Miss America crowns first Indian American winner, Nina Davuluri

It was the second year in a row that a young woman from New York was named Miss America.

Davuluri, 24, competed in outfits including an animal-print bikini (pardon us, swimsuit) and a bright yellow evening gown that she described as “the more sexy version” of Belle’s dress in “Beauty and the Beast.” In the talent portion of the evening, she delivered a Bollywood-style dance.

The “interviews” of the top five finalists — one question each — gave rise to varied responses, as the questions were all over the map. Judge Mario Cantone of “Sex and the City” fame asked Miss Oklahoma what she thought of Miley Cyrus’ recent twerk-filled VMAs performance, and judge Lance Bass of N*SYNC asked Miss Minnesota whether political candidates were carrying “Stand By Your Man” too far by supporting their spouses.

Violinist Joshua Bell asked Miss California if it was the United States’ responsibility to punish Syria for using chemical weapons on its own people; TV chef Carla Hall quizzed Miss New York about what message was sent by Julie Chen’s revelation she’d had plastic surgery to look less Asian, to advance her career; and Miss America 2005 Deidre Downs Gunn asked Miss Florida about what the country should do about minorities having disproportionately low income and disproportionately high rates of unemployment and incarceration….