A former top American diplomat has hoped that President Barack Obama invites Nina Davuluri when he hosts Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for lunch at the White House next Friday, in recognition of the contribution of Indian-Americans to the United States.
Nina Davuluri, 24, is the first Indian-American to have been crowned with the Miss American title. "When Prime Minister Singh and President Obama get together, I am hoping that they might invite the latest Miss America, the first Indian American to have won that wonderful honour. May be they can ask her down for lunch," Karl Inderfurth, the former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs from 1997-2001, told PTI.
"This is further indication of the people-to-people ties. The Indian-American community is doing so much in the US now...they basically own the American spelling bee. She is the first Indian American to win the Miss America. This is a good story," said Inderfurth, who currently is the Senior Advisor and Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies of the prominent think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"I think her performance was a Bollywood fusion dance. This is good exposure for Americans," he said. Singh would be in Washington for a day on a working visit for a meeting with Obama on September 27. The meeting would be followed by lunch.
Meanwhile, organisers of the Miss America pageant said that they have been inundated with interview requests which has never been seen before. They said that they have been flooded with so many interview requests from the Indian media outlets that they are planning a trip of Nina to India in coming months.
"We can't keep up with all the requests coming in from India," Erica Fiocco, marketing coordinator for Miss America told the local Syracus News. "It's a job in itself. It's never been like this before. We have had more media and appearance requests than for any other Miss America ever. And this time its international," she said.
"There's been a lot of buzz about Nina, but I think a lot has to do with her being the first Indian American to become Miss America. We're very happy about it, but it's just hard to keep up," Fiocco said. "They call and call and call, and she is just so booked. They all want to talk to her because she's a role model for women in India," she said.
Nina, meanwhile, continues with her media interviews in the US.
On Wednesday, she will be making a visit to Fox and Friends to talk about her new role as Miss America and the journey ahead as she promotes the Miss America Organization and its Scholarship Program. She will have a one-on-one interview with Erin Burnett on Erin Burnett OutFront on the CNN.
The 2014 Miss America Competition grew by 3.0 million viewers and by 44 per cent in young adults from its first half-hour to its final half-hour.
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