Balkaran runs away with genous Heritage crown
The pageant consisted of ve segments: Intro-duction, alent, Evening Wear, Cultural Wear and Final Question. ntroduction was one of herryanna’s two favourite ategories as she got the pportunity to introduce herelf in the Patamona dialect. he other was the Final uestion. Her undoubtedly outstandng performance in the pageant d not come easy but took reless days of practice. In the un up to the pageant, she said, aining was intense and two eeks prior to coronation ght things got hectic. Each ontestant was trained on percting her speech, on how to e emphatic, to appease the rowd and perfecting her struts hich included learning to do he ‘T’ stand. They were ained by the Fung family om 11 in the morning to one n the afternoon each day for peech class and from 6.30 in he evening until the trainer as satisfied with the practice garding modelling. Sherryanna said that this pportunity has brought her an nforgettable experience. She oted also that she gained the iendships of the nine beautiul ladies as well as the friendhip of 2015’s queen. The experience also enabled her to be better at balancing her daily activities.
Asked whether she’s a pageant fanatic, she responded in the negative saying that she became interested in participating after witnessing the inaugural Miss Indigenous Heritage Pageant being won by home girl Sondra Cheong in 2005.
Sherryanna, who hails from Paramakatoi, left when she was three years old to live in Georgetown. She attended Mae’s Primary School, St Stanislaus College and finished her secondary education at Mae’s Secondary. Yet, every vacation, she returned home to visit with her missionary grandparents and shortly after her arrival she would fall in with the ways of the people there; it was as if she had never left.
Paramakatoi for Sherryanna means green pristine forest, fresh air, lots of casiree and tuma and church services which she attends whenever there.
Asked about her friends there and having to leave them at the end of her vacations, she replied, “I have little, big friends, medium friends, I always look forward to visit- ing. I remembered this one time I had to leave; it was the August vacation and I was preparing to start primary two. While in the plane I cried on my way back.”
As she grew things became different. Of course, when she became a teenager, she did not look forward to these trips anymore, more so because they meant no access to the internet but this was just a phase and Paramakatoi would always call; she could never refuse.
“Now I appreciate that rustic, bucolic lifestyle and though I want there to be developed, I want the village to maintain that rurality, that rustic environment,” she said.