Ashley Napolean Afonso won the CG Varkey (IRS) Heritage silver rolling trophy on Sunday at the glittering Parkonnem Cultural Mahotsav which was held at the Regina Mundi Hall, Chicalim. The audience witnessed Goan traditional dances, and fado and mando performances by famous singer Sonia Shirsat.
The tiebreaker scheduled between Ashley and Raisa Fernandes could not end the deadlock of the Parkonnem Kitem Tem Sang contest. During the tiebreaker, after the five parkonnem (“riddles” in English) were posed to each of them, Ashley and Raisa ended with 1 point each. Each managed to answer correctly only one of the five parkonnem posed on a projector screen.
The organisers, Chicalim Bio-Crusaders, then resorted to the toss of a coin to select the winner. Raisa called the toss, but unfortunately for her, Ashley was the winner.
Indian Navy Vice Adm (retd) Sunil Damle handed over the trophy to Ashley Afonso. Also present were Adv Fr Michael Fernandes and Francis Varkey as special guests on the occasion. Ashley was also awarded the prize money of Rs 5000, a beautifully hand-painted memento and a certificate, all courtesy of the organisers of the event, Chicalim Bio-Crusaders.
Seven participants of the Parkonnem Kitem Tem Sang contest cracked all the parkonnem and topped the contest. The names of the seven winners are Ashley Afonso (Porvorim), Raisa Fernandes (Vaddem, Vasco), Aquila Rodrigues (Kuwait), Maria Olga Pires (Ponda), Cliff Fernandes (Santa Cruz), Alberto Rodrigues (New Vaddem, Vasco) and Angelo Pires (a sailor).
The other six winners also were awarded a similar cash prize of Rs 5000, a memento and a certificate each. Prize money and the mementoes were handed over by Alka Damle, Francis Varkey and Adv Fr Michael Fernandes.
Ten participants were declared runners-up. They are Albert Jacques (Canacona), Lulwa Mesquita (Nagoa, Verna), Perpetua Jacques (Canacona), Jovito Fernandes (Ambaulim), Jacqueline Sequeira (Mangor, Vasco), Fatima Fernandes (Alto-Chicalim), Mita D’Costa (Cuncolim), Seby Fernandes (Sancoale), Amelia Barretto (Santa Cruz) and Remedious Fernandes (Margao).
The winners are also entitled to free entry to Goa Chitra Museum at Benaulim. The rest of the participants are entitled to a 50% discount on the entry fee at the museum. Goa Chitra Museum is the event partner and has offered this facility to the contestants.
Similarly, Nirvana (clothings) was also a co-partner of the contest. Nirvana has declared a 50% discount to all the participants of the entire contest. Participants may directly approach the Nirvana outlet at Chicalim and avail of the discount. The last date to avail of both benefits is March 31, 2023.
All the quiz masters who had recorded and posted their parkonnem in the contest were also rewarded with a memento and a certificate at the hands of Chicalim Bio-Crusader members namely, Dr Wand Araujo, Cynthia Miranda, Adil Ghadiali besides Pratap Mardolkar, the president of Shree Mahadev Saunsthan Seva Samiti Trust and Mahadev Bagkar, the president of Dabolim Yuvak Sangh.
The 3rd edition of the Parkonnem Kitem Tem Sang organised by Chicalim Bio-crusaders thus came to a glittering and melodious end with the fado queen Sonia Shirsat entertaining the gathering with fados, mandos and popular Konkani songs.
Earlier, the guests, invitees and viewers were entertained with traditional fuggdis by the Shri Narsinv Santeri Fugddi Mahila Mandal, Chicalim, Dhalo by Nataraj Mahila Mandal, Alto-Dabolim, Ghumttam Naach by Nuvem Annuz Group and Ashley - one man band.
The Parkonnem Cultural Mahotsav event was jointly organised by Shree Mahadev Saunsthan Seva Samiti Trust, Alto-Dabolim and Dabolim Yuvak Sangh in association with the Department of Arts and Culture, Government of Goa and Goa Shipyard Limited. Other partners of the event were Nirvana, Goa Chitra, Digital Drop, Alert Goans and Team SA.
Edwin Mascarenhas, Alto-Chicalim, Norman Noronha from Kuwait, Remy Barretto from London, Robert Miranda from Alto-Chicalim and Tommy and Sabrina Afonso from the United Kingdom and Italy, respectively, were thanked by the organisers for supporting the event.
The entire three-hour event was streamed live by Alert Goans on Facebook for the benefit of all global Goans. David D’Souza compered the function while Kaveena Fernandes and Cyril Fernandes conducted the Parkonnem tiebreaker. The event was held at Regina Mundi High School Hall. The event attracted a huge crowd.
