BURLINGTON, MA—India Association of Greater Boston, a local non-profit community organization known as IAGB, announced the winners its semi-final Antakshari competition on Sunday. The four winning teams will now go final competition on India’s Republic Day celebrations scheduled on Jan. 28 at Burlington High School in Burlington, MA.
Here are the four winning teams:
Team Atom Bomb: Namita Deshpande and Prag Singh
Team Let’s Nacho with Cheese: Santosh Rao and Yogitha Parayil
Team Burmaniacs: Anish Desai and Krishna Desai
Team Surile Iyers: Vidya Iyer and Prakash Iyer.
“As avid Bollywood music enthusiasts my husband and I decided to team up as participants and went for the preliminary rounds which was conducted over two weekends and in a few locations,” said Vidya Iyer. “After qualifying there, we went for the semifinals yesterday (Jan. 8). It was lots of fun both participating and winning in this creatively planned, well organized and executed competition.”
Iyers are one of four pairs going to the finals out of 30 or so pairs in total.
“All the fellow contestants were awesome, a tough competition indeed therefore making this a truly delightful and fulfilling win,” Vidya said. “Really excited and looking forward to the finals on January 28.”
She said IAGB held the first ever ANTAKSHARI competition and did a great job. The IAGB organizing team included Jayashree Deshmukh Voruganti, Aditi Taylor, Vaishali Gade, Lata Rao, Netra P. Rajinikanth, and Monisha Prakash, among others.
The semi final competition was held on Sunday at Priya restaurant in Lowell, MA. Out of more than 30, ten teams were selected to participate in the semi-final. The four winners will go to the final live Antakshari Competition on IAGB-organized Republic Day celebrations on Jan. 28 at Burlington High School in Burlington.
The IAGB Republic Day mela will also feature several other contests and activities for a diverse audience of all ages and talents, including: Patriotic Theme Art, Kite Making Competition, Science Quiz for Kids, Chess Tournament, Geography Bee, Patriotic Sonnet/Poem Writing, Trivia Quiz, Essay Competition and Cultural Program.
