Beauty, brains and talent are the secret potions to winning the Miss India Fiji pageant says 31-year old Ranjit Raju.
He is the national director (Fiji) for the Miss India Worldwide Pageant since March 2005 and organised the first Miss India Fiji pageant three years ago in the United States of America.
For the past three years, the event was held in the US but this year he decided to grace our shores with the same concept and the event caught the attention of many.
The MIF pageant aims to provide entertainment and enlightenment about Indo-Fijian arts and culture to the audience.
Naziah Ali of Ba was crowned the MIF queen on January 17 at the Khatri Hall in Suva.
The first runner up was Alvinta Mdhukansh from Haywood, California and second runner up was Sheetal Deo of Suva.
The MIF 2009 pageant was sponsored by the chief executive officer of Finance Pacific, Arveen Anand.
Ranjit is no stranger to the world of entertainment having spent the past 13 years entangled in the top notch spots and professions of the entertainment biz in the United States.
But deep inside, Ranjit has always had Fiji at heart and is planning to move back home to continue the work of the MIF pageant.
Born and bred in 'the Salad Bowl' town of Fiji, Ranjit is the eldest of three.
His father died when he was 14 years old and with a hard working mother and supportive grandmother, he was able to achieve success.
"I was very technical when I was growing up in Sigatoka. I was very hands-on with electronics, computers and anything to do with technology," he said.
"But as a profession, I've always wanted to be a pilot and fly. That was probably the biggest reason I left Fiji for the US.
"It was very expensive to become a pilot here but when I went to the US, I realised it was also very expensive there as well.
"My uncles asked me to move into a different field so I decided to get my computer science degree."
He attended primary school at Sigatoka Methodist and completed Form Six at Suva Methodist High.
Ranjit continued foundation studies at the University of the South Pacific and left mid-way through the program for the US.
He completed his computer science degree at the College of San Mateo.
In between his professional career as an information technology expert and support officer at schools and private firms, Ranjit's creative and innovative passion pushed him into the world of entertainment and show biz.
"I am a high end Mac consultant in San Francisco and the day I became a US citizen was the day I decided to move back to Fiji," he said.
"After 13 years, I never wanted to let go of my Fiji passport and I've never wanted to change my citizenship.
"I've been coming back and forth at least one trip a year to Fiji. I've been travelling all over the world not only because of the pageant but also because of my work.
"I used to work for an IT company and I used to travel a lot to India and Europe because we did a lot of offshore data processing."
The Miss India Worldwide pageant is the main event that promotes Indian culture all over the world.
With 25 countries participating in the worldwide pageant, Ranjit says the first pageant in Fiji will bring more recognition to the country.
There were 11 participants in the MIF pageant including two contestants from the US and one from New Zealand who paid for their own trip to Fiji.
"It became almost like an international Fiji event where there's interest from outside. We held auditions all over Fiji from Lautoka, Tavua, Ba, Suva, Nadi and Sigatoka," Ranjit said.
"It's a beauty pageant but the only difference is it's an Indian cultural pageant so we don't have the swimsuits.
"The focus is more on talent because that's more of the Indian culture, the dancing and action.
"It's a very Indian cultural pageant. In fact, the MIWW is the world's largest ethnic pageant.
"Fiji has never had an official national director or organisation that is part of the MIWW pageant so since I was based in the US I was awarded the national director position.
"I knew a true MIF pageant was supposed to be held in Fiji but there was a lot of interest from the girls in the US and Canada."
The winner of the pageant represents Fiji at the MIWW which will be held in Durban, South Africa.
Ranjit said the main reason for the pageant is to promote Indian culture everywhere and to connect Indians together.
Apart from having brains, beauty and talent, Ranjit says confidence is another key factor but not too much.
"Doing something like this makes you feel good especially when you're proud to be Indian and Fijian as well," he said.
"It's worth it because you have that Fijian heart and heritage. The contestants are between the ages of 17 and 27, have never married and are citizens, residents or born in Fiji.
"The pageant consists of four segments, traditional Indian, Fiji Island round, talent and, question and answer section."
General sponsors of the event included VT Solutions, Nivis Motors, Xoolu, Creative Arts and Lights and Sounds.
MIF 2009 queen, Naziah and Ranjit recently donated $500 to the Swami Samyuktanand at the Ashram in Suva on Thursday.
The money was raised at the MIF 2009 pageant as part of a flood appeal to help affected families.