Rangla Punjab Bhangra Competition Results!

[Gagan-Gill]

Firstly, once again I would like to start off by apologizing to all the teams that these new placings have hurt and to all the Bhangra community out there that no longer trusts this organization.

We had no intention of doing anything like this and this event was put up to spread our diverse culture and Bhangra in our area, which personally as the organizer I believe we successfully did.

Next, I thank everyone who took the time out to follow this post and make their comments because every comment is meaningful and will help us in the future. I do want to inform you all that Rangla Punjab never intended on happening this year but last minute this event took place since one of our committee members had a dire desire to pull off such a big event with no prior knowledge or experience in the Bhangra field or with the Bhangra community. I appreciate everyones comments about how you all realize that we are a non-profit organization and this was all for a good cause, so since it was for a good cause then it's wrong to be unfair in the end with placings.

The judging panel at Rangla Punjab was a very experienced and well known committee and I had full trust in them, despite hearing many negative remarks after the Judging panel was released to the team. As an organizer I took the time out to explain all the problems and dilemmas that were going on to the judges, just so that their were no problems later.

Whether it was about my past personal relationship or about the judges being bribed...The judges themselves didn't go off the scoresheet marks and unfortunately this is my mistake because later I was confronted by teams since it is clearly stated in our registration packet that we must go by the scoresheet and after looking at this, I had to go back and recalculate everything and look at the videos with a few other members and we made this new decision of placings.

The placings according to the scoresheets were never announced and if this was released during the competition that the judges would also be discredited after everyone found out that instead of using points they simply chose who they wanted to put where in the "deliberation". You're asking me why I keep judges? I am asking you why we have score sheets and why we cant just follow what's the basic rule, no matter how bad the score sheet may have been.

Also, if the score sheet was that bad, why didn't any team complain about it earlier, we would have gladly altered it. I personally trusted the judges because I do look up to some of them, and at that time I didn't know what the consequences of letting them making their own decisions would be. I take all responsibility for not being able to take a stand and being able to clarify these things at that moment, because now it has led to more problems and dilemmas.

Mandeep, you ask me why I wasn't in the room when NSM was asking you these questions? I wasn't allowed in the room before when "deliberations" were going on, so why would I be allowed in the room now? I have experience with this as well, and I've seen that teams get upset, but they only get upset when something drastically wrong has been done and this was such a case. We may not have realized it at that moment, but now it has been realized and we must fix it.

Also, I only recalculated score because many people besides NSM also felt that placings were off and we took the decison to change the results because NSM is the team that been thrown out of their calculated placings the past year as well, which some of you are regerring to as having been wrong. At that time, I just apologized and asked them to accept the decision but honestly, I cannot watch a team go through the same, especially when that team's plea has credibility.

As for my personal relationship that is being brought up repeatedly, since you all just assume that I am in a relationship with NSM...YES, I AM..and that relationship we have is the same with any other team that has competed at Rangla Punjab, a relationship between a team and the organizer, period.

I am appalled by the conduct of the judges themselves, making false accusations and assumptions right now is also unprofessional I must say. I was also appalled on the weekend when some of the judges were drinking with the teams, and also I noticed judged cheering for teams while they were performing, which is totally unacceptable. Do we not sense some biased opinions here?

After all this I am rather ashamed of the panel and I apologize to all the teams for all this has happened. I didn't know in which way I could make it up to the team who lost their moment and this seemed like the best way, I know this has hurt the teams that placed and this is very wrong to happen in the community of Bhangra competitions and organizations but this had to be done.

I am a very fair and ethical persona and I will not stand any wrong being done to any team. Hence these are the new placings and they will be the new and final placings for Rangla Punjab '12. I have said what I needed to say, so I will not be responding to any more posts because 99.9% of the people have already assumed what the must without having any facts. All I did was speak the truth and a number of people for their own personal benefits or to save face have said what they needed to and in every situation we all have seen, a lie is always more believable over the truth..until one day you find out the real truth.

Also to everyone who tried to contact me yesterday I'm sorry it took me a while to get back to you all, and for me to get on here and reply. I have a busy schedule and don't have time to check back every hour and reply back on these posts.

Once again, I do apologize for all the inconvenience this has caused to all the Bhangra community and all the teams that participated at Rangla Punjab.

We are very sorry but these new placings were needed to be released and hence they are. I know this is very unprofessional but sometimes at certain moments and certain situations you just aren't able to make the correct decision, but I know that god's watching and I have taken the right decision. God's watching over all of us, so there is no need for anyone to be lying about anything here because karma will come back.

Rabb Rakha

What everyone is thinking right now:

BITCH SHUT THE FUCK UP

LOLLLLL

 

[yraparla]

Also, I only recalculated score because many people besides NSM also felt that placings were off and we took the decison to change the results because NSM is the team that been thrown out of their calculated placings the past year as well, which some of you are regerring to as having been wrong. At that time, I just apologized and asked them to accept the decision but honestly, I cannot watch a team go through the same, especially when that team's plea has credibility.

Your post is complete bullshit. Post the scoresheets. It's really simple, if you really care about your reputation and really care about being ethical, then post the scoresheets, it's not that hard.

You have to have them because you recalculated, na?

 

[Archana]

Rangla Punjab was whack the first year and to no surprise complete bullshit this year. Committee members and organizers wanted to do their own thing and didn't give two cents on what teams needed. I remember the first year, tech time started 3 hours late and there was no food. We walked almost 2 miles to get food. I knew the day they posted that Rangla was back, that it would be a flop. Shocker!
Judges put their time, effort, and knowledge into competitions and for them to be treated with utmost disrespect is shame to teams like that. Man up and accept the result. We dance for fun, not for the money.

 

[VIBC]

Anther, the organization, along with the teams were told by judges that they would be judging based on both scoring and deliberation before the competition. Prior to the competition, not once did anyone send me a judges criteria or rules to follow. There were members of your committee in the deliberation with us and you also were in the room at the tail end of the deliberation, and yet still you made no mention these rules for Rangla Punjab, specifically stating that judging must all be done by scoring.

And if you wanted to go by scoring, I’ll tell everyone this much..NSM, according to the scores that were presented in that room did NOT place in first, nor did they place in second. The deliberation was between them and barb-e for Third. Conveniently, the apparent scores were altered prior to being presented to us (somehow?) So if we are going by scores, all the scores had been compromised anyway. You keep referring to “we” reviewed the scores/videos, but one of your own committee members stated that no one else had anything to do with this decision to change the results, so how do you expect me as a judge to respect the decision, when people from your own organization say they had no involvement in this decision, nor do they support it.


I cant speak on behalf of other judges but I’ll be the first to tell you that Mandeep and I did not stay in the same hotel as the teams, nor did we party with team. We came to seattle with our husbands and only participated in the actual show.

And lastly, if we are really hard bent over the rules of this competition, maybe you should consider following what is set out in the registration package to all teams, to disqualify NSM for their indecent and frankly disgusting behavour towards judges and organizers. Your talking about being fair…that would be the fairest approach, would it not be?

Anyway, Ive said all that I needed to say; I wanted to ensure that people knew the injustice that happened to the other teams that evening.

My note to NSM:
Apparently you were deliberated out of your scores last year, and apparently (according to you) you got robbed of victory at vibc as well. Now at this present competition you did not place in the top three in the eyes of the judges. Somewhere along the line you need to stop blaming judges and look at the fact that perhaps 15 different judges over the course of time did not place you in their top three because of your performance and NOT because the world is out to get NSM. You are not the only team that has felt like they have been robbed of a victory and nor are you guys the only ones that have worked hard to put a routine together. Unless your change your attititude and actually start thinking like a winning team,believe me when I tell you, you will never be a winning team. To give you an example, Michigan won the RP competion, and they still stuck around 1 hour to hear feedback regarding their performance. That is a winning team. They will take all feedback and actually apply it for future comps. Good luck to your team.

Kiran

 

[hsdeol]

sorry this thread is getting way too much traffic for me not to do this

watch our video from Rangla! leave comments in the btf thread:
http://bhangrateamsforum.com/discuss/post-mixes-and-video-links/steel-city-bhangra-rangla-punjab-2012/


Steel City Bhangra @ Rangla Punjab 2012

 

[mona99]

Dear Antar (organizer of rangla punjab),


You have restored some faith by coming on here and explaining your actions, or lack thereof, so thank you. However, both myself and Kiran Mander Sooch reiterated in our posts that we as judges were going to deliberate over our scores and we did exaclty that. You yourself agreed to this process. We the judges were the ones to mark those score sheets and we have every right to review and deliberate over our scoring and we did exactly that. We are seasoned judges, Rangla Punjab is not the first competition we have judged and the proceedings that were undertaken are not out of the norm. We made it very public to you the organizer and the teams that final placings would be based on both score sheet and deliberation and we need not defend that decision. Our fellow judges can also attest to this. Besides, the score sheets are now null, as the judging panel has no faith that our marks haven't been altered.


While I appreciate you having the courage to come on here, I do not appreciate your false accusations. As judges we applaud every team equally, this does not affect how we score. After spending almost 2 hours in feedback sessions with the teams two of us judges went back to our own hotels (seperate from the official competition hotel) one judge went to dinner with his fiance and one went home to vancouver...these are very respectable judges having been in the scene for many years, please do not try to discredit them in an attempt to deflect from your own lack of credibility and inability to do the right thing.


The fact that you feel NSM had to be given justice because they had been wronged at a previous competition is nonsensical. Any qualified judge will judge a team based on the performance they see that night, not on a team's previous track record or empathy that a team has been 'screwed' in the past.


The fact that you are not recognizing what is stated in your own reg packet that a team that interferes with the panel will be disqualified shows where you stand and in which court. If you tallied the score sheets fairly you will see that NSM was not the highest scoring team of the night...how can you falsify this? Where is your moral conscious?


We speak for the judging panel that NSM was not the highest scoring team of the night and that we stand by our original placings.


I have said what I needed to relay and will not be posting to this issue any further. My fair assumption is that the organization will likely come on here and try to discredit the panel further, perhaps even fabricate other stories, but I trust that those of you reading this post and those of you familiar with mine and kiran's background, history,achievements, and character will not question our integrity, nor will you question the integrity of our fellow judges. What is assumed about us is irrelevant to us. We were here to post the facts as we have nothing to gain from this and we did exaclty that , state the facts so that the placing teams of the night would not have to bear the injustice...our fellow judges should be posting their accounts shortly.


I sincerely hope that Rangla Punjab finds it in themselves to do the right, ethical thing, and not take away what was rightfully won by the three teams that placed on Saturday night. Please do not let your moral ground slip away....


Rab Rakha,


Mandeep Patrola-Rai

 

[Basim]

RanglaPunjab, it seems you need to learn to organize a Bhangra competition in much better manner. If you don't have the experience/knowledge to determine and stay on top all of the details, then reach out to other successful competitions to see how they handle it all OR just stop hosting your competition until you figure it out.

I'll quote for you the main flaw that caused all of this, which you admitted to in your post above.

The judges themselves didn't go off the scoresheet marks and unfortunately this is my mistake because later I was confronted by teams since it is clearly stated in our registration packet that we must go by the scoresheet

Why wasn't there an agreed upon decision made between the organizers and the judges about whether to use the scoresheets OR have a delibration process WAYYY BEFOREHAND? Since it was in your registration packet to use the numbers from the scoresheets, judges should have been strictly enforced to follow the scoresheet!! Why did you select judges that wanted to have their own deliberation or why did you allow for it? Even if they did want to deliberate, then you should have strictly enforced them to change their scoring sheets to reflect what they mutually decided (during their deliberation).

Also, as Swi mentioned TWICE now, where is the transparency from your organization? Post the judges sheets if that was the final verdict used in these altered placings you presented.

Learn to organize a competition and deal with the judges you select, otherwise you'll get backlash about the outcome of your competition every year!

Bottom line, this is the 2nd year Rangla Punjab screwed over people in terms of organization and/or placing. Past performers need to speak up about failed competition such as Rangal Punjab whenever they try to post anything to promote their competition on BTF, Facebook, etc!

It's sad to know that a non-profit competition and one with a charity in mind could steep to such a low.

~ Basim

 

[Bharathi]

Kiran and Mandeep thank you for your posts.

"Mandeep, you ask me why I wasn't in the room when NSM was asking you these questions? I wasn't allowed in the room before when "deliberations" were going on, so why would I be allowed in the room now? I have experience with this as well, and I've seen that teams get upset, but they only get upset when something drastically wrong has been done and this was such a case. We may not have realized it at that moment, but now it has been realized and we must fix it. " <-- As an organizer wouldn't you decide where you are and aren't at what times? Wouldn't you want to hear the feedback the judges are giving to teams after the fact? Coming online and discrediting the judging panel that you chose yourself is disrespectful to the people who volunteered their time to come and help you with your competition. Other competitions that I've judged in the past have laid out ground rules for all judges well in advance of the competition and if your issue, in your mind, is your judging panel then perhaps next year you should consider liaising with them before. Also safety of everyone involved in your competition is your responsibility and if your judges are feeling threatened that can't end well for you.

As for the teams this is sad. NSM actually has a lot of very nice, respectful decent people on it and it's sad that the actions of a few have now painted the entire team with a negative brush. But it just goes to show...you represent your team at competitions. Clearly, on AND off stage.

HSDEOL - you rock LOL

 

[Aneeta]

But it just goes to show...you represent your team at competitions. Clearly, on AND off stage.

HSDEOL - you rock LOL

TRUTH.

 

[singh119]

I still feel like Anil Prasad has something to do with this...

 

[jasraj93]

Wow, And we thought the first rangla was bad.. Lol

LMFAO word, very unorganized.

 

[siddyp]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.

Let it be known, that though all of this went down and the committee wasn't the most organized, we teams still had a great time in seattle. we just wish the whole process was a bit easier and the eventfulness wasn't as bitter after the competition.

After party venue I thouhgt was dope. wish it filled out a little more, but can't complain when you got all the space you need to dance.

 

[JToor]

http://bhangrateamsforum.com/discuss/main-bhangra-discussion/sher-punjab-de-2012-placings/20/


I guess we werent soo wrong about NSM being disrespectfull to our team at NSM^2's competition "sher punjab de"

 

[AnkurK]

After reading all of this about the organizer's relationship with NSM.. this is what I think it went down like

"Ooh La La Tu Hai Meri Fantasy" Full Video Song- The Dirty Picture- Feat. Vidya Balan

 

[Mantej Singh Rajpal]

21. No team member, participant, or assistant is allowed to interfere or debate with the panel of judges regarding their scorecard. Violation of this rule will result in immediate disqualification.

Even if we give the Rangla Punjab committee the benefit of the doubt, and assume the scoresheets had NSM as 1st place (and that they deserved it), shouldn't they still be disqualified due to violation of this rule?

 

[D.O.B. Neil]

WOW!!! I am completely shocked by this. As a Co Captain of a new team, this makes me wonder is it worth it to compete? SMFH

 

[yraparla]

WOW!!! I am completely shocked by this. As a Co Captain of a new team, this makes me wonder is it worth it to compete? SMFH

yes.

 

[campy614]

WOW!!! I am completely shocked by this. As a Co Captain of a new team, this makes me wonder is it worth it to compete? SMFH

It is. But you need to do a few things first:
1) Swallow a HUGE piece of humble pie, and learn sportsmanship (and teach it to your dancers).
2) Become a smart captain. Take initiative from every angle, and plan ahead for every situation.

If these two are done, then you'll have a great time competing.

 

[rthuggin]

8)

 

[tonygarcha]

Hey Everyone,


I was also one of the judges at Rangla Punjab this past weekend. I don't view or post on BTF but after seeing what the organizer has stated as her points and the disrespect being shown to us as well as questioning our credibility, I do have a few words to say.


First off, everything Kiran and Mandeep have said earlier is nothing but the truth so I do not wish to repeat all that again. I have had the privilege of dancing with or competing against my fellow judges and have the utmost respect for them and what they bring to the table. I take judging very seriously and consider it an honor each and every time to be asked to judge a bhangra competition.


As for the night in question, we judged according to the score sheets that were provided. The overall break-down of the scoresheet was drastic as there was no balance in the individual sections. This creates a problem when scoring each team and thus why we brought each captain into the room for a judges meeting and covered these points;


1. We openly discussed the rumor that was going around about us judges being paid off by a team. We re-iterated to the teams that we treat this professionally and judge each team based on their performance that night only. It didn't matter if there were teams from our city or we have friends on teams. Judging is judging and that's how we look at it.
2. We would score the teams based on the score sheets but also deliberate should there have been any disagreement. Especially when we couldn't eliminate the highest or lowest score (which is usually a standard judging format).
3. We advised the teams to put their focus on performing on stage rather than BS drama backstage
4. We told the teams we would meet 2 members of each team after and offer feedback on their performance that night.


I saw nothing but great performances from each of the teams and congratulate each and every one of you on a job well done. After the performances, we dealt with the fiasco with one of the teams as the other judges mentioned and continued to provide feedback to the rest of the teams. Thank you to all the other teams that were humble and took away the feedback as a positive learning experience.


I arrived back at the hotel at 11:30pm. Initially, I did have plans to go to dinner with my fiance, but because of the drama that took place backstage, we had to settle in ordering in pizza and calling it a night. I did not attend the after party and was not drinking with any of the teams.

For the years that I have competed and judged at a competition, I have never in my life witnessed such rude and disrespectful behavior. Not only from the one team, but from the organizer as well. And I am saying organizer as it was one individual who had a lot of shady things going on and not being clear about things. I can't say anything for the liasons or other volunteers as I had no interaction with them but seemed like they were doing their part.


For Michigan, Panj, and Bar-B's, congratulations on your placings. For the rest of the teams, you all performed your hearts out and I respect that. I hope to see you continue to grow as a team and take this generation of Punjabi culture to the next level.

The main organizer of Rangla Panjab, I am shocked how you came on here and disrespected not only the placing teams, but all the judges as well. I thought this competition was for a great cause and had respect for that but after all this, its nothing but an embarassment.


NSM, I think you are a team with great potential. Some of your team members were respectful and I appreciate that they didn't fall into the mix of others. As for the few members of your team that were disrespectful, they are the definition of what bhangra shouldn't be and I encourage you to either discipline them or have them replaced with more mature individuals who know how to talk and communicate.

I have spent majority of my 29 years of existence involved in Bhangra as a student, teacher, judge and a member of VIBC. Some teams need to do some research on what Bhangra is as a art form and what value it holds in Punjabi Culture. We are on the verge of taking this art/dance form worldwide, yet we continue to face challenges with unsportsmanlike and disrespectful teams and individuals. If you can't respect the values, I don't think Bhangra is for you.

If any of the teams have questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, feel free to contact me at tonygarcha1@gmail.com.


Thank you,


Tony Garcha