Ant Tak Silver Jubilee - We Rocked... and Continue to do so!!

Photographs - Rama and Rajesh

The feeling is yet to sink in that the 25th Anttak meet has been celebrated successfully. The euphoria has not and will not wear off soon. Kudos to each and every member of the family for the high levels of participation and spirit that has been showered enthusiastically from the time we began discussing about the magic number 25. In a cricket match that is over, the highlights may suffice but for us only a ball to ball commentary would be appeasing.

The resort, just a km off Sarjapur Road, near Wipro office, transported all of us from a concrete jungle to a place that gave us a whiff of what wilderness is all about. The place was lovely with greenery all around and amidst the vast expanse, there was a huge ground which we used in two parts- one area where the shamiana with stage and chairs were arranged, the other a huge ground for our games. Beside this area was a huge room with a sofa set and a cot which was used as our luggage room, relaxation room, change room etc. and outside this was a long passage which was set to cater to our gastric juices regularly- the kitchen indeed.

‘ No Dream is too big for Anttak’- the welcome banner said it all. This slogan was sported on a banner to highlight the stage décor . On either side of the stage was a white board with the words-‘East or West Anttak is the best.’ The Anttak members penned their feelings and emotions about Anttak on the same. Also, there was a collage with Anttak members’ photographs.

The enthusiastic Anttak members began to arrive by about 8.30am. Early birds were KishoreM , Farook and Chandra. But no one wanted to miss a moment of this special day. Everyone arrived by 9 am. As planned, each one had sported the maroon T shirt displaying the Anttak logo with pride.



Pics by Madhu

The ground seemed set for games with white lines drawn for the different games. So our first game cricket began at 9 am sharp. Two teams-one bowling chance per person and one batting chance per person. We had our own young Dhonis- Siddharth and Bharath. Siddharth tossed the coin and chose to bat. He gave his comments and then Vivek did ala Ravi Shastri in giving the pitch report. Watch out for the photographs of this stylish captain and the pitch report scene. Did anyone bother about scores? Not really. We are all equal and everyone had fun.

The next game was lemon and spoon. Ten at a time and two winners each time made it to the finals. The winners were Farook, Siddharth and Ramita. The next was clowning around where everyone had a streamer tail. The game has its rules and actually it’s fun to pull each other’s tails inside the circle and try not to step out of it. But by the time everyone had their streamers, the impatient tailed ones began to pull each other’s tails off. So the game was played more for fun and no prizes were given. Many of them despite their tied hands managed to hold their tails high up. If I thought managing my students was difficult ……….

After this was Model watch. Each team had 5 members and was given newspapers, a chart paper, colour paper, sketch pens, scissors, fevicol etc . They had to choose one member from their team and dress him or her up using the materials creatively. They were judged on the basis of team name, theme, creativity and use of material by our judges Anurag, Manak, Ram and Rama. The winner was Praneeta who modelled as the Anttak chef- ‘Khana acchha hai to khoob khao, nahi achcha hai to bhi khao’. Rajesh as the bomb disposal squad member won the 2nd place. Both of them were crowned with tiaras and the team members got chocolates as gifts. (The tiaras came all the way from Mysore). There were two Santa Claus in fact one was Santi Claus as someone joked and there was a Desi Pharaoh. You were all extremely creative.

Next was tug of war. Pehle dum laga ke aisa mein to rassi hi toot gayi. Then a thicker rope was arranged. Hum kisise kum nahin- ek taraf Imtiaz s team and the other side struggled and lost twice. Vijay who was only goading others then joined in the fun. Ab Vijay on one side and Imtiaz on the other and Vijay’s team won. People who were common to all winning sides may pat your back.

Nirmala videographed the entire games session. Break with chai, biscuits, chips and coke. Everything was going on as planned and as per schedule. Next was the Antakshari planned and executed in a superb manner by Ramya and Rama. The scorer was Ramita. The first two rounds were the regular antakshari style, last akshar se shuru. The next one was where a word will be chosen from the previous teams song and the next team had to sing a song using the word in its mukhda. Gum, Shaam, Nasha were few of the words . After this, three of the eight teams got eliminated. If you thought this was interesting, the next round was one in which the compere sings a song- the team had to identify the singers and sing one of their solo songs. Tough one for people like us who grew up listening to the songs of the 70s . (The one Mukesh- Suman Kalyanpur duet salvaged points for our team I remember.) There was a round in which a team member picks up a chit with the name of a film and plays dumb charades and others have to identify the film and sing a song from it. In the next round, a dialogue was played. The team had to identify the film and sing the song which immediately precedes or succeeds the song. The final round was challenging and increased the fervor. There were four clues about an actor and he or she had to be identified The round showed the effort that has gone into the planning. Phew! That’s a lot of hard work you have put in, R to the power of 3.

The winners of Antakshari were Ram and team, closely followed by Imtiaz and team. Mr and Mrs Ranjit Singh who so magnanimously allowed us to make use of their resort came in. It was unfortunate that they could not stay on due to some prior appointment. Mr and Mrs TK Subramanian too came in and joined the antakshari session also.

It was time to break for lunch. Hot rotis of two types- missi ki roti was lajawaab, paneer gravy, alu gobi, dal, pulao, boondi raita, salads, papad, pickle and for dessert- mung dal halwa, icecream with hot chocolate sauce. The meal was dellllicious……

It was time for a nap before the music masti in the post lunch session. What better way than a housie to keep the minds awake. Then was the phpto shoot. All of us in our Anttak Tshirts and caps needed no prompting to say cheese. The man behind the camera with his stands also was ready with timer shoots (bomb style) and came in front of the camera too, to be with the others. Rajesh, of course.

The music session started after 15 mts given for freshening up. Everyone was ready with their evening wear. If anyone had noticed, special appreciation to Tara – she changed twice during the evening with matching jewellery- Apni anttak ki silver jubilee hai, ghar ki shaadi se thodi kum hai.

The programme began with Chandra in his usual role as compere. He began with Raju chal Raju,- (Kishore Kumar) and Teri Deewani- (Kailash Kher) and Rama with her ‘Mera dil ka hai armaan’ set the tone for the evening. Entire song list will be as usual posted in the blog which would justifiably portray the versatility and talents of the group. As the evening progressed, songs were churned out one after the other. In between, Anttak mugs were handed over. A mug we would cherish with Anttak logo and pictures of legends, whose songs we all enjoy. The quiz on identifying the singers was lovely. And then a wonderful surprise- Mr TKS was called upon to do the honour of unveiling the surprise. And the pleasant vision of what we are, beheld our eyes- a collage of us, our moods and emotions during our previous anttak meets was put together.
Hot, mini samosas with chutney and chai- Wah! Wah!

The children so wonderfully added colour to the show- be it Akshay with his ‘Santa Claus is coming’, Rutika with her bhajan, Khushi with ‘lakdi ki kati’, Ramya and Ramita with their Maharashtrian dance or keerthana kaushik with ‘Barso re’ and ‘Jhoom barabar jhoom’. After the song session we had the dance hour. Several video coverages of the dances will show the prowess in this area of our members from 4 to 40yr olds.

All the children got their special gifts and also some additional surprise gifts. Ramya and Ramita got a special gift for creation of Anttak logo.

Dinner time: Chaat ki dukaan khul gayi. Dahi papdi chat, Alu tikki , garma garam chana uske upar aur saath mein teekhi aur meethi chutney- ab bhi muh me paani bhar aaya, pav bhaji, crispy jalebis with hot badam milk. It was a spread we would not like to forget ever. Aditya and Ranjini- we missed you both on this grand occasion, but ur presence as members was ensured by the collage.

Extra shots:
• Mimicry by Rajesh Shenoy- ‘Jangal me mangal’ – aap jangal jaaoge to kispe sawaar hoge?
• Dumb charades by Vijay and Vivek- Music system ne tang kiya to kya hua, hum mazaa lena
nahin chhodenge.
• Aap Dhamendra jaise shaan se dress karte hain, awaaz to kamaal ka hai hi, aur dance bhi jeetendra jaise karte ho, par PC sorcar kabse ban gaye- Did all of u see Vijay’s handkerchief magic?
• Acupressure – Taali bajate samay, all our pressure points come together, zor se taali bajao –2 in 1 - all will get encouraged and aap ki sehat bani rahegi.- For more infmn contact Vijay.
• Poonam waited for the silver jubilee to render a song for us in her golden voice. She truly stunned everyone.
• The children kept themselves engaged with other activities too- cricket on the ground and fuse ball in the room. They really seemed to enjoy fuseball.
• Radhika, the youngest member of Anttak, at 4 ½ months– your presence was very special indeed.

Behind the scenes:
For every successful programme, there is a backstage.
• Ram n Farook - T shirts, mugs, caps . Each one of these has the indelible mark of our group and is very special to us.
• Ramya and Ramita- You have created the logo – everlasting imprint.
• Imtiaz n Rekha - The invites so colourful, so vibrant – the words in them, so apt- something to preserve forever. Your words on the banner has been proved- we achieved what we dreamed. The music system, though with minor hiccups, played loud and clear till we danced away home.
• Rama- I was very moved by the underlying emotion that has gone into the making of the collage. It is not the 8 hours or the effort alone, that I'm speaking about, but the deep love and involvement which u have time and again displayed not only by this gesture, but by your creation of the blog along with Suchin, prompt postings on it and the manner in which you kept the silver jubilee planning bound together by your mails. You are a treasure to Anttak.
• Vijay, Chandra, Ram, Imtiaz, Praveen- The stage would not have been set as it was, if it was not for you all, who went to the resort almost everyday from the 25th Dec to make the arrangements taking turns, to see that everything is ready.
• Kishore and Nirmala- Lovely gifts selected aptly with a lot of love and care, keeping the age of the children in mind. Nirmala, you were everywhere, capturing the moods of the silver jubilee. We are eagerly awaiting the video.
• Manak Tara n Narendra- Our energy levels were high throughout the day and night due to your fabulous arrangements. It was Khana Khazana indeed.

On the sets:
Chandra, your task as a compere is not an easy one at all and not many people can fit into a compere’s shoes easily. I have been your hardest critic always and my words of appreciation have been few. But now is the time to express that 25 times over and each time you have bound us all together, encouraged one and all, especially the children, given an opportunity in an unbiased manner and been extremely spontaneous in your remarks. Though as you rightly say, we sometimes wonder why you become strict, I guess those subtle reminders are definitely necessary else we would not have been able to keep up our song average to 60 per programme. You have carried on the show with great finesse.

And finally, after all these wonderful things that has happened to us and will continue in future, I also feel we must try to find out if there are any flaws and see that they are not repeated in future.

Anttak- the name indeed has its significance and from the 16th of October 2004 to the 27th of December 2008 , we have all lived up to it. The wishes are that the silver may turn golden, platinum and on and on.

If you noticed we did not sing ‘chalte chalte mere ye geet yaad rakhna, kabhi alvida na kehna ‘at the end , probably because ‘Ek raah pe chalne waale alvida ke bare mein sochte hi nahin, bas kadam saath badaate hi jaate hai’.

The 26th will follow soon……….

Write up by – Madhulika Chandrakumar

Check the photographs on Ashish's album