No cheer for young Ananya

KOLKATA: When 17-year-old Kolkata girl Ananya Bera was chosen as a cheerleader from a reality show, Knights and Angels, conducted by Knight Riders and aired on a private TV channel, she was expected to groove to the SRK charbusters like Aaj ki Raat, Chak de India and his team's theme song Korbo lorbo jitbo re.
However after 10 days of all-expenses-paid trip to South Africa, Ananya and another Mumbai-based winner Sunanda Hiroo are back in the country without performing at any of KKR matches. The duo returned from Cape Town after KR's loss to Team Jaipur.
"It was disappointing not to have performed at such a big event. Just a couple of days before we were supposed to leave for South Africa, I got a call from a Red Chillies Entertainment official who informed that we would not be allowed to perform as cheerleaders as local organizers were insisting that only South African be used as cheerleaders," the standard XII commerce student of St Francis Xavier's School told TOI on Monday.
"When I came to know that we won't be able to perform, I was not too keen on going to South Africa, but when told that we would be going there as Shah Rukh Khan's guests, I agreed.
"We were looked after very well during our 10-day stay. No complaints on that ground. We even performed during the Cricket Carnival Road Show but we had no role to play after that," Ananya added.
The trip to South Africa has surely enhanced her popularity among classmates and she is enjoying it.
"We used to watch KR matches sitting in the VIP box. In fact during a party, Dada (Sourav Ganguly) introduced us to Brendon McCullum and Chris Gayle. Today when I joined school and told my friends that I didn't perform, they were dismissive. ���So what, you are rich now' they say," Ananya said with a childish grin on her face.
Ananya is now hoping that she and her fellow-angels would be able to perform next year when the IPL returns to India. "We initially had contract for this year only but as we haven't been able to perform, we are looking forward to performing for KR next year in India," she informed.