I totally agree with Neelesh’s point of view.

In support of manisha’s Point of View -

let me write again - for those Majority of Couples who never participated in TGDC Blog - IF YOU GO BY THE COMMENT SECTION OF EACH BLOG - YOU WILL FIND VERY FEW who made their presence Felt !! ....Shouldn’t it be another Criteria for assessing people who are really involved !!

The following text is in support of manisha’ View - for those who never saw the TGDC Blog -
 
Everyone travels ! Everyone moves around ! Everyone takes a break for various reasons ! Some travel in comforts of Executive class to distant places across oceans ! Some travel in a chauffeur driven Car ! Some prefer to be behind the steering wheel. Some sweat it out. Some are immobilized without a Sun screen lotion. Some have a planned Time share booking. Some pack and go with uncertainty and may spend night in the car when no accommodation is available. Some keep going in the same direction frequently and some explore a unknown route and sometimes with a language barrier especially people going North from TN without knowing Hindi and vice versa. Some ride the bike and have a frost bite. Very few try it out on bicycles. For some AC room is a must…. for some open air is a luxury ! For some blisters and back pain are worse nightmares ! and few others enjoy even with a fractured toe ! ....but then the fact is - eveyone travels !! .....We have always done our long road travels in a challenging way.

Best wishes to the top 100 for the remaining parts of the action. Look forward to the pictures and the stories enroute. Drive safe.

No we didn’t make it. But what the hell.. I have always known that a lottery is a lottery: One must be really down and out to suffer a heart break on not winning… So just shaken a bit by not making it, definitely not stirred.

In just the 3 days during which Megha and I participated, it was incredible that the approx 1200 emails sent, less than 50 phone calls made, and a few friends/family pitching in with their friends, garnered us 850 votes, without even a single reminder sent… And considering I am largely a social recluse, its an incredible feeling. There’s a lot of affection out there and we are much humbled by it.

The organizers have been an interesting experience: Their promptness and responsiveness is very refreshing. Really loved the concept too. The level of thoroughness with the rules, the IT stuff and classy-ness… left room for improvement. But on the whole, good job done so far.

Thank you for having this event, it did take away the ennui for those few days.

Come on guys cheer up!!!
I have also not made in the top 100, I cant imagine anyone as disappointed as me…:(
Compare it to politics & you will have the answer… you have corrupt politicians sitting right up there & we can do nothing about it at the same time there are some unqualified / unworthy people running our country & ironically we can do nothing about it either…
Lets take it positively… This forum to get connected to all like minded couples. I would love to get connected with all who participated in the contest in true spirit….

And hey, thank you for the free publicity: my blog (travel pictures and poems) had 3000 hits in 4 years and over 500 since July 15 (our participation start date).

Hey ppl…We’ve been through this gruelling trial and have finally emerged as winners by qualifying in top 100 contestants…We always maintained that the journey is what matters more than the destination.
Today we reached one step closer to our destination but honestly speaking enjoyed the journey much more…That rush that we could feel every time we got another vote or another Testi..the sense of excitement when we moved further in ranks…that waking up at middle of the nights or getting up early morning (even before our eyes could open properly..) to check the vote tally….calling up long lost friends and classmates, teachers and relatives alike and asking for votes strengthened the bonds that we shared.
Also, this challenge made us understand the true spirit of competition through the unstinted support of TGDC team (who always replied to my mails, my queries, my questions..and did their best to pick out and throw the rotten apples out..), the jury (who must have racked their brains all these days to finally come to a result and get the desrving candidtes in place..) and all other contestants and our friends & family and everyone else who voted for us..
Last but not the least, this blog from TGDC really kept our spirits high when we saw that the TGDC team is working so hard to go to the depths and see how people were getting more than a thousand votes in a day..and finally eliminating such participants as if they would have cone through this stage they would have been a pain in the neck in further rounds as well…..

And the TGDC team..a standing ovation to you for unveiling the results in the way you did…It was really innovative and exciting…Great going guys….!!
And it gladdened our hearts to see that we are the “R” of DRIVING, which is our passion and the theme of this challenge and we realised that ‘R’ is indispensable for Driving bcoz without that DRIVING would become “DIVING”...................

A huge bouquet of lilies, roses and orchids for the TGDC team and the jury….......

Since we have not made it to the top 100 couples, our sights are now set for the next iteration of the TGDC 2010. Thanks to this event, we got to clear up the dust on the old pictures and videos and above all memories to share with all our supporters. Thanks to one and all who took time out to vote for us. No apologies for disappointing you. But we sure will get back to you if at all there is another iteration of this event any time in the future. We will again need your support.

And a personal thanks to Imtiaz who introduced us to this event sitting at CCD in the very first week of this event. He has made it and I am thrilled to see him and Sonali in the top 100. Vicarious pleasure of seeing your buddy is cushioning the impact of not being in the top 100.

For the judges, I must say you guys have done a fab job of weeding out the unwanted. Your attention to details and personal touch has really warmed our hearts and made us believe in the system. Keep up the good work guys. We look forward to another installment of TGDC.

Rupali and Rohit

@ >>>> Vinny and Bushra! (& also few Others)

>>>> But if ever again it comes to participate in such a contest, I will NOT, because I know how it happens

I really agree with you, in fact, after reading few posts above, I started feeling that actually I was mad enough to participate & disclose my information and also, I made my 198 voters fool.

I should have been understood at very first stage, when the criteria of Income group of Partner was asked either as below 25 lac p.a. or more than that! :D I felt,  it is amazing!

However, whatever happned is happned.  And, if we are not in top 100 doesn’t means that we are not the best. 

It will be good enough to take care next time before participating any such event based on / routed through Inter Net.

What you say?

Regards
Jayant Nitsure
https://greatdrivingchallenge.com/application/1247283900781251/

Come on guys cheer up!!!
Unfortunately I have missed the top 100 spot too, I cant imagine anyone as disappointed as me…
Compare it to politics & you will have the answer… you have corrupt politicians sitting right up there & we can do nothing about it at the same time there are some unqualified / unworthy people running our country & ironically we can do nothing about it either…
Lets take it positively… This forum to get connected to all like minded couples. I would love to get connected with all those who participated the contest in true spirit and goad our common passion to greater heights………
Cheers !!!

Hello to Team TGDC once again,

The following is my observation (only of “We are the top 100” - and from this 4 profile I could not view due to technical error, so this observation is actually out of 10 applications):-

Vamsi Vanka & Charukesi Ramadurai
“A” of “we Are”
orkut link missing - is that 100% complete profile?
https://greatdrivingchallenge.com/application/Vamsi/

Shilpi Aurora & Varun Mehra
“T” of “Top”
Since the two of us Hail from Mumbai and are now settled in Delhi. Hence we plan on covering the route

from Delhi to Mumbai and Back.
- Do they even know what are the rules, the travel plan has to start from Mumbai and end at Mumbai
- do not forget to read their testimonials, 2 of them by Shilpi herself
https://greatdrivingchallenge.com/application/shilpjeet/

Sivakumar & Ansuya
“E” of “we are thE”
Twitter link missing
- another application which is NOT 100% complete
Chennai to Pune and return to Chennai is our plan for the great driving Challenge
- Travel Plan which starts from Mumbai and ends at Mumbai, where is it - 100% complete profile, ha!
https://greatdrivingchallenge.com/application/Sivakumar/

I doubt if you would actually post this on the blog. and I find Sandip missing today… I request him to comment on all the brickbats and give s the remaiing 7 parameters we were judged on.

Thanks and regards,
Vinny

All the best to the top 100 who made it

disappointed and sad that i didnt get thru, will be following this anyways

good work by the TGDC team

respected jury member,

thanks a lot…............yeah yeah…..we’ve done it…...thanks a lot .....i know its not luck its the result of our hard work on this challenge…...and i was damn sure i’ll be selected ......thanks a lot sir thanks again….

thanks to sweetu…...thanks to all my friends who supporrted us,  and thanks a lot for my elders for their blessing…..thanks to my dad…..who is not with us and his blessing is always there with me…..thanks mom…...thanks..  to everyone…

Thank you all for your candid comments & critiques, brickbats and bouquets. We are glad that most of you appreciated our efforts. We have opened all the 61 comments on this post, (barring one) so hopefully this is an honest reflection of the overall mood.

We will try harder for the next phases. Thank you all for supporting us.

Vinny & Bushra, Huzaifa and several of my favourite applicants who could not make it to 100. This is not end of road for your passion, in fact this is a new beginning. You have reached out and made friends for life and that is so much important. I have read so many applications and the potential of you all is unimaginable.

The battle from here would be down to 25 then to 9 to 3 to final one. Does this mean others don’t have passion or talent? I am afraid this is not what it holds. The idea of contest was to promote Mitsubishi Cediar and passion for driving. This is one unique contest and that is why I ended up participating in it otherwise I have never participated in any contest.

Don’t loose hope, don’t give up and above all don’t stop dreaming those big dreams. It is all within us and not making to a certain list is just too small than what life holds.

I am sure we all would continue our passion for driving, blogging, photos and learn something new, every new dawn.

I would value if I make it to next level, even if I don’t, I still would like to keep in touch with this community.

Do not give up connections on Facebook or Orkut, lets all keep in touch and keep the passion alive.

I am loosing words here, but I really appreciate and recognize each one of yours’ efforts who worked day and night on their application, reached out to family, friends, relatives…the list is endless.

Don’t forget to reach out and thank all the people who voted for you or wrote testimonials to you. Copy these in a word file and keep them with you so that you always cherish memories and also know who is on your side and what they think about you.

To end this post, I would love to keep in touch with each one of you whom I have seen on Orkut/Facebook etc. Do reach out to me on facebook or Orkut and I would be happy to share my email id with you folks. Let us keep in touch.

All the best, wear your seatbelts and keep driving!!

Regards,
-Rishi

deal neil and yuliya,

My intention here was to bring to light the lapses in TGDC’s T&C, and not bring a how “indian” are you? kind of a debate. I definitely did nt mean to offend you. There are applicants in the top 100 without blogs, without a route, one even has a route mapped for more than 700 kms.
I dont mind losing, but to who and why, are the questions.
Having said that, i have my favs in the top 100 too, and i will cheer for them now. Anyway, I wish you all the best for the next round. Am very sorry, do nt want to ruin today for you guys

Hi TGDC,
the platform was excellent, amazing strategy for people to talk about the brand and want to be associated with it. Also like someone said it brought together a lot of travel enthusiasts.
But, I dont think it was fair to list rules that were nt adhered to. People were asked to apply till 17th midnight, where as the judging really had begun on 13th july. Your ad itself was misleading, with Ladakh as destination from Mumbai, not a creative leap am sorry.
Anyway
I wish you sort the issues for 2010 driving challenge. Best

Hey all,

Cheer up… trust me I was confident of making it to the last 3…it did not happen, but that is life…we have ahd enough brickbats, let us take it in our stride now…

a bouquet for sandip here…even if we did not make it, but thanks to your special mention about us on the blog forever young…we were noticed, fellow contestants voted for us and invited us on their social network…so sandip thanks…

great job over all…take it as a learning for the next event…why don’t you ask Mitsubishi to do an event around Pajero…

Cheers everyone…let’s not our spirits die in one loss…true drivers will always look ahead and beyond…

Chandrani

Thanks Garima for clearing things out. No hard feelings and you make a valid point. I think the competition managed to create the buzz it was designed to considering the reactions and comments from everyone so that is pretty neat!

Regardless of whether we make it through to the next round or not we should take some time off at least once in a life time and do that drive around the country just for the experience. Any sponsors?

I agree with Chandrani on post above, We must suggest Mitsubishi for a similar offroading event around Pajero.

Cheers,
-Rishi

@TGDC Team,

Thanks for bring Joy and Excitement in our lives for many days to come..Our soul will not rest in here. We would live up to your expectations..

Just want to thanks everybody who supported us this far…..Love you all

After a long time in life, I had a mixture of so many feelings at the same time… fear, anxiety, nervousness, thrill, surprise, excitement, irritability, impatience, joy, love… all at the same time… WOW! We had made it!

In a reflection of the ‘high’ that we are feeling right now, as a tribute to this whole event in our life, we have ‘photo mosaic-ed’ the 100 finalist couples and the Cedia… and another one of the TGDC logo…

download it at

http://waitforside.in

We have reversed and blocked several inappropriate comments (previously opened) where applicants have been rubbing fellow contestants the wrong way. Due to the high volume of comment moderation, some continue to slip past our moderators, and we apologize for the inconvenience caused.

We request you all to resolve your difference offline. This thread is now closed for further comments.

Undoubtedly… the event that has been designed by TGDC is really fantastic. All the credit goes to each & every crew member of TGDC who have been supporting directly or indirectly.

GUYS YOU ALL HAVE DONE A GREAT JOB! KEEP IT UP!!! 

I wanted to share my joy & happiness with everyone for getting shortlisted as top 100 contestants. I would also like to thank the jury and TGDC for this. We are the O of discover on the main page.
I also want to thank all those people who supported us in the form of voting and writing testimonials for us because of them we reached to a reasonably good no. of 357 votes and 142 testimonials. Guys I thank you once again, if I had not got your support, reaching here would have been really difficult.
Ur best wishes & good luck is furthermore required to cross the rest of the hurdles and be a winner.

Hope to see similar kind of events in the coming future by the TGDC team

CHEERS!!!

Vineet & Ranjeeta Malhotra.

Rishi,
Similar event with Outlander could be better option for Mitsubishi, on road and off road combination.. Outlander really needs a similar thrust to come up to the old and new True SUVs in India…

Best wishes to All 100… ANd in all fairness to TGDC team, it show the spirit of the sportsmanship to put up all the comments here..
Salutes to TGDC Team…

Hi Shanmuga,

I completely agree with you. Outlander is extremely capable soft-roader and is one of the most underrated SUVs available in India.

I was surprised to see that outlander is already Bharat Standard-IV emission compliant!! In fact this is first SUV to be compliant.

I test drove Outlander couple of times and absolutely love it!! Unfortunately, I can’t afford to buy it this year so I would have to wait for a year or two to buy it.

read about it more at: http://outlander.in/

Regards,
-Rishi

Bouquets and champagne all the way round for a fabulous competition. The TGDC team excited the heart and tickled the mind and brought to the forefront a passion that slumbers in all of us. We were many but there can only be one supremo, though not from lack of effort from anyone’s side. Its just circumstances and the luck of the draw to some extent. Kudos to the winners and salutations to the judges and the TGDC team for a breath of fresh air in the age of reality tv and self mockery shows. This competition is what all challenges should be about, i.e passions, yearning and the desire to best oneself. Keep the same spirit brewing.

Cheers,
Mav