The second annual Miss Glitterati South Asian Beauty Pageant took place at Four Seasons Hotel here in Las Vegas.

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Glitterati Fashion launched in 2010 by Anamika Tara provides a platform for young girls to showcase their beauty and talent. All proceeds from the event are donated to Akshay Patra Charity Trust Saurabh Tara, host for the event introduced the work of Akshay Patra to the audience.

Akshay Patra is a non profit organization that provides meals to malnourished school going children in India. “Hunger is a stumbling block to education”, said Madhu Sridhar, who is the President and CEO of Akshay Patra Trust, USA and was one of the judges for the evening.

Trust’s meals program is an incentive for children to attend school that helps in developing their cognitive abilities. Akshay Patra provides meals to 1.3 million children in 8 states of India everyday. The trust is targeting to reach 5 million children by 2020. “It is a very humbling experience to help a cause like Akshay Patra.” Tara said.

The ramp soon glittered with 14 participants from various south asian countries. Kanika Chadda, a TV personality from Sahara One and print journalist along with Reid Estreicher entertained the audience while hosting the evening. The Pageant was divided in 3 rounds- Ballroom round, Creative round, and Bridal round. Extravagant clothing for the pageant was sponsored by Charishma Boutique located in Chicago whereas Manjusha Jewelers from San Francisco sponsored the dazzling jewellery wore by beauty pageants. Sumita Batra, CEO of Ziba Beauty was one of the judges sponsored Best Catwalk and Creative round. “This is a huge step up from the last year’s pageant in terms of grandeur.” said Monisha Saxena who also attended the pageant last year.

Saleena Khamamkar, a student of Palo Verde High School was crowned Miss Glitterati 2011. She is a passionate Bharatnatyam dancer. Khamamkar was dressed as a Maharashtrian girl in one of the creative rounds that wowed the audience. She also won the prize for Best Catwalk. Chala Thenappan was declared runners-up. Thenappan loves children and wants to become a physician.

Bengali girls duo- Ria Mukherjee and Aretha Basu won  Miss Photogenic and best Creative outfit, respectively. Mukherjee is a trained dancer and wants to pursue medicine as a career. Basu, who loves working with animals, is a traveler and trained in Latin dance. She is intrigued by different cultures throughout the world.

The other participants were Natasha Sharma, Gieselle d’Souza, Shivani Dixit, Anchal Sharma, Komal Sood, Muniza Abdulla, Yamna Nasir, Divya Halthore, Tanya Dawood, and Salina Jain. Two performances that stage on fire were belly dancing by twin sisters Meena & Veena, and a heart pumping Bollywood dance by Samika Tara.