Nina Davuluri becomes first Indian American to win crown.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Nina Davuluri of Fayetteville, New York, won the Miss America 2014 pageant on Sunday night, becoming the first Indian-American to ever win the title.
Davuluri is the daughter of Telugu parents from Andhra Pradesh, who immigrated to the US in 1981. In 1989, Nina was born in Syracuse, New York — she is the second native of Syracuse to win the title, the first being Vanessa Williams 30 years ago, who was the first African-American woman to ever win the crown.
An avid fan of Telugu movies, Davuluri has stayed close to her Indian roots despite being born and brought up in the US. At the pageant finals on Sunday, she performed a Bollywood fusion dance during the part of the program in which each remaining contestant must showcase a unique talent. Davuluri showcased her years of training in Bharathanatyam and Kuchipudi dance styles, impressing judges and audiences alike.
She sported a zebra stripe-print bikini during the swimwear segment and, finally, a light yellow evening gown at the end. During the all-important “On-stage Question” segment, Davuluri was asked to give her opinion on women — specifically anchorwoman Julie Chen — getting plastic surgery in order to further their professional careers. Davuluri, who has confessed to struggling with appearance and weight issues of her own in the past, said that she doesn’t agree with plastic surgery.
“I’ve always viewed Miss America as [being] a ‘girl next door,’ and I believe the ‘girl next door’ is evolving as diversity in America evolves,” Davuluri said at the nationally televised event. “She’s not the same person she was ten years ago and she won’t be the same person come ten years down the road, so I wouldn’t want to change someone’s appearance.”
Nina was not the only Indian-American in the pageant this year — Miss District of Columbia was Bindhu Pamarthi, a native of Chapel Hill, North Carolina who graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and now attends Georgetown Law Center full-time in Washington, DC. Her parents are also from Andhra Pradesh.
Davuluri is a graduate of the University of Michigan, from which she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Brain Behavior and Cognitive Science. Her Miss America victory comes with more than $50,000 in scholarship funds, which Nina will apparently put to use in pursuit of her goal to be a physician, just like her father.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com