Bhupinder Kaur of Queens, New York was crowned Maaza Miss India New York 2008, during a spectacular beauty pageant held in New York on November 2, 2008.  Bhupinder, 23, pursuing her degree in Political Science and Psychology at Hunter College, NY was declared winner of the 26th Maaza Miss India New York. The first runner-up was Mansi Shah, 18, of Long Island, while Ruby Kaur Ruby, 20, of Sunnyside, New York, was declared second-runner-up. The other two finalists among the top-five were Harpreet Pelia and Samantha Samaroo. Organized by the IFC, a pioneer in organizing pageants and fashion shows, the pageant was held at the Community Center Auditorium in Flushing, Queens, NY.

During the first ever Miss Teen India pageant, launched in response to public demand, the 13-years-old Tosha Patel of Long Island was crowned as the winner.  Tosha also won  the Best Talent Contest.  The First runner-up title went to Tanvi Dutta of Queens and the second runner-up was Puja Das of Long Island.

The curtain opened with the song "Teri Ore" from the recently released movie, Singh is King, performed by the outgoing Maaza Miss India New York, Neha Multani, who led all the contestants to the stage.  The contestants participated in the Indian Segment, Evening Gown Segment and the Talent Segment, during which, the audience and the judges got to know more about the contestants and their talents and accomplishments.

The talent segment brought out the best in the contestants as well as the best of the rich traditions of diverse Indian culture. The unique element one could not miss among the items performed was that the vast majority of contestants were second-generation Indian-Americans, and yet most of the items presented were of Indian origin.
 
The Best Talent Award went to Mansi Shah, who had performed a medley of Bollywood songs and was also the winner of Miss Beautiful Eyes.  Natasha Lalwani was named Miss Beautiful Smile and Preeti Jain was named Miss Photogenic. After a question-answer segment with the five finalists, Ruby Kaur was announced as the Second Runner-Up, Mansi Shah as the First Runner-Up, and Bhupinder Kaur was declared the winner of the coveted 26th annual Miss India New york Beauty Pageant, the longest running Indian pageant outside of India. The winners will represent New York in the Twenty Seventh Annual Nationwide Miss India USA to be held in New Jersey on November 23.

Exciting entertainment items were provided by Arya Dance Academy, Annushka Prabhudyal and the child artist Hita Soni.  Dharmatma Saran, Founder and Chief Organizer of the event, thanked the community for its support and presented appreciation plaques to Amprapali Soni of Maaza Beverages, Kiran Hari, Nishi Bahl, Bhavna Toor and Manisha Narwani for their enthusiastic support in organizing the pageant.

Panel of Judges consisted of Dr. Neena Malhotra – Counsel, Press and Women Affairs at the Indian Consulate, Mayor Harry Anand, Dr. Shashi Agarwal, Anu Vivek – former Miss India and also GM of Jet Airways and Santripti Vellody – former Miss India Worldwide. Choreography of the show was done by Nishi Bahl Sabharwal; the emcees were Bhavna Toor and Tanzie Variava. Tabulation was done by Andy Bose, CPA, assisted by Nikita Parikh.

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