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.
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:
- Gold : Pravar Mukkala
- Silver : Diya Sharma
- Bronze : Vivek Mehta
Ages 10 – 13 Winners:
- Gold : Ishaan Siwach
- Silver : Ruhaan Sharma-Suneja
- 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:
- Sunthriwi Venkat
- Aryan Kulkarni
- Shalini Biju
Category B – High School
- Asrah Rizvi
- Niraagi Shah
- Satwik Misra
