Nina Davuluri, the first desi Miss America, talks about PM Modi’s US visit

Last year, Nina Davuluri made headlines for being crowned as the fi rst ever Indian origin Miss America. Having broken the stereotypes of a Miss America pageant winner, Davuluri, who was in Mumbai last week, says she’s now focussing on completing her MBA.

Incidentally, Davuluri was the emcee at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Madison Square Garden event. Though she didn’t get an opportunity to interact with him personally, Davuluri says she was present at a few dinners with him, as Miss America. “I was honoured to get that phone call asking if I would host this event. I took part in other events surrounding his visit in New York and Washington DC — namely the Department of State Luncheon hosted by Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry and the dinner hosted by the Indian Ambassador at the consulate in New York,” she says with a big smile.

Davuluri is now getting ready to judge a dance-based reality show, yet she doesn’t think that Bollywood is her calling. On being an Indian girl growing up in the USA, Davuluri says that she has had her share of cultural conflict. “I struggled with my identity. I grew up mostly in Oklahoma and I was the only Indian girl in many of my classes. People would ask me if I was going to have an arranged marriage, if I worship cows, or what the red dot on the forehead (bindi) means. Most of these remarks weren’t malicious — they were ignorant."