Rekha Gopal, Alka Marala and Nikitha Kikanamada emerged as the winners of the Miss India Connecticut 2018 Pageant, held Sept. 15 in Cromwell, Conn.

Gopal was crowned as Mrs. India Connecticut 2018; Marala was named the new Miss India Connecticut; and Kikanamada prevailed as Miss Teen India Connecticut. The Mrs. India Connecticut competition is for married women 18 years or older; Miss India Connecticut is for women 18 to 27; and Miss Teen India Connecticut is for girls aged 13 to 17.

The competition was put together by the Indian American organization, India Festival Committee, and directed by Sumathi Narayanan. It featured a total of 23 contestants who confidently portrayed Indian culture, unique talents and American pride with grace and elegance, according to a news release.

The pageant was not just about outer beauty, but also valued inner beauty, intelligence, and ambition of the young women of Connecticut, it said.

The event started with an opening dance choreographed by P&P Dance Crew of CT, in which all the contestants performed energetic and graceful introductory dances alongside the reigning Miss India CT 2017 and first runner-up of Miss India USA 2017, Prachi Shah.

The opening dance was then followed by the ethnic wear round, where each contestant proudly displayed their Indian culture.

Next was the talent round, in which contestants displayed their talent through dance and musical performances, acting, martial arts, crafts, and even magic shows, the IFC news release said.

The contestants then gave their introduction in the evening gown round. Lastly, the finalists amazed everyone with their wits in the question and answer round, it said.

Outside of the overall winners, a number of contestants were honored as winners in specific categories.

Among the winners for social media were Radhika Rathore, Athulya Narayanan and Debashree Rupalin for the Miss, Teen and Mrs., respectively; Radhika Rathore, Nikitha Kikanamada and Mamatha Puttaswamy respectively for the congeniality category; Alka Marala and Athulya Narayanan for Miss and Teen in talent; Alka Marala, Dhruvi Patel and Nidhi Sinha, respectively, for photogenic; and Alka Marala, Archita Mundrathi and Mamatha Puttaswamy, respectively, for viewer’s choice. 

For winning the competition, Gopal, Marala and Kikanamada will move on to compete at the national level pageant hosted by Dharmatma Saran, chairman of IFC, for the title of Miss/Teen/Mrs. India USA.