BURLINGTON, MA—The team Atom Bomb won the first prize at the region’s first Antakshari competition, organized by India Association of Greater Boston, one of the oldest non-profit Indian community organizations, known as IAGB.

The winning team Atom Bomb consisted of Prag Singh and Namita Deshpande. The runner up was Team Burmaniacs, which included Anish Desai and Krishna Desai. The two other teams that had reached the finals were: Let’s Nacho with Cheese of Santosh Rao and Yogitha Parayil, and Team Surile Iyers of husband-and-wife team Vidya Iyer and Prakash Iyer.

IAGB Antakshari organizing team

Aditi Taylor, an IAGB board member who spearheaded the first-ever regional Antakshari competition, said the organizers the competition spent countless hours of research and flawless execution from the prelims, to the semis, to the Grand Finale to conducting the first-ever New England-wide competitive Antakshari event on this scale.

Other members of the IAGB Antakshari  organizing team includes Vaishali Gade, Netra Rajinikanth, Lata Rao, Hima Appia, Monisha Prakash and Maitri Shah.

The live grand finale was held on Saturday, Jan. 28, as part of the IAGB-organized Republic Day Mela at Burlington High School in Burlington, MA.

Out of more than 30, ten teams were selected to participate in the semi-final earlier this month, and four teams were selected for the finals.

The IAGB Republic Day mela will featured 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.

Here is a list of all other winners:

Geo Bee:

Ages 5-9 Winners:

  1. Gold : Pravar Mukkala
  2. Silver : Diya Sharma
  3. Bronze : Vivek Mehta

Ages 10 – 13 Winners:

  1. Gold : Ishaan Siwach
  2. Silver : Ruhaan Sharma-Suneja
  3. Bronze: Anika Bharatan

Art contest winners

Category A – 5-8 year

1st – Rebecca John

2nd – Aaratrika Singh

3rd – Ananya Sharma

Category B – 9-12 year

1st – Kritika Agarwala

2nd – Saawani Joshi

3rd – Avani Mishra

Category C – 13-16 year

1st – Maya Subramaniyan

2nd – Nitya Jonnvithula

3rd – Neha Channdra

Science Bee:

First Prize: Aditi Rathor

Second Prize: Shalini Biju

Third Prize: Monisha Kathika

Kite making Competition winners

1st prize – Shreya Madhusudan
2nd prize – Shwetha Sudhindra

Chess Competition

Under 8 and below Category
1. Suhavi Tiruveedhula
2. Sahith Kathika
3.Prateek Kalusani

9-13 years category
1.Arnesh .S. Yeola
2. Saanvi Tiruveedhula
3. Ayush Kulkarni

Adult Section
1. Srini Kathika
2. Harshal Morparia
3. Kishore Tiruveedhula

Poem Writing:

Category: Age 25+

Winners

First – Arun Chaudhari

Second: Meenal Pandya

Third: Ramesh Subramaniam

Special Mention: Purvi Shah

Category : Age 10-15

Winners

First: Aishwarya Ramesh

Second: Shalini Biju

Third: Aabha Chaudhari

Essay Writing:

Category A – Middle School: 

  1. Sunthriwi Venkat
  2. Aryan Kulkarni
  3. Shalini Biju

Category B – High School

  1. Asrah Rizvi
  2. Niraagi Shah
  3. Satwik Misra