The thought of a 'fart competition' might raise a stink, quite literally, but what if you were given a chance to set yourself free by passing gas and also win a prize for that? Sounds strange? But it's really happening. A restaurant in Gujarat's Surat is going ahead with a contest for India's best 'Fartist' on Sunday, September 22, 2019.
"Few days ago, I farted aloud when I was watching a movie with my family at home, and boy, it was loud. And I happened to say that if there was a competition then I would definitely be the winner. That's when it struck me, why not have a competition for people who fart a lot?" says Yatin Sangoi, the organiser of the event, while laughing his heart out. "Actually everyone does it but no one is ready to admit it, so I thought this would be a good idea to make people more comfortable about this natural process. I discussed it with a few of my friends and they said I should do it. So we launched this competition on September 3. This is the first time something like this is being organised in our country. I am a singer, one of friends is also from the event background so we thought why not organise a unique event such as this," he adds.
Yatin and his friend Mul Sanghvi are the masterminds behind this bizarre contest. To their surprise, over 200 people have already registered for the contest. "Initially, we thought maybe 10-15 people will turn up, but then I was shocked and overwhelmed with the response — the posters of the event went viral, over 200 registrations have already come in. We are expecting around 300-400 people to turn up on that day," he explains.
So, the participants fighting for the Best Fartist Award, can actually fight for three top prizes. There are trophies for the "longest", "loudest" and "most musical" farts. Each participant will have only 60 seconds to showcase their talent before the judges. Yatin said that there might be cash prizes along with the three trophies in case they managed to land a sponsor or numerous ones for the event. "We are in talks with several sponsors who might give a cash prize between Rs 5000-15,000. We didn't approach anyone, but surprisingly the sponsors did after the posters of the competition went viral. Lot of them have shown interest but we haven't finalised on the sponsors yet. If not the cash prize, the trophy we are giving away will always remind the participants of this day and looking at it every morning they can feel proud of themselves," he says.
The duo's seriousness regarding the event can be measured from the fact that they have made a dedicated Facebook page and are doling out tips to participants on what to eat in order to give it their best shot. Stand-up comedian and RJ Devang Rawal, who is quite the name in Surat will be one of the judges. There might be another judge, who might be a local doctor, which has not yet been finalised.
Speaking about how this natural process is a taboo, Yatin adds, "We came up with a hashtag #freethefart and we want it to trend all over. People feel ashamed when they fart in public, people around them also behave like it's a crime, but why not is the question here. If you go back in time, say 20-25 years, people passed gas freely in public, no one cared, so why not bring those times back and set yourself free?"
Well, would you like to register? Are you up for such a challenge?
