SURAT: The green masks on the judges' table remained untouched. The three grey cloud-shaped trophies stood orphaned. And the two-foot-tall mike onstage stared at the rear ends of three restless men.

"Fart from the heart," pleaded the host, but the only air that the much-hyped fart contest in Surat on Sunday managed to emit was one of amused disappointment.

Of the 200-odd men and women from cities like Mumbai, Jaipur and Dubai who had registered online for the gaseous contest, just three showed up, of whom one was from the host city. The local representative walked into the odourless room to great fanfare despite being about three hours late and, like the other participants, walked out with a cash prize of Rs 2,500 and a fragrant hamper that shamed him more than his failure to fart.

"I did nothing," said the guilt-ridden 30-year-old textile firm employee, Vishnu Heda.

The first participant, Sushil Jain — a 48-year-old bespectacled shopkeeper who travelled for an hour on an empty stomach in a car all the way from Bholardi — had looked promising as he rocked back and forth in his seat, rubbed his knees and sipped on lactose-heavy banquet hall chai. Thrice, Jain confidently ascended the stage of the banquet hall venue, causing a semi-circle of phone cameras around him. But every time, the stipulated minute would expire silently without any emission from the man who sells farsaan and channa for a living.

"Performance pressure," joked Yatin Sangoi, the 48-year-old tattoo-sporting organiser of WTF (What The Fart!), the contest in which the device that had been specially created by an IT partner to measure the sounds of human gas only registered a series of flatulent puns and desperate pleas on Sunday. It was to extinguish the juvenile laughter around the "natural bodily function" of farting that Sangoi, a singer, had organised the competition. The idea had ambushed Sangoi from behind.

A few days ago, Sangoi had let one rip while watching the second season of Sacred Games with his family, and everyone around dissolved into giggles. "They joked that if there was ever a

, I would win. And I thought, why not hold such a competition to stop people from shaming those who fart?" said Sangoi, a singer who insists he hadn't found as much fame through the TV talent show as he had through "this weird thing".

As a promotional poster announcing the hunt for India's first "Pad-Shah" circulated on social media, strangers would call up Sangoi at "2 in the night" and "6 in the morning" to laugh at him. The positive responses included virtual cheers from a curious global WhatsApp farting community called "The Flatulists", who tend to send each other voice messages of long farts. At the venue, several visitors were prospective participants who decided not to contest out of shyness. Had they approached Dr Rajesh Chandnani, a surgeon who was invited to the event in case of an emergency, he would've told them that it was normal for both men and women to fart 14 to 15 times a day. "People think it's bad to fart. It is socially unacceptable. But it is not good to hold a fart long-term. It can lead to dementia and early forgetfulness," said Chandnani before adding, "Women don't fart less. They just speak about it less."

This is perhaps why no woman participant turned up, though many had sent entries. Kavita Parmar, the lone woman on the three-member jury that also included RJ Devang Rawal and Dr Pranav Pacchigar, had braved her husband's laughter and signed up to judge the "out-of-the-box" event. "We hope people fart as loudly as we waited," joked the preschool teacher.