Forms, tracks, rehearsals, snacks! All of these are things you will hear in 80% of Bandraites’ homes between the months of July and September. This time of the year is when all the parishioners of Bandra come together to perform dedicatedly in the All Bandra Parish Talent Zonal Contests. People eat, sleep and repeat, rehearsal after rehearsal, to get the St. Andrew’s Auditoriums’ attention during those 3 to 5 minutes of their performance and simply try to wow everyone in there.
From dance to music to elocution to art, the Zonals bring out the best talents in everyone and it doesn’t just stop at talent, oh no! The Zonals bring out the competition and how! Captains of the four zones – North West, South West, North East and South East endlessly scour their zonal territory to shelf out entries into various competitions that would ultimately culminate into the final weekend, which is the first weekend in September, which will declare which zone takes the championship trophy home.
All of the entries into the singing, dancing, and art, elocution and drama contests deliver points to the zone on a whole and those points determine the champion zone. This year was a hit and miss as the Northwest and Southwest zones fought it out for 1st place in the last 2 weekends of the contest. Both closely tagging along each other for that final cup – which ultimately had the Northwest Zone take it home with a score difference of just 17 points! The Zonals doesn’t just end at the auditorium, all the zones take to their homes as they celebrate months of planning and hard work, after all, it’s a well-deserved break after running the hell around for 2 to 3 months. The Zonals will return next year, so keep your ears open and eyes peeled for the next competition, you might just find yourself in the spotlight!
Lendell S. Patel
