss India Worldwide 2015 pageant held at the Lalit Hotel in Mumbai.
The 19-year-old Lohale, who also won the title of Miss Beautiful Face, is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in fashion design at Heriot-Watt University in Dubai and is an aspiring fashion publisher.
Lohale was crowned by outgoing Miss India Worldwide Monica Gill.
Runners-Up
Apeksha Porwal of India and Shivani Govender of South Africa were crowned first and second runners-up, respectively. The other top five finalists were Nivetha Pethuraj of UAE and Jyotsna Arora of Qatar.
Contestants from 33 countries took part in what has been acclaimed “the most glamorous Indian pageant in the world.”
The Dignitaries
Among the celebrities who attended the pageant were Shatrughan Sinha, Shekhar Suman, Shashi Tharoor, Hrishita Bhatt, Reecha Sharma, Ayesha Jhulka, Rohit Verma, Geeta Kapoor, Nikkitasha Marwaha and Niharica Raizada.
Sandeep Soparkar and Alesia Raut choreographed the event while Television actor Karan Tacker was the Master of Ceremonies.
Other Titles
In other pageant contests, Grace Walia of Indonesia was named Miss Bollywood Diva, Dipti Bhudrani of Saint Martin won Miss Social Media, Priyanka Sebastian of Sri Lanka was crowned Miss Photogenic, Lieve Blanckaert of Guyana won Miss Beautiful Skin, and Jyotsna Arora of Qatar was named Miss Talented.
The title of Miss Beautiful Smile went to Nandini Kochar of Botswana, while Miss Catwalk was bestowed upon Apeksha Porwal of India. Kareen Seepersaud of French Guiana won Miss Beautiful Eyes, and Soesoe Mustafa of Netherlands was named Miss Congeniality. Veena Gurbani of Jamaica earned the title Miss Chairman’s Professional.
Miss India Worldwide was organised by IFC, New York, headed by Chairman and Founder, Dharmatma Saran, and managed by Emirates Vision of Dubai.
Pictures by Bhikhu Bhula who covered the event in Mumbai
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Photo Caption:
- Miss India Worldwide Stephanie Lohale with (from left) Second Runner-Up Shivani Gounder (South Africa) and Apeksha Porwal (India)
- Miss India Bahrain
- Miss India Botswana Nandini Kochar
- Miss India Mauritius Lovena Peeharry
- Miss India St Maarten Dipti Budhrani
- Miss India UAE Nivetha Pethuraj
