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Pardesi Pageant
Canadian-Indians, British-Indians, South African-Indians ...
they were all there. And for this one evening, "Indian" was the more important
part of their hyphenated identities. At the Miss India Worldwide pageant in New Jersey
last week, NRIs went more traditional than the desi lot back home -- no swimsuit round, no
vital stats being announced. "We've dropped the word beauty and we simply call it a
pageant because our contestants are supposed to be intelligent and talented too,"
says Dharmatma Saran, founder of the show. There were participants from 20 countries, but
the winner was Mumbai model Aarti Chabria, with Sharan Gill of the US and Anupama Anand of
Hong Kong taking second and third spot. And what does Chhabria want to do? Nothing
different from most Miss Indias. "I want to be an actress," she says, then adds,
"This is mind-blowing. I'm just happy I've won for my motherland." Pageant
material, no doubt.
-Lavina
Melwani
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Cheque This Out
