The Great Driving Challenge | User Application

Dr MILIND SABNIS & Monica Chitnis

Total Vote(s) : 423 | Total Testimonial(s) : 19

We, Monica & I, are poles apart, yet a perfect foil. She is an MBA, I’m a doctor (MBBS, MD). She is fire, I am earth; she is impatient, I’m patient; she is sharp, I’m blunt; she is an obsessive-compulsive planner, I just follow my heart; she loves pets, I love them from a distance; she lives on the edge, I prefer the ground; she is my strength, I’m her balance. We have a few things in common though: we are foodies: she likes to cook perfect food, I love to eat perfect food; we are addicted to the internet and movies, watching movies all through the nights is our favorite pass-time; we are laziness epitomized: one look at our bedroom would confirm this; we love to gamble, while she wins most times, I ensure that the house always wins; we are calorie conscious: albeit we only count our calories, don’t control it! We are vagabonds; currently, we are in our hometown, Mumbai, for a few months. Collectively we have lived in 16 cities and stayed in about 8-dozen cities across 4 continents. It would be trite to say we love to travel…. Let me put it this way: we are our sanest when we travel… travel is our oxygen.

We are the best candidates because...

We strongly believe in fate… and it seems that this challenge is tailor made for us… The ingredients for success in this contest are time and focus, past experience, team-spirit, skills to convey a story through multiple mediums, and a different perspective to make that story interesting. We have it all! TIME AND FOCUS: Since we are in the middle of a move our mind is uncluttered, which will enhance our performance and commitment to the challenge. EXPERIENCE: We have taken road trips through wide range of conditions: the deserts, the blizzards, the crowded streets, the expressways, the torturous ghats, the streams, and the mucky monsoon paths. While I was with the WHO, I have spent more than 2 years on the roads of North India netting around 2K km/month, while Monica has traveled more than half the country because her Dad was in Defence. TEAM-SPIRIT: Both of us drive, so we usually take turns to drive-navigate/rest; though we have our shortcomings, we compliment each other well and are extremely effective as a team. SKILLS TO CONVEY A STORY: I am a trained photographer and a published writer (fiction and non-fiction); Monica loves to shop (trinkets to trophies) and eat (local delicacies to exotic food) at places we travel to. Collectively, we can make you experience our travel with the right blend of Cedia, culture, cuisines, and couture, through our pictures and words. DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE: since we come from two distinct social (civil and defense), educational, and professional backgrounds we would bring in different perspectives to this competition, which will reflect in our photos and our writing.

Our Travel Plan

We plan to cover places that we have not been to before; our tentative plan is to visit Mumbai-Surat-Panchmahal, Chittorgarh Fort, Chhatarpur, Raisen Indore, Aurangabad, Mumbai

Our Travelogue

When I was born, an astrologer professed that I would never leave Mumbai; 2 decades later, people around me had resigned to the prediction. Working with the World Health Organization changed everything; within the next few years I had traveled almost a third of India and the US, with a few visits to the Middle East and Europe. I still continue to make up for the lost time! On the other hand, Monica was born to move. As a child she hated moving; so she decided she would never move after getting married. As fate would have it, post-marriage she is still moving, still traveling, and loving both! She has lived in India, Middle East, and the US, and traveled more than I have. It would be easier to count the Indian states we haven’t visited; the most notable trips include: the visit to Bhuj as a Medical Relief Team Member and the encounter with dacoits in Chitrakoot (you can read more on my blog soon). During our courtship and post-marriage, we spent substantial time in Dubai; shopping our hearts out and splurging our savings to get the taste of opplulence at Burj Al Arab where all we did was shop and dine. While in the US, our travel continued: may it be whale-watching and lobster-munching at Boston, catching the rainbow at Niagara, marveling at the glassy genius at the Corning glass factory, savoring the Philly cheese steak in Philadelphia, immersing in the Baltimore aquarium, admiring the numerous memorials and cherry blossoms in Washington DC, digging our teeth in chocolates at Hershey, becoming a child again in Orlando, or basking in the sun on the beaches of Miami, finding the needle in Seattle; gambling our bank balances at Vegas; ticking off the overrated Kodak theater, Hollywood boulevard, the Beverly hills, and the LA beaches; arching our backs and necks at the Arches, Utah; and last but not the least, sinking almost 850 feet below sea-level at the death valley, California! We believe, we both are destined to travel… so what’s our next stop? Europe, may be.

People who voted for us

sonali

17th July 2009

harshu

17th July 2009

Rakesh Keni

17th July 2009

Santosh Sharma

17th July 2009

Pratyush

17th July 2009

Sid M

17th July 2009

MP Chitnis

17th July 2009

suvarna randive

17th July 2009

mugdha

17th July 2009

Hari Prasad

17th July 2009

vikas kaushal

17th July 2009

Pavan Pillai

17th July 2009

Susmita Banerjee

17th July 2009

Shalaka Randive

17th July 2009

Vidya Jayaraman

17th July 2009

Vineeta Jaiteley

17th July 2009

Sachin Randive

17th July 2009

Ashish Gupta

17th July 2009

Mohit Rodrigues

17th July 2009

Harsha Shah

17th July 2009

Sucheta Randive

17th July 2009

Deepa Damodaran

17th July 2009

Madhavi Kadam

17th July 2009

Gargie

17th July 2009

Mamta Malik

17th July 2009

Harsha Saxena

17th July 2009

Ria Malhotra

17th July 2009

Nitin Garg

17th July 2009

Nivedita Tiwari

17th July 2009

Priyanka Patil

17th July 2009

Sandeep Rane

17th July 2009

Rashmi Narona

17th July 2009

rustom_sonawala

17th July 2009

Vijay Shyam

17th July 2009

Salil Ahuja

17th July 2009

Savio Parikar

17th July 2009

Shane Selvan

17th July 2009

Shantanu Sen

17th July 2009

Dr. Shrin

17th July 2009

Sonali Gokhale

17th July 2009

Soham Krishnan

17th July 2009

sriram krishnan

17th July 2009

Priya Sundar

17th July 2009

Tanishka Saigoankar

17th July 2009

jyoti siagoankar

17th July 2009

Rakesh Saigoankar

17th July 2009

Sundar Krishnan

17th July 2009

Juhi Deshmukh

17th July 2009

Ruhi Deshmukh

17th July 2009

Ajay Deshmukh

17th July 2009

Neha Deshmukh

17th July 2009

Rohan Gupte

17th July 2009

Vikram Gupte

17th July 2009

Raja Gupte

17th July 2009

Ganesh Pai

17th July 2009

Payal Chauvan

17th July 2009

Pratima

17th July 2009

Nilesh Gupte

17th July 2009

Rupali Pathak

17th July 2009

Shubhangi Gupte

17th July 2009

Vandana Pai

17th July 2009

Priti Gupte

17th July 2009

Rajesh Gupte

17th July 2009

V Negi

17th July 2009

Yamini Singh

17th July 2009

Tanvi Gupte

17th July 2009

Pallavi Gupte

17th July 2009

Zinobia

17th July 2009

Tanaya Dighe

17th July 2009

Amita Khanna

17th July 2009

Shreeya Dighe

17th July 2009

Akshay Bhide

17th July 2009

Advait Singarpure

17th July 2009

Praveen Durgampudi

17th July 2009

Anish Chakraborty

17th July 2009

Seema Singarpure

17th July 2009

Aishwarya Chakraborty

17th July 2009

Veena Datta

17th July 2009

deepak lakhmani

17th July 2009

Shama Deshpande

17th July 2009

Sri Shankar

17th July 2009

Neelam Tipnis

17th July 2009

Meenal Tipnis

17th July 2009

Sandhya Dixit

17th July 2009

Jitendra Deshpande

17th July 2009

Chetan Tipnis

17th July 2009

Rajesh Gollapudi

17th July 2009

sriram

17th July 2009

Harsh Tipnis

17th July 2009

Devendra Pandey

17th July 2009

Janvi Deshpande

17th July 2009

Sushma Shah

17th July 2009

Sarika S

17th July 2009

Shreevallabh

17th July 2009

Karan Singh

17th July 2009

Jack William

17th July 2009

Daniela James

17th July 2009

Jacob Jon

17th July 2009

Priti Pradhan

17th July 2009

Meeta Chitnis

17th July 2009

Vishrut Deshpande

17th July 2009

Alicia Walker

17th July 2009

Anishka Sen

17th July 2009

Maanav Roy

17th July 2009

Anuraag

17th July 2009

Anne Jose

17th July 2009

Megha Kaur

17th July 2009

CK Pratham

17th July 2009

Sara Siddiqui

17th July 2009

Jaya Sabnis

17th July 2009

Abhijeet Mukherjee

17th July 2009

Ramesh Sabnis

17th July 2009

Devashree Podhar

17th July 2009

M Shastry

17th July 2009

Tanishq W

17th July 2009

Anoop Saha

17th July 2009

Pankaj Desai

17th July 2009

Sunil Rao

17th July 2009

Ravi Raj

17th July 2009

Krishna Kumar

17th July 2009

Robert Jones

17th July 2009

Chitra Sen

17th July 2009

Roopali D

17th July 2009

Raja Gopala

17th July 2009

Vilas Dighe

17th July 2009

Janaki Sridar

17th July 2009

C Roshni

17th July 2009

Kalpana Sabnis

17th July 2009

Promod Sabnis

17th July 2009

Gauri Sabnis

17th July 2009

Gaurav Jain

17th July 2009

Mrinal Sabnis

17th July 2009

shashi sabnis

17th July 2009

Lleenali

17th July 2009

Aravind Iyer

17th July 2009

Shilpa Seth

17th July 2009

Ajith Abraham

17th July 2009

shreyasi

17th July 2009

Deepti Pandey

17th July 2009

Rahul Naik

17th July 2009

Neeta

17th July 2009

Reet Rane

17th July 2009

Sagar SenGupta

17th July 2009

Prakrit Deb

17th July 2009

Mahinder

17th July 2009

Tejas Ddamnle

17th July 2009

Shruti Reddy

17th July 2009

Ashish

17th July 2009

Neerav Yadav

17th July 2009

Amol A

17th July 2009

Srinath C

17th July 2009

Sudhir Iyer

17th July 2009

Radha N

17th July 2009

Veena Wali

17th July 2009

Shiva Kumar

17th July 2009

Sanjay Lal

17th July 2009

Harish Gandhi

17th July 2009

Hemali T

17th July 2009

Anu Bhatia

17th July 2009

Dr. Pradeep Koli

17th July 2009

Karen R

17th July 2009

Ajit Jadhav

17th July 2009

Robert G

17th July 2009

Hemant Patel

17th July 2009

Bess R

17th July 2009

Anil D'Souza

17th July 2009

V Raman

17th July 2009

ashish gundre

17th July 2009

rakesh

17th July 2009

William Pearlman

17th July 2009

Amit Wadhavkar

17th July 2009

Jagruti

17th July 2009

Biren Jana

17th July 2009

Babette

17th July 2009

Ameet Gupte

17th July 2009

Abhilash Gupte

17th July 2009

Varun V

17th July 2009

Vivek

17th July 2009

Rich Noble

17th July 2009

Ali Zeeshan

17th July 2009

Chetan

17th July 2009

Steven B

17th July 2009

MILIND PURANIK

17th July 2009

tara r

17th July 2009

Trevor P

17th July 2009

Donna

17th July 2009

Jim M

17th July 2009

Ralph

17th July 2009

Roger M

17th July 2009

Michelle

17th July 2009

Rachel Carter

17th July 2009

Tim Javis

17th July 2009

Yogesh

17th July 2009

Sangeeta Das

17th July 2009

Seema Sen

16th July 2009

Sweta Singh

16th July 2009

Saurabh Shah

16th July 2009

V Srikant

16th July 2009

Sharad K

16th July 2009

Greg Thompson

16th July 2009

Swapnil

16th July 2009

Varsha K

16th July 2009

Stefanos Konsta

16th July 2009

Sonia Chawla

16th July 2009

Ashish Bhalerao

16th July 2009

Samantha

16th July 2009

Rekha C

16th July 2009

Rekha Chitre

16th July 2009

Alan RJ

16th July 2009

Ravi Verma

16th July 2009

vikram

16th July 2009

M Murphy

16th July 2009

Mayura Gupta

16th July 2009

Navin B

16th July 2009

Michael Paulik

16th July 2009

Deepak K

16th July 2009

Gia

16th July 2009

David Lang

16th July 2009

Shashi

16th July 2009

Ananth Iyer

16th July 2009

Sarita Nair

16th July 2009

Rahul Ganpule

16th July 2009

Sameer AG

16th July 2009

Anne P

16th July 2009

Dr Salil

16th July 2009

Sanjay Vora

16th July 2009

Sachin Jain

16th July 2009

Mahesh L

16th July 2009

pye sone

16th July 2009

Salil Dhamankar

16th July 2009

Rajesh Shahir

16th July 2009

Pushpa Venkat

16th July 2009

gregg levy

16th July 2009

Ramseshan

16th July 2009

Rama Rao

16th July 2009

Priya Chavan

16th July 2009

Prasad Kulkarni

16th July 2009

Monika Pradhan

16th July 2009

Manish Mahesh

16th July 2009

Balu T

16th July 2009

Deepak Lakhmani

16th July 2009

Sarika Joshi

16th July 2009

Sudip Mitra

16th July 2009

Mandar Shetty

16th July 2009

Bajet Nour

16th July 2009

Balraj P

16th July 2009

Mandar Tengshe

16th July 2009

Gau S

16th July 2009

John Joseph

16th July 2009

Gauri

16th July 2009

Thomas Jacqueline

16th July 2009

Gillian Sanders

16th July 2009

Fariba Ghodrati

16th July 2009

Joshua Parks

16th July 2009

Kedar Pawar

16th July 2009

Joan Garcia

16th July 2009

Jitesh

16th July 2009

geetanjali thadhani pednekar

16th July 2009

Jay Allison

16th July 2009

Lisa Mortini

16th July 2009

Krunal Bhuta

16th July 2009

Kenneth Gill

16th July 2009

Michelle Wanat

16th July 2009

Rupali Dighe

16th July 2009

Rohan Gupte

16th July 2009

Theresa Henderson

16th July 2009

Sudhir Bhatt

16th July 2009

abhijit pednekar

16th July 2009

Tony Serino

16th July 2009

Swati Govil

16th July 2009

Tim J Jadwin

16th July 2009

Pamela Waddell

16th July 2009

Trupti Bhosle

16th July 2009

Vidya V

16th July 2009

Amit Bagla

16th July 2009

AG Shenoy

16th July 2009

Pradeep M

16th July 2009

Mandar Koranne

16th July 2009

Ramakant Barve

16th July 2009

Rahul Ganpule

16th July 2009

Dr. Tushar Rane

16th July 2009

Balaji

16th July 2009

Madan Rawtani

16th July 2009

Betsy Troia

16th July 2009

Aravind Iyer

16th July 2009

Gaurav Sharma

16th July 2009

Shruti Murthy

16th July 2009

Atul B

16th July 2009

Sid R

16th July 2009

Shruti

16th July 2009

Ajay Gupte

16th July 2009

vivek khanvilkar

16th July 2009

Aaish Vasu

16th July 2009

Sandeep Patil

16th July 2009

Shikha Gupta

16th July 2009

Seepak Shyam

16th July 2009

GANESH

16th July 2009

Manoj Deshpande

16th July 2009

Prashant Dhule

16th July 2009

Kalpana

16th July 2009

Sridhar Iyer

16th July 2009

Kara Parekh

16th July 2009

Ramesh Ramnath

16th July 2009

Komal

16th July 2009

Faisal

16th July 2009

Vinod Bhaskaran

16th July 2009

Guru Prasad

16th July 2009

Shailesh Monteiro

16th July 2009

Arun Palani

16th July 2009

Deepti

16th July 2009

Dr Ravi Gupta

16th July 2009

Lokessh Ahuja

16th July 2009

Sumi John

16th July 2009

John Verghese

16th July 2009

Arumugam

16th July 2009

Kyriakos

16th July 2009

Harish Natarajan

16th July 2009

Mayuresh

16th July 2009

Amit Gajare

16th July 2009

Bhavin Trivedi

16th July 2009

Shriharsh

16th July 2009

Alan

16th July 2009

Shridhar Deshpande

16th July 2009

Sagar Gandhi

16th July 2009

Vinay Warrier

16th July 2009

Aarti Chaturvedi

16th July 2009

Dinesh Patel

16th July 2009

Santosh Menon

16th July 2009

Vaibhav Kambli

16th July 2009

renu sharma

16th July 2009

Shridhar Deshpande

16th July 2009

Dr Manish Kukreja

16th July 2009

Shridhar Deshpande

16th July 2009

Pragya Mishra

16th July 2009

Dr Nilesh Thete

16th July 2009

ALOK SRIVASTAVA

16th July 2009

Sumit Tyagi

16th July 2009

Bharat Bisht

16th July 2009

Manish

16th July 2009

SOURAV CHAKRABORTY

16th July 2009

Ravi Rastogi

16th July 2009

Kavita Choudhary

16th July 2009

Rachna Kumar

16th July 2009

Dr Manoj Sinha

16th July 2009

Vrushali Anaokar

16th July 2009

Manish Sabnis

16th July 2009

Sagar Sonar

16th July 2009

shravani gupta

16th July 2009

Mohak Vilekar

16th July 2009

Richard

16th July 2009

Sumeet Mhaskar

16th July 2009

Chandrakant Gosavi

16th July 2009

trupti

16th July 2009

vineet

16th July 2009

Mamta Talwar

16th July 2009

Dinesh Bhatia

15th July 2009

Zafar Quadir

15th July 2009

ann pop

15th July 2009

Theodore Mascarenhas

15th July 2009

Ranjan Pillai

15th July 2009

Raghavan Bala

15th July 2009

Manoj Chulki

15th July 2009

SHARAT KUMAR JHA

15th July 2009

Sonali Chulki

15th July 2009

Krishnan

15th July 2009

Navin Kotian

15th July 2009

Shridharan N

15th July 2009

Vinita Vani

15th July 2009

Varsha Vani

15th July 2009

Bimal T

15th July 2009

Vinod Vani

15th July 2009

Neeraj

15th July 2009

Anup Joshi

15th July 2009

Rashmi Joshi

15th July 2009

Neha

15th July 2009

K Koranne

15th July 2009

Priya Govindan

15th July 2009

Shipa

15th July 2009

Pushpanjali

15th July 2009

Manoj Surve

15th July 2009

Uma Nair

15th July 2009

Sandeep Deshpande

15th July 2009

Usha Narayanan

15th July 2009

Satish Natrajan

15th July 2009

Dr Tarak Shah

15th July 2009

Mayura Kanekar

15th July 2009

Harshita Goel

15th July 2009

Kirit Shukla

15th July 2009

Nisha

15th July 2009

Eric Smith

15th July 2009

Vanita Wheeler

15th July 2009

Amit Kumar Dey

15th July 2009

Sanjeev Hegde

15th July 2009

Sachin

15th July 2009

Sunita

15th July 2009

Pankaj

15th July 2009

Jane Bernard

15th July 2009

Anand

15th July 2009

Sagar

15th July 2009

anand barmade

15th July 2009

Atul Kumar Dey

15th July 2009

Sumit Samant

15th July 2009

Arpit

15th July 2009

Chhaya Sabnis

15th July 2009

Jessie

15th July 2009

Sudeep Bisla

15th July 2009

Sameer Singh

15th July 2009

Brinda

15th July 2009

Rajesh R

15th July 2009

Deepu Prasad

15th July 2009

shubhra

15th July 2009

Dr Prakash Singh

15th July 2009

Pallavi

15th July 2009

Aparna

15th July 2009

Sonal

15th July 2009

vali

15th July 2009

pracheeti

15th July 2009

Leena

15th July 2009

Dr. Sudeep Singh Gadok

15th July 2009

Mona

15th July 2009

Sonia

15th July 2009

Milind Sabnis

15th July 2009

Chandrashekhar Sabnis

15th July 2009

Testimonials

Chandrashekhar Sabnis

Milind is my son and Monica my daugherinlaw, they are a great couple, Milind is my son and Monica my daugherinlaw, they are a great couple, they have done road trips before... I am sure they will do great, I wish them success!

Chhaya Sabnis

Monica and Milind are passionate about traveling, for the past few years they have driven around... my blessings are always with them in whatever they do

Kirit Shukla

Great driver .... , bound to win .. , best luck buddy .......

Atul Kumar Dey

Dr Milind Sabnis (Sir) is very hard working,great & kind hearted person. I worked under his supervision. Without doubt they will do great and win.

Sonali Chulki

Milind has been my school buddy and as far back as I can remember we used to go on bike rides miles away from our homes. In fact since IX grade we were a group of 7-8 friends who regularly went on long distance bike trips, and when he got his first car we used to roam in his car...moral of the story...the guy is an adventure seeker, so lets give him this one...an adventure of a lifetime!!

Sonali Chulki

Manoj Chulki

Milind and Monica are globe trotters continent hoppers and totally deserve this trip, my personal wishes for them.

Manish

My Brother has immense travel experience and is a driver who can adapt quickly from rule-bound US driving to skillful maneuver in Indian cities. He is a published writer who observes things and works magic through his words making his travel worthwhile for his readers. My sister-in-law is a adventure lover by birth! She is a good driver and has great enthusiasm to pursue when many just give up! I wish them luck on this journey which they will enjoy and make memorable for much beyond them.

Ajay Gupte

Milind is my wife's school mate We went on a few road trips together. He is a nice guy to travel with I wish him all the best

Rahul Ganpule

Milind is my school buddy. Spent the best years of our lives togethr... great guy%u2026. Best luck to you man.. i am sure you will do well!

Madan Rawtani

Milind is my friend's brother He used to take some time out to help us follow our passion for chess, he is talented and takes his hobbies very seriously... photography and writing are a couple of his hobbies.. I am sure he and Monica will do well.

Pradeep M

I was his senior at school; Milind is a very positive person. He has it in him to win!

abhijit pednekar

Milind is my medical school buddy%u2026 he drove us home on our wedding night%u2026 that says it all%u2026 he is a cool dude%u2026 Monica and he makes a wonderful couple. My best wishes to them.

geetanjali thadhani pednekar

Milind is Abhi's best buddies for more than a decade now and Monika is also fun to be with... I wish them all the very best for the driving challenge and also for their future!

Jane Bernard

This couple is the ideal team to take off and take on the Great Driving Challenge! They're observations will make you think, smile, enjoy and reflect while they travel with a unique style of their very own! Certainly this team is the one to win The Great Driving Challenge!

Sundar Krishnan

Milind, my medical college batchmate, is an extremely gifted person with an enviable IQ, he thinks out of the box, and has a knack of doing well at anything he takes up, may it be solving puzzles, taking pictures, writing short stories, golfing, tennis, driving, anything. I can never predict what he is up to next%u2026 Monica is a perfect match%u2026 she is very enthusiastic and always ready for adventures.. I wish them luck for this challenge and for the future.

Sal F

I know Milind since 10 years%u2026 we have work-shopped each others' short stories. Let me tell you a secret, Milind is a bookers prize winner in the making%u2026 only if the lazy bum completes his novel%u2026 which perhaps he never will%u2026 so blogs the next best thing for him%u2026 I don%u2019t care if he gets selected for this one%u2026 I just hope this will make him complete his novel%u2026 I sincerely do.

Rakesh S

Crazy couple! made for each other they will succeed in anything they do. they will rock this challenge

Rakesh S

Crazy couple! made for each other they will succeed in anything they do. they will rock this challenge