Category Archives: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

First Indian Crowned ‘ Miss New York 2013 ‘ at Staten Island, NY . July 2013 .

Nina Davuluri, a Syracuse, NY native was crowned as ‘ Miss New York 2013 ‘ making her the first Indian to be crowned ‘ Miss New York ‘.

The 24-year old winner Nina Davuluri was crowned by Miss America Mallory Hagan and her predecessor Miss New York Shannon Oliver during a specatular production at the stately St.George Theatre in Staten Island, New York on Saturday July 13th, 2013. Nina Davuluri was attired in a floor length evening gown of light yellow.

Davuluri embraced her culture performing a bollywood dance as her talent. In overcoming her obstacles Nina lost 60 pounds in the last 2 years and did it all with the help of her sponsor and trainer Tia Falcone. ” Just to be on that stage and show everyone how hard I’ve worked to achieve this, just meant the world to me ” says Davuluri. She plans to use the $10,000 she won in scholarship money to achieve her goal of becoming a doctor.

Nina is working closely with the ‘Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals’ to raise funds for the local children’s hospitals.

As Miss New York she will now represent the Empire State, at the forthcoming ‘ Miss America pageant ‘ at the Atlantic City. Th final night of the Pageant competition and the crowning of ‘ Miss America ‘ is scheduled for September 15th. The event will be broadcase at 9pm ET/PT on ABC television network.

www.missny.org/missny2013/ – Miss New York Organization., Inc.

India’s First ‘ Confucius Institute ‘ . July 2013 .

India’s first ‘Confucius Institute’ was inaugrated at the Kalinga campus in Santa Cruz, Mumbai by Mumbai University and Tianjin University of Technology (TUT), People’s Republic of China (PRC) on Thursday – July 18th, 2013.

The Confucius Institute (CI) will initiate a Chinese language course, promote art and culture in India . It will also start a student and faculty exchange programme between the two nations.

A symbolic plaque was unveiled by Rajesh Tope, Minister for Higher & Technical Education. Also present at the occasion were Padamalkar Valvi – Minister of Sports & Youth Welfare, Meng Qingong – Chairman of TUT Board and Liu Youfa, Consul-General of People’s Republic of China (PRC)in Mumbai.

The Confucius Institute, once set-up will be headed by 2 officials, one from Mumbai University and the other from TUT or Hanban. Once Indian teachers learn Chinese, they will then go to China and teach Hindi and English language to the Chinese students and teachers.

Confucius Institutes (CI) headquarters are located in Beijing. They are non-profit public institutions aligned with the Government of the People’s Republic of China that aim to promote language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally and facilitate cultural exchanges. The CI programme is overseen by the Office of the Chinese Language International (Hanban).

Anmol Rajan appointed ‘ The Independent ‘s Editor and becomes first non-white Editorial head of a UK national newspaper . June 2013 .

In a bold move Evgeny Lebedev the Russian owner of The Independent named, Anmol Rajan, a  29-year old Indian-origin journalist,as the newest editor of  The Independent newspaper on June 17th, 2013. He was the editor of The Independent Voics section. Rajan takes over from Chris Blackhurst who became Group Content Director.

Anmol Rajan one of the youngest ever at 29, makes Fleet Street history by becoming first non-white newspaper editorial head of a UK national newspaper creating ripples in London’s all-white Oxbridge media elite. And also the first- ethnic minority editor, a first-British Asian editor of a British national newspaper.

Rajan was born in Calcutta (Kolkata)on July 04th, 1983 , before moving to London as a three year old. He grew up in Tooting, South London and went on to read English literature at Downing College, Cambridge University and edited the prestigious student magazine ‘Varsity’. He spent his gap year working at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

After graduating, Rajan worked briefly for the ‘Evening Standard’ and ‘Channel 5’ before moving to ‘The Independent’ in August 2007 where he rose through the ranks from being a news reporter , columnist, comment editor and editor of Independent Voices. He is also a devoted foodie, writing a restaurant column for The Independent on Sunday and appeared as a judge on BBC1’s Masterchef in April. Rajan was the secondary presenter on ‘The Wright Stuff’ the daytime talk show on the Five Network during its 2006-07 season. A former columnist of ‘The Salisbury Review’.

Anmol Rajan is also a volunteer youth worker with Prospex, a charity based in Islington.

Books: Anmol Rajan is a keen cricket fan and has even written a well regarded book ‘Twirlymen: Unlikely History of Cricket’s Greatest Spin Bowlers’ published by Random House in 2011.

India’s first Indoor Roller Coaster . June 2013 .

Called ‘Deep Space’ the country’s first Dark Roller Coaster which also means that it is an Indoor Roller Coaster, was launched by the 26-year old Bollywood actor Anil Dhawan . The rides go completely upside down indoors upto a speed of 86 km/hour

‘Deep Space’ venue is at ADLABS Imagica in Khipoli on the Pune-Mumbai expressway, the Theme based amusement park outside Mumbai city.

India’s first ‘ MasterChef India ‘ winner. December 2010 .

Pankaj Bhadouria, a 38-year old teacher from Lucknow was the first winner of the realty TV show ‘MasterChef India’ Season 1 – on December 25th, 2010 – a contest that was for amateur cooks from across India .

Pankaj Bhadouria has been teaching since the past 16 years. Besides being an aspiring amateur cook her hobbies include painting. She is a mom, housewife, teacher and now a nationally acclaimed winning chef. She is married to a Thakur from Lucknow, Charu Samarth and is blessed with 2 children. Pankaj was born and brought up in Delhi which is a typical foodies paradise, by her parents a Punjabi father and a Bengali mother who gave her a depth of the multi-cultural tastes of India.

Her current accompolishments: (1) Pankaj has shared some of her experiences in the form of her 1st book on cookery titled ‘ MasterChef Cook Book ‘  (2) She has hosted her own cookery show ‘ Chef Pankaj ka Zayka ‘ on Star Plus during September-October 2011 (3)She has her own mobile app which is applicable on Black Berry, I Phones, Google play etc. (4) Pankaj was invited to grace and participate in ‘ The Vali Food Festival’ annuals held in New York, USA for both the years April 2011 and April 2012 (5) She was invited to address the South Asian Community in Britain, by the prestigious Cambridge University in July 2011 (6)Pankaj has been regularly featured in newspapers and magazines both nationally and internationally (7) She conducts regular workshops and cookery demonstrations (8) Pankaj is invited regulary to judge at competitions and events.

In August 2012, she launched her dream project – ‘The Pankaj Bhadouria Culinary Academy ‘ in Hazratgang, Lucknow.

Pankaj Bhadouria’s growth from a small time school teacher to become India’s first MasterChef and a celebrity is a real time story of self-belief.(www.pankajbhadouria.com)

India’s first ‘ Miss World ‘ . 1966 . First Asian to win the ‘ Miss World ‘ title. 1966

Reita Faria was the first Indian to be crowned ‘Miss World’ in 1966. She was also the first Asian to win the ‘Miss World’ title in 1966.

The red sari with golden zari work bagged the ‘Best Evening Gown’ prize.

The brown eyed beauty Reita Faria made the whole world sit up and look at India. By winning the crown, she showed the way for later competitors giving them confidence that they too could take the world by storm. She could be the first international beauty queen to qualify as a doctor during her reign.

Reita Faria was a student at the Grant Medical College and Sir J.J.Group of Hospitals.  Born 1945 she hailed from Mumbai with ancestral ties to Tivim, Goa. After winning the crown, she turned down offers of modelling and films, fame and fortune, instead chose to focus on her medical studies.

She won the Miss Mumbai crown and subsequently won the Eve’s Weekly ‘Miss India’ contest. Dr.Reita Faria was a judge at ‘Femina Miss India’ 1996. She adjudicated the ‘Miss World’ competions 3 times and attended the 25th and 50th anniversary of the contest.

Dr.Reita Faria married endocrinologist Dr.David Powell and lives in Dublin, Ireland. She has 2 Daughters,both in the medical profession and 5 grandchildren.