In a spectacular function held on August 13, Tashi Sharma of Queens , New York , was crowned Maaza Miss India New York 2005. A graduate in Computer Science and at present a financial analyst at the Citi Bank, Tashi, 22, was declared winner of the 23 rd Maaza Miss India New York. The first runner-up position went to Nisha Mirchandani, 24, Staten Island, co-incidentally also a financial analyst with JP Morgan and the second runner-up was Pooja Kondabolu, 17, of Long Island , New York . The other two finalists in the top-five were Prithi Dhanajay of Queens and Aarti Patel of Long Island .
Organized by the IFC, a pioneer in organizing pageants and fashion shows, the pageant was held at the prestigious Haft Auditorium of Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan . Twelve contestants from the New York area were selected after an audition to participate in this year’s event.
The curtain opened with the classic song “Jeeya Jale” from the film Dil Se performed by the outgoing Miss India New York, Subrina Dhammi, who led all the contestants to the stage. Subrina has just joined NBC TV as Staff Reporter after her graduation. A crowd over seven-hundred people cheered all the contestants with a round of applause. The contestants participated in the Evening gown segment, followed by Talent, and then Indian dress. During these segments, the audience and the judges got to know more about the contestants and their accomplishments.
The talent segment brought out the best in the contestants as well as the best of the rich traditions of diverse Indian culture. The unique element one could not miss among the items performed was that the vast majority of contestants were second-generation Indian-Americans, and yet most of the items presented were of Indian origin.
Exciting entertainment items were provided by child performer Foram Parmar, Arya Dance Academy , Satrangi Dance Fusion and Wanted Asiqz. An exclusive fashion show was presented by Anil Das for Karishma.
Then came the announcement of winners. The Best Talent Award went to Tashi, who had performed a dance from the movie Aur Pyar Ho Gaya. Monica Nagpal was named Miss Beautiful Eyes, Krishna Dholakia named Miss Photogenic, while Tashi Sharma named Miss Beautiful Hair and Nisha Ramchnadani named Miss Beautiful Smile. After a question-answer segment with the five finalists, Pooja was announced as Second Runner-Up, Nisha as First Runner-Up, and Tashi as the winner. The winners will represent New York in the Twenty Fourth Annual Miss India USA to be held at Tampa , Florida , also organized by the IFC.
Dharmatma Saran, Founder and Chief Organizer of the event, thanked the community for its support and Promod Gupta, Regional Director, Air-India, presented appreciation plaques to Mr. Rajagopal of Maaza Beverages, Shilpa Patel, Susmita Patel, Rohit Baxi and Dharmangi Bhatia for their enthusiastic support in organizing the pageant. Mr. L. Rajagopal of Maaza Beverages complimented the organizers for promoting Indian culture, values and performing arts.
Choreography of the show was done by Teena Sukharam and Shilpa Patel, the emcees were Deep Kaur and Priya Issac. Tabulation was done by Dharmangi Bhatia,CPA.
