The Great Driving Challenge | User Application

Imtiaz Ahmad Khan & Sonali Gupta

Total Vote(s) : 173 | Total Testimonial(s) : 5

Sonali(the wife) and I were college friends who married 5years back and Ria came along in July 2008. SG is an IT projects manager at PCS and I am a freelancer in the Linux server management arena, Ria practices walking around right now and chewing without teeth as well :) In the eleven months since Ria was born we've driven around 25000km. The farthest that the kid has been to in our trusty steed is Jaipur from Mumbai in december 2008. That was a 3000km run (well 1200km each side plus locally we went around to chittorgarh, ajmer, udaipur... pics are here http://tr.im/pu1e). This challenge would give us the time and peace to plan life ahead as we are working towards starting a new IT services company this year. I have freelanced for the past 4 years but now Sonali is joining and we're in the process of changing gears to make it fly as a proper business....

We are the best candidates because...

...we do not play to win we play to enjoy the game.... we give it our 100% and do not worry too much about the result..... somehow that way the outcome is always great....

Our Travel Plan

Gods' own country, Kerala, we've always wanted to visit. Have heard a lot about the scenic beauty of the place. Planning to leave from Mumbai, go via Ratnagiri, Palolem, Karwar, Udupi, Kozhikode, Cochin and return via Thrissur, Coimbatore, Kozhikode, Bangalore, Davanagere, Kolhapur and back to Mumbai. Covering sea, mountain, villages, backwaters and IT hub in the same trip.... pretty much India in a nutshell..... the Fusion drive is what I'm planning to call it where the rustic meets the sophisticate! That's a total of 3250km with a margin for around 250km for detours in ten days of driving. Google maps all researched and debated. The distances and night halts are already planned out and if we somehow manage to not win this(am thinking taking Ria along might mean not being allowed but then she's been on a 3000km trip when she was 6months old now she's an year old.... anyways that for the judges to decide) we intend to do the trip either ways in August. Here's the daywise breakup: Day1 --- mumbai -- ratnagiri(342) Day2 --- ratnagiri -- palolem(308) Day3 --- palolem -- udupi(350) (via nh17) Day4 --- udupi -- Kozhikode(290) Day5 --- Kozhikode -- Thrissur via Cochin(293) Day6 --- Thrissur -- Kozhikode via Coimbatore(301) Day7 --- Kozhikode -- Bangaluru(345) Day8 --- Bangaluru -- devanagere(295) Day9 --- Devanegere -- Kolhapur(353) Day10 --- Kolhapur -- Mumbai(377) The distances are a bit off but on the ground the plan is to stick to the rules and start looking for a place to spend the rest of the day as soon as the odo tells us 325km are up.... 25km cruise margin for the sightseeing or hotel searching

Our Travelogue

....got our first car in November 2006 it was a Maruti800 5speed special edition from TrueValue. When Sonali joined Infy we shifted to Pune but didn't quite like the place much, neither Pune nor Infy, so we'd shuttle between mumbai-pune about four times a week for the next four weeks. We didn't have cable TV at the house in Pune so once had to drive back just to see the starting episode of KBC3, wife is a died in the wool SRK fan and she just had to watch that episode..... well that was a crazy month and as I said since we didn't quite dig the place so Sonali chucked the job and joined PCS instead..... we came back to Mumbai, home!!.... Another 10 months later we drove down to Goa.... we upgraded to a Ford Fusion TDCi in December 2007. Why the oddball fusion? Well for one the car is a reflection of what we are a fusion of the best of both worlds... it also has a huge lot of space, is extremely comfortable for ladies who are pregnant or old people who can't sit crouched in your usual "sedan", it's a hatch and we always wanted one since we saw the Baleno hatch in college, oh and it had a diesel variant something that's proven very efficient for us... 18 months since we got the Fusion it's been driven a total of 35k km that's approximately 2k km per month and this includes a month when Sonali was preggers and down with chicken pox at the same time.... anyways so the Fusion was our new steed and we drove to Karjat for a weekend getaway, Matheran for another, Mahabaleshwar, Uran, Alibag and so many more places besides the daily commute to work and the excursions into town..... oh and Ria came along last July she came home in the Fusion! Ria went for her first long drive out of town to Pune to meet her maternal uncle.... otherwise too she is a baby who is extremely fond of travelling... we actually get out and drive if she is being cranky.... So with Ria turning 5 months and starting off on solid food we decided the time had come for the road trip and so planned and went off to Jaipur.... the notes are on my blog for that 3000km trip... Post maternity leave Sonali started going to work in January this year and soon we realized the need for a second set of wheels. She got her Sparky on her birthday.... she'd been gaga about the cuteness quotient forever... it's smooth, very stress free, extremely peppy.... it's a city car.... for the long haul nothing can beat the comfort, presence and the robustness of the Ford though.... Recently we've been to places near Mumbai like Murud-Janjira, Alibag, Pune, Bordi, Dahanu.... in fact the weekend before last when rains arrived in mumbai we went to Murud for dinner.... it was a superlative drive amazing light, amazingly clear roads and the food aaaah to die for.... next weekend I coaxed some friends to drive down to Murud for lunch(I took the Spark this time) and this weekend we're going again with close friends and family to celebrate Rias first birthday :).... some Murud-Janjira fetish... Well that's the story so far not very many details in there for paucity of space. Simply put we've got around 55k km of driving experience between the two of us and the three cars over the past 2.5 years.... the dream trip is Leh-Ladakh but we're waiting for Ria to grow up enough for that one..... till then we explore the rest of India.

Yogesh Katekar

Imtiaz is a great driver and has an eye for the perfect photo, and Sonali has her feet pretty firmly on the ground%u2026 so I%u2019m pretty confident they%u2019ll make a go of it. Loads of enthu, ever willing to go out of their way to help %u2013 the farther out the better, preferably in a car. Go for it!

Rohit Kumar

I have known Imtiaz and Sonali for the past 3 years now. Their passion for driving and traveling is well documented by their own blogs and photo albums. I am confident that they are the best choice for winning this contest.

Nawab

Imtiaz hit the road for the first time when he was 20 days old. Thanks to the spirit of adventure of his parents and their trusted Fiat. He met Sonali while studying for his Masters and they together have clocked kilometers by the thousands since. They both make a perfect pair - more so for this adventure. I wish them all the luck and smooth sailing.

ABHIJIT SHUKLA

Imtiaz, an acquaintance of today but a friend in the making...this couple has the right mix of ' dare n spirit' to be the right competitors...I wish them all success.

Nagraj Krishnamurty

Hi Imtiaz. Thanks for dropping by and reminding me about the rules:) Here is my vote for you. All the best!!

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