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Miss America 2014
By Aruna Moidu
Nina Davuluri at India Day 2014
The Indian American Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Orlando Magic
had the honor and pleasure of hosting India
Day 2014. Miss Nina Davuluri, (Chief Guest)
the reigning Miss America 2014, graced the
event with her exuberant presence.
The mandate of the IACC is to assist its
members to develop relationships with
local businesses and corporations, to enable networking, facilitate opportunities for
those wishing to extend businesses with
India, or persons of Indian origin in the Central Florida area, to foster old relationships
and to build new ones.
The platform of the IACC also includes
the desire to share with the local community, the vibrancy and color of Indian culture
and heritage. The day was filled with celebrations, culminating in the home game,
where the Orlando Magic hosted the Boston Celtics.
The day commenced with a press conference with the guest of honor Miss America, Nina Davuluri. Her mandate of ‘celebrate
diversity through cultural competency’ was
especially meaningful at this event. She
emphasized her platform of Scholarship,
Service and Racial Diversity. Her message
to her fans was, “Be true to yourself ”. On a
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less serious note she said she loved Indian
clothes, but her mother had to help her
wear a saree!
The conference was followed by an elegant luncheon, catered by Aroma and
Mingos. Both the American and Indian
Anthems were sung to resounding applause and Dr Beena Parikh gave the introductory speech. Thereafter, Mr Tino Patel
shared IACC’s long term goals and ambitions for the organization. He commended
the Indian community for its participation,
the number of new members had grown
substantially over the last year, he said, because this organization is here to promote
and support. He gave a vote of thanks to
the Executive Committee, the Leadership
Committee and all the volunteers who had
given unstintingly of their time, and to the
Sponsors without whom, this event would
not have been possible, and to members
of other Chambers present. Miss America
was then introduced to her fans by Ms Erica
Dunlap, a former Miss America herself.
A Street Fair at the Amway Center was
open to everyone present. The sights and
sounds of India were on display, with Indian cuisine, dress, dances, henna tattoos
and other traditional offerings. A flash mob
of over fifty entertained and delighted the
crowd. Later in the evening, a VIP reception was held, where 15 elected officials
of Central Florida, mingled with business
and social leaders and members of the
IACC. Meanwhile during the halftime show,
C-Studios and the Magic cheerleaders regaled their audience with some exuberant
Bollywood dances!
The IACC contributed over 1400 tickets
to local charities and nonprofit organizations to enable underprivileged children to
watch an NBA game.
The tremendous success of the event
must be shared by the management team
of India Day 2014, Mr Tino Patel (President),
Dr. Amish Parikh, Dr Varesh Patel, Mr Jay
Shah, Mr Yog Melwani, Dr. Beena Parikh and
Sanjay Srinivasan. The Leadership Committee Chairs Neal Patel, Retu Jahan, Sara
Kalwar & Prashant Patel and the dedicated
volunteers. The IACC hopes to keep its
warm relationship with the Orlando Magic and the other sponsors who made this
event possible.
As the Magic ended the night with a
win, it seemed apropos to hold up the placards which read ‘JAI HO MAGIC’ and ‘INDIA
IS MAGIC.’
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