Neelam Gurung in top-8 of The Poet Idol

ISABELLA GURUNG

GANGTOK,: Sikkim’s Neelam Gurung has reached the top-8 of the Nepal’s poetry reality show ‘The Poet Idol’.

A Nepali teacher by profession, 30-year-old Neelam is also a poet, stand-up comedian, songwriter, translator and a voice-over artist.  She has penned lyrics for bands like Aarogya and the Nightmares. She has also represented Sikkim and India twice in the international platform, as a poet and a scholar.

Neelam hails from Tadong, Gangtok.

Poet Idol is Nepal’s first poetry reality show. The show was first broadcasted in AP1 TV on December 29, 2022 and on OSR Reality’s official YouTube channel. The show is broadcasted every Thursday and Friday at 8:30 pm.

Over 200 participants from all over the world had registered for the reality show, among which 14 poets were shortlisted for the advanced stage. The selected contestants are assigned topics/themes to write and recite their poem, following which one is eliminated every week.

The judges for the competition are renowned poets Viplob Pratik and Upendra Subba, director/actor Anup Baral and actor Surakshya Panta.

The winner of the first edition of The Poet Idol will receive a cash prize of 1 million Nepalese Rupee and will also get an opportunity to publish a poem anthology.

Neelam’s father Dilip Gurung has appealed people to vote for his daughter.

“Neelam is competing in Nepal’s poetry reality show, and is representing India in the international platform. In order to win, she must secure the maximum number of votes. To vote for Neelam, one can download OSR Connect App on the playstore/Apple Store. One can also donate on the given account details, where the money collected will be used to generate votes from e-khalti app. The app has been downloaded by a special team at Nepal, who are working collaboratively with the Sikkim team. Each vote cost Rs. 6. An individual can also donate the money via Google Pay (7908303063, Nitesh Gurung),” said Gurung.

Gurung has also thanked Chief Minister P.S. Golay for appealing the people to vote for his daughter, Chief Minister’s political secretary Jacob Khaling and all the supporters from Sikkim, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and other regions.