Leading doctors from the city, UK and Bangladesh played online antakshari, taking out a little time from their relentless fight against the pandemic. Sunday was the grand web finale of the six-week long musical competition, at the end of which all the 55 contestants had emerged as winners.
“In the end we all won, simply because it gave us an excellent opportunity to unwind. Over the last two months, I have been looking forward to the Sundays and the finale was a grand event. I was awestruck by the high standard of the singers and the warmth of everyone who participated in it,” said consultant gynaecologist Queene Aditya, who finished ‘first runners-up’ in the ‘Global Virtual Fantakshari’ held on Sunday evening (Indian time).
The UK-based Essex Indians, spearheaded by doctors Arpita Roy and Anirban Mandal, hosted the ‘Fantakshari’. One of the finalists, Arnab Gupta, director and surgical oncologist, Saroj Gupta Cancer Centre and Research Institute (SGCCRI), was all praises for the effort by the members of Essex Indians. “Amid the pandemic, they gave us our much-needed break. I feel privileged to be a part of the event organized by a foundation that has been supporting the children’s section of our hospital.” Essex Indians has been hosting fund-raising programmes to aid charitable hospitals in India.
Amitabha Chanda of Dhaka said, “The event ‘Fantakshari’ was totally a different venture to boost the morale of medics in these trying times.” Though it was fun all the way, the rules of the game were stringent and the Hindi films songs that everyone loved belting out had to be error-free, in lyrics and presentation. Twelve participants from across the continents had been invited to join each preliminary episode. After five gruelling episodes, 12 qualified for the finals that started sharp at 3.30pm GMT and 8pm IST. Four contestants who had been selected from the three rounds of semi-finals were Ratna Parikh, Queen Aditya, Shalini Agrawal and Rupalee and Suresh Mandke, joint winners of Round 3.
Apart from the usual antakshari rounds, there was a word section, where one had to sing the “mukhra” (first few lines) of a song having the term ‘jaadu’ (meaning magic). Then came the short video clip of the prelude to a song. The contestants were supposed to identify the score and sing with precise lyrics. After this, the round where an “antara” (climax of a song) was played and the “mukhra” needed to be identified and again, sung correctly.
Source:Times of India
