In a glamorous and glittering function, Alana Seebarran of Guyana was crowned Miss India Worldwide 2012 held in Paramaribo, the capital city of Suriname, February 25, 2012. The pageant was held for the first time in South America with the maximum country participation. Alana won the coveted title beating beautiful contestants from 34 countries.
Alana, 24, is a student of Business and Marketing and her hobbies include listening to music, traveling, cooking and dancing. Alana’s dancing also won her the title of Miss Talented. This is for the first time Guyana has won the crown in the pageant’s twenty one year history. Alana will receive prizes totaling over $15,000, including cash prize of $7,000, an all-expense paid trip to South Africa, India, Suriname, Trinidad, India, Netherlands and USA among other prizes. Alana was crowned by Ankita Ghazan of Australia, the outgoing Miss India Worldwide in presence of Bollywood actors Aftab Shivdasani and Aarti Chabria, a former Miss India Worldwide.
Anvita Sudarshan, 21, of Kuwait and Olivia Bourillon,18, of Australia were named first and second runners-up respectively. The other two finalists were Deana Uppal of United Kingdom and Varsha Ramrattan of Suriname. The other sub contest winners were Uraysha Ramrachia of Mauritius for Miss Photogenic, Chandan Kaur of U.S.A. for Miss Beautiful Eyes, Shreyaa Chawla of Canada for Miss Beautiful Smile, Ankita Arora of Italy for Miss Beautiful Hair, Varsha Ramratan of Suriname for Miss Beautiful Skin, Sharmisttha Yoogan of Malaysia for Miss Congeniality, Deana Uppal of United Kingdom for Miss Bollywood Diva, Lizann Afonso of U.A.E. for Miss Catwalk, Eram Karim of India for Miss Beautiful Figure, Anvita Sudarshan of Kuwait for Miss Beautiful Face and Veebha Sharma of Qatar for Chairman’s Miss Professional.
The pageant opened up with each contestant dressed in an orange, white and green salwar kameez, holding the flag for the country they were representing. The contestants then went onto the Indian and Evening Gown segments. The top eleven contestants moved onto the talent round. These eleven their talent in the form of film-based dance, classical dances, acting, ballet, bhangra and sign language. Another highlight of the pageant was a special performance by Aarti Chabria who danced to hit songs of Bollywood.
The week long activities included a reception dinner hosted by His Excellency Desire Delano Bouterse, President of the Republic of Suriname for the contestants and all international guests at the President’s Palace. Bollywood Film Festival, Indian Food Festival, International Fashion Show were also part of the week long celebrations.
The international panel of judges included judges from different countries including Bollywood Actor – Aftab Shivdasani.
“The pageant was altogether a great experience. All other contestants were very well prepared which made the competition very rewarding as well as challenging,” said Rameet Sandhu, contestant from Scotland. Dharmatma Saran, Founder of the Miss India Worldwide, thanked Anil Ramhit Doebe, Namita Ajodhia and their entire team for organizing an excellent pageant. He also presented The National Director of the Year Award was to Chandini Ramnarain of Guyana.
Miss India Worldwide is the longest running international Indian pageant with affiliates in over forty countries. Miss India Worldwide is produced by the IFC, a pioneer organization in conducting Indian pageants and fashion shows in the USA and worldwide. The committee has also been conducting the Miss India New York and the Miss India USA pageants annually since 1980. Acclaimed as ‘ the most glamorous Indian function in the world’, outside of India, the pageant has served as a platform for unifying people of Indian origin scattered around the globe to come together and celebrate their rich heritage and oneness as part of the larger Indian Diaspora. “We will continue to promote Indian culture, values and performing arts”, said Dharmatma Saran, Chairman & Founder, “among the Indian youth around the world through pageantry.” The next Miss India Worldwide is scheduled to be held in Malaysia in 2013.
