When Radio Tarana Programme Executive Pawan Prasad suggested to her colleagues that she had a novel idea that would also help generate fun and also funds for a good cause, they were all keen to no know more.
“Let us do something exciting. After all, we are in the entertainment business,” they said, with an agreeing nod from programme hosts Satend Sharma and Manish Vashiishth.
“Great,” Pawan said, and then dropped the bombshell.
“Both of you will be ‘locked up’ in a campervan for a week. The vehicle will be parked at a designated venue in Papatoetoe in South Auckland. You cannot come out, not even for the bare needs of human beings. The Campervan would have all the facilities,” she said.
“That’s fine,” Satend said, being the man behind a successful ‘drive show’ that goes on Radio Tarana every working day of the week.
But he was not to know that he would not be allowed just to eat and sleep for a week, with his salary intact. He had to perform a series of tasks.
Challenging tasks
“I did not realise that from the first day of ‘detention’ on August 25, I would be entrusted with many jobs. I had to cook, sew buttons, wash dishes, and sing songs on demand. The real challenge was to provide care to a six-year old, and teach a dog how to shake hands,” he said.
Manish, who stepped into the ‘lockup’ van the following day, was ready for the tasks, for he, like his colleagues, has self-confidence, a positive mental attitude and optimism as his best attributes.
“It may not be everyone’s idea of fun spending eight days inside a campervan but that was the reality. But being locked up for charity was fun,” he said.
‘Female’ dancers
Satend and Manish also had to dress up as female Bollywood dancers for a day and dance to songs every thirty minutes and to add to the spice of the programme, had to separate several thousand coloured chickpeas into piles.
Radio Tarana Managing Director Robert Khan said that the reality show was a part of social experiment and showbiz.
“It was amazing watching to watch Satend and Manish living so close to each other. One of the funny things is that they do not normally get along but being under detention, there was no choice,” he said.
A doctor visited them every day to ensure their good health.
He was their only contact with the outside world, save for a model who stepped for a meal cooked by the ‘detainees,’ a child and a stray visitor.
Mr Khan said the opportunity was used to raise funds for Starship Foundation.
“There are many children who spend long periods of time locked up inside the hospital getting treatment and going through their own challenges. This is a little way that we can help them, while we have a laugh at two of our mates,” he said.
The two captives- Satend Sharma (left) and Manish Vashiishth (right)
