JACKSON - The girls in Millsaps College chapel arranged their hair, checked lip gloss and then wrapped themselves in ruby, sapphire, coral and emerald-hued silk as they prepared for their historic debut as contestants in the first Miss India-Mississippi Beauty pageant.
The India Association of Mississippi sees the recent event, which attracted about 50 contestants, as far more than social for the state's estimated 8,500 Indians. Young Indian women honor their homeland's traditions while embracing America's pageant fever in a Southern state that views beauty queens as a major export.
"We have everything the Miss America Pageant does except a swimsuit competition, which would be against our culture," said association president Hitesh Desai.
Contestants can perform Indian dance, music, martial arts and theater for the talent segment. By focusing on India's treasures, Desai believes "Indians abroad can overcome the ethnic and religious divisions they might face in India."
WorldCom, the bankrupt telecommunications company that is now MCI, drew a flood of Indian engineers and researchers to Mississippi. After the Mississippi-based company's CEO was beset by scandal, most Indian employees remained in the state, Desai said.
"They wanted a more restful pace and affordable housing than you can find in New York or Silicon Valley," Desai said.
A Miss India pageant has been held nationally in this country for the past 22 years, but Mississippi has never participated. Desai worked hard to convince his community this was the right time to stand out with a pageant. In the Sept. 11 terrorist aftermath, some Indians weathered hostility in Mississippi when they were mistaken for Arab-Americans.
Now, Trustmark Bank and an Indian-owned construction firm, JDH Developers of Atlanta, are pageant corporate sponsors. Millsaps College offered its Christian Center as a venue. The chapel became a changing room. The sanctuary was adorned only with wooden crosses, no mirrors.
Sunday night, "The Star Spangled Banner" thundered from Millsaps' packed auditorium followed by India's national anthem.
Dr. Bimal Aujla, an obstetrician and psychiatrist, held a velvet-lined makeup case so her 17-year-old daughter, Navketan, could use a small mirror to arrange her hair.
Before choosing Jackson over Houston for her medical practice, Aujla sought advice from other Indian professionals.
"They recommended Mississippi because the demand for professionals with advanced degrees exceeds the supply," Aujla said.
Perneet Sood, 18, arranged her pale green sari and described her goals after getting a math degree from Millsaps.
"I'll get my master's, then my Ph.D.," she said.
She entered the pageant for fun and for a chance at over $10,000 in scholarships at the national competition in New Jersey in October. Her mother, a Trustmark bank teller, loves beauty pageants and noted that two Indians were crowned Miss Universe in the past decade.
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