eNarada, Bengaluru, Monday, June 5, 2017
India’s girl sensation Padmalaya Nanda created history as she was bagged the coveted titles; Golden Crown, Little Miss Universe Internet 2017, Miss Universe Gran Prix and Little Miss Actress (popularly known Best Talent of the world) at the Little Miss Universe 2017 being held at Georgian port city of Batumi.
The Little Miss Universe 2017 was won by Miss Kazakhstan Dayna Alimbayeva.
Padmalaya scored one of the highest number of votes. She secured more than 60 pc of the votes from Europe and USA. This was first time a 12-year India girl was winning prestigious titles at an international stage. She will now participate in the Little Miss World competition to be held at Greece in September.
Daughter of noted Supreme Court lawyer Prasanna Kumar Nanda, Padmalaya had mesmerised one and all during the auditions. During the auditions in Georgia, Padmalaya represented Indian culture in her talks, dresses and actions. She showcased the culturally rich Sambalpuri Dance (Sambalpuria phulare) during auditions. Those who watched her dance had only one word to say-Padmalaya is definitely a trend setter. One of the judges exclaimed, “Here is a trend setter. This platform has never seen someone as talented as Padmalaya.”
For one of the questions, Padmalaya replied, “I have never come to win only the title rather I have come here as a cultural ambassador of our country. I am lucky to be an inhabitant of this beautiful Earth. I am proud to represent India-a country which gave the vision thousands and thousands of years ago in Veda saying-Vasudaiva Kutumbakam” (Whole world is One family). I am also proud to be an ‘Odia’ as the ancient heritage which we have in our state is rarest on this Earth. This is the reason I took help of Sanskrit, Hindi, Odia and English languages in a single poster to present Vasudaiva Kutumbakam.”
During the third day of the Little Miss Universe Top 10 Finalists, Padmalaya mesmerised by dressing up as an Odia tribal in royal ethno party. She chose a concept to showcase the reign of Biwabasu, Lalita and her mother; who are directly linked with Lord Jagannath of Puri. While Padmalaya was dressed as Lalita, her father Prasanna Kumar Nanda was dressedas Tribal king Biswabasu and her mother was dressed as mother of Lalita. She also exhibited Odisha’s horn work, cottage industry, Pippili applique and Patachitra. During the party, Padmalaya emphasisedthe glory of Unity in diversity and the way country has preserved its rich tribal culture.
Congrats Padmalaya, & all the best for finals.