Well said Dilip and Sandip.

Let us first accept that life is indeed not fair. Or else how do I explain myself sitting in a plush office whereas right across the street, I see a person making another building brick by brick for someone else!!

But does this make that person across the street any less than me? I guess not, he has the potential, he is hard working but may be he is not as lucky as me…and yes life is unfair.

So if life is indeed unfair then how can we expect everything else to be completely fair. Mind it! I am not asking people to be unfair but at the same time be fair, work hard and believe in something called “Luck” as well…sometimes it is on your side and everything looks fair and sometimes when it is not on your side, it appears unfair.

So, Sandip I believe you, your team and Jury tried their best to be fair and it indeed showed. At the same time there are learnings, which I am sure each one of us would apply next time…be it event organizers or participants for that matter.

My two cents…

Regards,
-Rishi

First of all, i congratulate you Sandip & the team for quite a great competition conducted so far.

I guess the people who are cribbing and complaining regarding the “fairness” of the procedure were not a great contestant in the first place. I feel that like in a road trip, the journey is much more important than the destination itself and by cribbing some contestants have showed the lacked of respect to this basic philosophy itself.

I, for one, have been lucky enough to get into the top 100, but the happiness could be short-lived, as who know, i might not make it to the top 9. The journey so far has been awesome. We might reach the destination, we might not. Sometimes one does have to take a U-turn after-all in a road trip as well, due to some factors. All one does in that case, is make plans to come back again to complete the journey.

As for the filters, i guess this was the best you guys could’ve done to be all inclusive.

Team TGDC,
Rather than compromising on the profile completeness & other must aspects of qualifying you should have captured the logs of duration of those applicants who have been hooked on your site, vying for votes & testimonies, completing the profile 100%, updating the profile and working for hours on it.
After reading your comments here I feel like a fool spending hours of my valuable time trying hard to get through the top 3 spots.
Had you stuck to your qualifying criteria there would have been much healthy sentiments. Quite possible you guys didn’t anticipate such a response to the challenge, for which you could have taken more days to finalise on the top 100 or increased the panel of jury……
Is it appropriate to ask for all those applications rejected imprudently get a fair chance?

hi Sandip

For almost one full day i have followed the comments on bouquets and brickbats and could almost feel the heat at your end.  Some made it and some did not as it was meant to be, however there is one common stream amongst all posts i.e. passion to compete and win.  I was amazed to see the energy in one and all and fiercely competitive spirit that both sides showed.

I think TGDC has kindled this dormant spirit in many of us and i hope that the spirit remains ignited in one and all and your reply today will help understand the relaxations made to accomodate a wider application base.

Did i make it ? doesnt really matter in this context but i am sure the deserving winner will have to do more than stand on one leg and .........

Hi Sandip,

Thanks for clarifications about your quantitative filters. I guess it would have been nice if you would have mentioned this earlier itself. Now maybe people will understand why some profile were shortlisted as part of top 100 even when they had very less votes/no google map etc.

I think people who had put lot of efforts to complete their applications were disappointed yesterday and hence trying to comment on your blogs. I guess most of them (including us) are at peace today with the fact that they are not part of top 100 and hence you don’t see any more comments coming.

I’ll tell you something, I had seen the advertisement for this contest on the 1st day itself but I waited for 10-12 days to create my profile as I was not sure about the fairness of the contest. I created my profile only after I noticed that you have started blogging about the whole process as I expected the contest to be fair and open.

I guess some points to debate/healthy open discussions will be always there as no two persons can think in same way.

Anyways, I am looking forward to see the top 3 couples taking this dream journey and enjoying themselves.

I don’t have your email id but will surely like to be in touch with you.

All the best to remaining couples and you for the remaining contest,
Neelesh

We are in total agreement with Dilip and Sandip!

I was not competing for a slot in TGDC, but have however followed the proceedings very closely because my daughter and her driving partner were in the fray.  They made it to the TOP 100, but seriously it would not have mattered even if they had not.  Because I feel, as she does, that the fun is in the journey and not so much in the destination.  Once you reach, you always have to come back don’t you?  I have been reading the brickbats and bouquets with equal interest.  And have this to say. Anyone who took part did it with the full knowledge that the jury’s decision would be final and unquestionable.  There’s obviously a lot of thought that has gone into this process and it has been transparent to a great extent.  Come on guys, a good loser makes a better winner the next time around.  And there’s always a next time! So smile

Hi Sandip
We were one of the couples who have made the top 100 but we still felt that somewhere the process was not completely fair.

We’ve been one of your biggest admirers of yours since we have registered, not only on the social media but also whenever we met friends, we couldnt stop talking about how well this whole challenge was organised and run.

What upset us is the amount of energy that we spent canvassing for votes could have been spent elsewhere if we had known it was 1/9 the importance. Somehow we got a feeling from your blogs and rules that the voting would have a lot more importance.

But now that you’ve explained it thus, we do understand the enormity of your job and so we would like to say that it has overall been a job well done. And we hope that you would be as transparent and fair henceforth too.

Thanks
Leena and Sai

I agree with Nilesh and few others who have posted comments earlier.

I got an e-mail today from TGDC, which stated that there are chances of TGDC season 2. I have two requests here.

1. Please do not keep voting as a criteria, because now again we can’t ask people to vote for us, if that happens, it will lessen the value of the contest, and also, it will erase the possibility of “fake” votes.

2. About this filteration procedure, in case you are planning for season 2, make sure people are aware of this filter in place. Because I know, I would have won this contest if I had been shortlisted, but I guess its because of lesser testimonials (15 only) that my application did not get through. I understand my testimonials were less but they were really good, three of them, I actually cried while reading it. Those three touched my heart. I never knew People think so good of me. I plan to frame all of them and put it in my house. Those testimonials are my Achievement in this contest.

And yes, even though I know that I left behind coz of testimonials, I would still blame you for being unfair by letting those not-so-deserving people in top 100s.

But that does’t mean that I will not follow the contest further, I definetely will!!!

and I hope the season 2 do not witness all this. I am sure you will learn from your errors!

Wish you all the best, and always with you,
Vinny and Bushra!

Vinny and Bushra,

You already have my vote and support for the next season

Keep driving and don’t forget to wear your seatbelts. Buy a decent digital camera and start clicking for your flickr.

All the best!!

Cheers,
-Rishi

Vinny - we have learnt many things from running this campaign, and they will be put to good use for Season #2 (whenever). You did make the filtered list (the cutoff for testimonials was 10), but may have missed the shortlist by a whisker.

Leena/Sai - The second blog post “Votes & More” mentioned that voting was just one criteria, and another post “more tips” listed all the nine criteria. I don’t think there was any explicit instructions anywhere to focus only on voting. The “featured by voting rank” may have been source of inspiration for many to remain high on page#1, and thus the mad rush for votes.

Hey Sandip

Fair enough. We joined late and probably missed reading your post on the nine criteria because we were too focussed on getting votes .

Again as you rightly said the ranking by votes thing totally misled us!!
No fault of yours!!

Sorry if we were harsh in our comments yesterday. It was basically because you have set the standards so high for yourself that we were dissapointed. But it would be unfair of us to penalise for doing that.
So, we are back in the list of your admirers esp after the way you’ve handled the heat.

Thanks
Leena and Sai

Dear Sandip,
I have been reading this section with a lot of interest since yesterday and am surprised that so many people felt that the number of votes one garnered would be the ‘deciding’ factor.  If that were true, why would we have been asked to submit four kinds of statements of purpose (about ourselves, why we were the best, our travelogue and our travel plan)?  It was clear from the beginning that each piece of this jigsaw would be equally important.  After all you can’t call a jigsaw complete, if even one piece is missing can you?  The process has been extremely interesting and has challenged us in several ways.  I appreciate the way it has been planned and all the best to the TOP 100 in their climb up.  My partner and I are in that too and will accept the final decision, whatever it is, in good grace and dignity.

I have no problem with votes being one of the criteria. Why not? On paper it’s an indication of how good your application is, as seen by the masses out there. (I do have a problem with people asking, is it OK if all my friends vote multiple times from their multiple email IDs?)

My only point in the email I sent Sandip was this: that in a contest where applicants are asked to write a few things—in this case, four—the people running the contest owe it to the applicants to read those things the applicants wrote. All the applicants. Apply the filters after that, fine.

Think about applying to a university where you have to write a statement of purpose, as well as supply your marks and so on. Often, an applicant works hard on his SoP in the hope that he can use that to make up for not-so-great marks (I speak from personal experience!) Well, what if the Univ that’s asked him to write this SoP applies a filter that throws out his application because his marks didn’t cut it? That would seem unreasonable to me.

Anyway, good luck to you, Rishi (you’re not THAT Rishi Kapoor, are you?) and Leena/Sai and all you others. Have much fun.

Agreed to what Dilip says in his last comment. Yet I agree with Sandeep to have applied filters on application which are not even 70% complete. It was clearly mentioned by TGDC that incomplete applications will not qualify. The cutoff voting being as low as 30 as mentioned by Sandeep, is generous.

Dilip please guide me on this… Should a university entertain the SoP, if the candidate does not even pass with grace marks?

Its time to move on now.  You have hours left for the Lucky 9… 100 has went and gone… Best of luck to contestants who are still in it.

Addressed to All across the Fence !

I went through all the above 14 expert comments without missing a word ! Every soul here has a Valid point.I am sure even the expert Jury and the filtering team may not be at peace I . .definitely some degree of guilt remains in some corner ! ....To err is human .....then who is divine here?

I too stand on the other side with 959 other couples ! The concept was excellent ! which gave me a drive and new dimension to my e-life ! ..The best learning process online ! ...The execution of this wonderful concept had some short comings ...and the process got refined as the days passed by ...i was living with only TGDC mania ......TGDC became my routine and i was breathing,eating,thinking and dreaming only TGDC ! ....sleeping just for 3 hours ...begging for more votes ..skipping my favorite die-hard hobby - Jogging !  ...keeping the Computer ON 24x15 days - Glued to the screen with screams bypassing Routine domestic rituals ...driving in haste to reach the Hospital for this emergency to view my progress while i was on road ...attending to my critically ill patients on Life support systems and spending time with their anxious relatives for daily updates ( NO Compromise on that- thats our ethic)  then precious breaks in between ....waiting for more - more than - Yeh dil mange more ! ..excitement following every single vote-mail from TGDC !  ...The Inbox was lively and beautiful with bold dark unread messages from TGDC TEAM !  getting the thrill with every new vote or occasional Testimonial !  I too had a mania to remain on Page # 1. My Over-zealous friends and supporters (2200 in my Institution with whom i am here for last 15 years) gave me too much of love in terms of Votes ! that could have been the reason of my Questionable disqualification !  and me biting the dust ! .....QUEEN says - No one bites the dust ! ... may be i licked !.....
The negative publicity can not be ruled out as majority being on the other side of Fence ! ...I am proud of my New Cedia spirit ..but still feel let down - may be i have to blame myself ! ... i must have excelled professional begging !! for votes !

..No filtration process is perfect and ideal ....loop holes and deviations are inherent part of any stream of Statistics especially in quantization!  as mentioned on top by expert commentator.

Rightly said by bharathi ghanashyam - there is always a next time !!

Sandip conducted the threads professionally. ....No hard feelings for unlucky 17th July ! ....It wasn’t my sunny day ! ...amazingly - A perfect Eclipse is coming a little late !

I was riding high on Blogs along with Amit sharma, Joseph Radhik, imtiaz,  Vinny and Bushra, Neelesh, Huzaifa, Sumit Shital,chandrani chaudhuri - travel writer, Narendra Puppala,Rahul,Chetan, Arvind,Sameer,Bhavin & Roop Lakhani, Leena and Sai,Nagraj   and many OTHERS !

Then ifelt little sinking down - towards gravity ! ...I didn’t crash !  ......From the stage of Rejection to Denial to Acceptance ....let me move on to the stage of Joy and Bliss !! ....My desire is Alive ! ...Fire is IN! ..my ignition is ON ...I have lots of Fuel to burn ! ....the fighter is alive in !! ....my accelerator is ON ! ......give me a destination ... and i am there !!!....May be in 2010 !!

Hats off to Sober Sandip and Mr perfect Dilip D’Souza !!!!

See you soon !

Well said Doc…I am sure nobody else could have captured the spirit and passion for driving any better. You have immaculately captured what each one of us went through during the voting phase.

I agree that the passion and dreams must not die…and there is always a next time.

And next time, the competition would mature to next level.

Cheers!
-Rishi

Divya, you ask:

>Should a university entertain the SoP, if the candidate does not even pass with grace marks?

If they ask for a SoP, my feeling is they should read it. After all, the whole point of asking for something like a SoP is that you get a fuller picture of the applicant than just marks can offer.

When I was at Univ in the States, I helped out a bit one year with applicants to my department. The folks concerned looked closely at all aspects of all applications, from SoP to marks to extra-curricular stuff.

Hats off to you too, Dr Anand!

Thanks Mr Rishi Kapoor - for your Positive comments !

No turn around for 17/7 Tragedy !!
.......yeh… KUDRAT KA FAISLA thaa….. NASEEB apna apna ......The Tsunami has gone !!
Its just the rehabilitation phase !! ....

regards and best of luck to you ! ....there may be a SAGAR between us but of course no KARZ between us !!  ... I am just DOOSRA AADMI ...is DUNIYA mein ... i just told you in   KHEL KHEL MEIN !! ...mujhe hona hai RAFOO CHAKKAR !!  and you prove dear Rishi - ZAMAANE KO DIKHANA HAI !!  per yeh - YEH ISHQ (RACE)  NAHIN AASAAN !!!

best of luck !!
regards

ks

Doc your post above brought a big smile on my face, I am not a movie buff. Thanks for making my day, it is friends like you, that this event has brought together for life for me.

Do reach out to me on orkut/facebook and let us stay connected. Thanks again…

...And to end this post I can’t help but write this for the 3 beauties waiting for winners…Bachna ae Haseeno!!

Cheers!
-Rishi

The comments are getting richer, mature and discussion from hot to warm and cozy!

We wish good luck to every contestant who has worked hard, taken time out from their schedules and put their mind and soul into this. We truly appreciate everyone!

One thing worth the mention is captcha (random text) which never fails to amuse us every single time we post a comment.

This time it said “young17” which is exactly how we are feeling right now and gearing up ourselves to get ready for the challenge.

Dr. Anand,
I had sent you a testimonial advising you to change your travel plan. It wasn’t very specific but I thought you would get my drift. I sent this to a number of contestants in the spirit of sportsmanship (and ofcourse with a hope thet they would vote for me for having saved them from committing a blunder…. didn’t say I am Santa Claus now did I?!). Most of them for instance Abhijit and Vashishta changed the route a few hours before the applications were locked down and thanked me for the heads up als they’re in the top100.

You listed your route plan from KanyaKumari(confluence of three seas) to Leh. The rules specified 300-350km a day and not more than 10 days of driving. KanyaKumari to Leh is an 7000km+ round trip as per google maps. Besides that the rules also specify that the drive needs to start from Mumbai and end at Mumbai. These two were probably instrumental in your application not having made the cut because otherwise it’s a very decently done application and you had 1500+ votes which I’m sure is more than decent (I should know I managed just 173)

I hope I can someday do as much of travelling as you have done. Next time around ask Maam to read the rules and update you while you focus on the other stuff. That’s probably what worked for us oherwise I too had wanted to go to Sikkim at one point and then Leh ).... finally listened to the wife and changed the route plan to try and reach Munnar…

All he best for next time and I actually look forward to interacting with you a lot more so that I can get driving tips (been driving for the past 2.5 years only)....

-imtiaz

Following this blog has brought such an emotional feel to this trip, which for obvious reason, was being taken negatively by many due to rejection.

@ Dr KS Anand…. You rightly mentioned about the people bringing in the negative publicity. This cannot be stopped but as they say, time heals the pain and now all the negativity seems a by gone era. I really liked your well drafted comment which talks about human touch as the larger picture.

@ Imtiaz…. Its amazing that you demonstrated true sportsmanship durings the challenge

Im glad everyone are already waiting to be in the season 2 of this event…. Im already game for it.

Cheers to everyone here

Arvind

Dear Imtiaz,

Thanks first!  for your valuable input and for all your good comments. You appear very down to earth person. I do remember your input in my Testimonials but then i didn’t bother to give attention to the finer prints of this rule. My dream route has to my route - thats what i thought and i didn’t alter my plans.

Eroj was instrumental in backing me up as any other better half would do. She had her own doubts regarding the fairness of the show out of her experience watching Reality TV Shows but thats a different story.

Now at the end i am happy that -i have many good friends here sharing the same platform which TGDC has provided us, otherwise we wouldn’t have met in our whole life time !!
Thanks once again for your Testimonial input and your sportsmanship and your fair play !!
regards
Wishing you all the best ! whether you win or not - but there is definitely a glamorous period ahead on the friendship route ! ..saalam walekum !

ks

——————————————————————————
Hi Rishi Kapoor

Thanks for the reply which i was eagerly awaiting !
Hope we would share similar wave length !...amplitude may vary !!

all the best to you too-

regards
KS
——————————

@Imtiaz, I never knew you di this job, its fantastic to learn what you did for fellow contestants, I am embarrassed, i never did anything besides blogging my comments and re-working my own application. The onl other contestant I helped is Sunny Williams, he being my elder brother. I am guilty of being so selfish, I extend my apologies to everyone. and I appreciate your sporting spirit, keep it up!!!

I would request you to please give a feedback on my application too. I have attached the link!