# Pageant Talk

New England is ready to witness young beautiful minds representing their talent and wit at ‘Miss India New England-2014’. Event will be held at Radisson Hotel in Chelmsford Massachusetts on Saturday November 29th 2014.

I would like to share some tips here for pageant preparation:

Left Shirin Bakre (Miss Teen India New England Winner -2013; Right Monica Gill-Miss India New England Winner-2013; Miss India USA and Miss India Worldwide Winner-2013/2014. Center Ruchika Arora,
 Photoshoot at Masti Photography

1-Preparation should be around your own talent and personality and not as compared to other contestants.

2-Everyone has their personal achievements, talent, skills and activities they like so avoid being nervous while getting introduced to other contestants in your category.

3- Clothes, jewelry and makeup should enhance your face and personality and should not be overpowering. 

4-Creative themes and uniqueness of chosen talent is a great idea to work on. 

5- Logic/reasoning and confidence compliment each other during Question-Answer round.

6- After practicing walk, work on face expression.

7-Start wearing your pageant shoes/heels 10 days before the show and make sure you wear them everyday and walk in them for least 10 minutes.

8- Take guidance before and during the preparation.

9-You will be able to network in a big way with contestants of your age and some other professionals during orientations and rehearsals but focussing and conserving your energy during 4 hours of pageant is a great idea.

10- Please do all above without being rude to any contestant or organizer.

Inspiring Interview for 'Miss India New England' Crown aspirants

'Pageant season' has arrived. 'Miss India New York' and 'Miss India Connecticut' have announced their winners, and 'Miss India New England' is around the corner. At this time I am sure some crown aspirants are looking for words of inspiration so I thought of sharing excerpts of this interview of relevance taken by Mrs Ranjani Saigal of Lokvani.

This interview was taken after Monica Gill won Miss India USA-2013/14 (at Royal Alberts Palace New Jersey) within two weeks of winning Miss India New England-2013( in Lexington Massachusetts). Later on, she proceeded to 'Miss India Worldwide-2014' in Abu Dhabi ( July 2014) and became the first Indian girl from New England area ever to reach that pageant and win the crown. I also shared some of my thoughts as 'Miss India New England' director.

Monica Gill -Miss India USA 2013 with Priyam Bhargava- Miss India USA-2012

 MONICA GILL (Miss India Worldwide, USA, New England, Massachusetts) 2013 / 2014

Monica, how does it feel to win the 'Miss India USA' crown?

It doesn’t feel real. Perhaps it hasn’t hit me yet. I get excited when I see my picture on the Miss India USA Facebook page or the website. Other than that I don’t feel much different. I think my mind may be subconsciously trying to keep my feet on the ground. Which is important because I want to be focused on the next step. After all, I have a community counting on me!

What opportunities do you hope this win will have for you?

I don’t expect anything from the crown. Every crown and sash provides the same thing no matter what pageant it is. Be it Miss USA or Miss India USA,  a crown and sash work as a microphone. People will be more inclined to listen to what I have to say because now I have title. I do have expectations of myself however. I still expect myself to be active in the community and to grow as a woman.

What preparations did you do to help you for the contest? 

My preparations were all mental. The Miss India USA pageant was two weeks after the Miss India New England one. There was not much I could change. The only thing different between the two was my outfit for talent. However, I did meet with a lot of people and ask for their critiques. I actively sought out constructive criticism.

How excited are you about the next level? 

I wouldn’t really call it excitement. I feel I am focused. I want to prepare to the best of my abilities and go there and give it my all. I want to make my community, my parents and the Miss India USA organization proud. Above all I want to use this experience and grow from it. I feel it will teach me something enormous as most challenging experiences do!

Monica Gill with Ruchika Arora after winning Miss India New England-2013

RUCHIKA ARORA (State Director Miss India New England for Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire)

Ruchika Arora, how does it feel to have delivered the successful candidate to the Miss India USA Pageant?  You also delivered a second runner up for the Miss Teen competition.

Having our ‘Miss India New England-2013’ win ‘Miss India USA’ feels like a dream. The last time when some one from Massachusetts got the crown, it was in 1985 - a very long time ago. Then Radhika Rao from Massachusetts got the crown.  Worldwide pageant started in 1990 so Monica Gill is the first delegate ever to go there from New England. Harika Talluri is first Miss Teen India New Hampshire and seeing her as second runner up among such strong teen contestants is another moment of pride and happiness.

What do beauty pageants look for in winners?

Overall personality gets reflected when contestants participate in multiple rounds of contest. Self confidence can be seen through the walk, facial expressions and speech. Talent and achievements can be stated in application forms, personal interviews or talent round. Reasoning, logical approach, and understanding of community and awareness about the world around us can be judged in the Question-Answer round. The most deserving at that moment gets the Crown.

What made Monica stand out amongst the competitors?

Monica is very hard working girl and she did not leave a single detail unattended. From understanding of schedule and all rounds of contest, selection of clothes, accessories, theme for talent and preparing for the question-answer session. Her idea was to improve in every aspect, and represent herself in best possible way. We also researched what made past winners different from others and realized that all of them had a very special talent and presentation.

What advice do you have for aspiring beauty pageant competitors?

Be optimistic and take guidance. The goal for a contestant should not be crown/title; it should be improvement of skills and overall presentation and personality enhancement.

(Excerpts of original interview by Mrs.Ranjani Saigal of Lokvani.original article http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article.php?article_id=9530)

Miss New York wins Miss America in 3rd consecutive year!

Congratulations to Miss America 2015 Kira Kazantsev who won 'Miss America' pageant last night, which is New York’s victory in third consecutive year. She must have thought about following footsteps of the two previous winners Nina Davuluri (2014) and Mallory Hagan (2013), and she actually did. Kira is born to immigrant parents of Russian descent and is a student at Hofstra University. Her platform is “Love shouldn’t hurt: Protecting women against domestic violence”. For her talent- she sang Pharrell Williams song ‘Happy’ while playing with a red plastic cup. It was inspired by 2012 movie ‘Pitch perfect’. 

Like last year Nina Davuluri became first winner of Indian descent, Kira also created history as she made her state proud by getting crown for third year.

It seems like criticism is a part of every win. There were many racist tweets and comments last year but as Nina said very gracefully in one of her interviews in Boston that she is happy that for every negative comments- there were 10 positive replies. This year- the new Miss America is being criticized for her talent. In my opinion- her singing is better than what many can do, she was confident on stage, interacting with audience, and her performance had ability to make her stand out in the crowd. The world watches to see if their favorite wins, if not, follows the critism. Be a winner anyways!

IIFA 2014 Magic and Fashions on Green Carpet

What are you wearing? It is the ‘International Indian Film Academy Awards’ that started in London in 2000 and the same Bollywood always with extraordinary talent, glitter, drama and entertainment and buzz. The answer to this question on Green carpet now is not limited to Indian designers and fashion. Bollywood stars proudly adorned International designers latest creations with elegance and style at IIFA 2014 which was held in Tampa Bay Florida. The award show at Raymond James Stadium on April 26th was witnessesed by approximately 40,000 people and audience came from all over the globe, and about 12000 hotel rooms were booked in and around Tampa.

There were some fashion ‘hits’ and some ‘miss’ like in any other star studded event. The best dressed actress were Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone. Priyanka wore Prabal Gurung printed satin cocktail dress at IIFA Rocks and Monique Lhuiller Nude Cherry blossom gown on the day of award show. She was graceful as always on stage and walked with John Travolta on green carpet. Deepika Padukone arrived in red lace gown by Zuhair Murad. Hollywood star Kevin Spacey also walked Green carpet with bollywood beauty. Priyanka has gained international profile as a model and singer who sang with Pitbull last year and is currently working on more Pop music collection. She maintained style and grace right from her grand arrival at the airport, and professionalism during IIFA master class when she wore formal black blouse and white skirt.

Kareena Kapoor arrived in Giorgio Armani black evening gown with bold plunging neckline which had skin color camouflage piece if seen closely. Bipasha looked stunning in Rocky S dazzling black gown.  Thousands of enthusiaastic fans were lined up to watch their favorite stars. 

Mayor Bob Buckhorn and John Travolta who later tried Bollywood moves on stage arrived in Nehru Jackets. Nina Davuluri- Miss America was showstopper at IIFA Rocks Fashion show and she arrived at green carpet in cream gown with minimal gold embellishments, designed by Tony Bowls.

Sri Devi looked stunning in Oscar de la Renta even at this age leaving behind several younger ones. Just like her ideas, Kalki Koechin was very(over) creative in her clothes throughout the weekend. It was always too much going on with her silhouettes, neckline, collar or hat. Dia Mirza needs dresses that do not pull away attention from her pretty face. On the contrary, she wore heavy sequined peach/red gown. Madhuri Dixit still has charisma in dance and acting but neither her hairdo nor her black gown left any statement. She should have tried any dress with back interest or lower neckline , instead of basic cowl neck. The same hairdo worked on Deepika, Priyanka, Kareena but not on her. She could try any other hairstyle which can frame her face more beautifully.

Another miss was Parineeti Chopra in bright peach dress which had a long slit till her waist and she wore black tights overall making whole outfit more casual than the occassion. Among the male stars, someone who tops the list of best dressed is Hrithik Roshan, the hearthrob at Green carpet and on stage. 

The show started at 10:00pm with Nagada Song when Shahid Kapoor and Farhan Akhtar arrived in a motorized Pirate ship with hundreds of dancers, and that bollywood glitter and hungama continued till 3:00am. The elegance of Indian Saree, jewelry and simplicity was no less than any western label or silhouette. The best Indian look was worn by Neetu Singh in beige gold saree and kundan necklace, and Dr Pallavi Patel who and her husband Dr Kiran Patel were US hosts for IIFA and donated millions to make IIFA 2014 possible in Tampa Bay Florida USA.