The Great Driving Challenge | Spartan Hedgehogs

Chew up the Road!

252

746

12:57 AM

04 August 2009

like it

Comment(s)

(2) Comment(s) (32) like it

Day OneDERFUL!

Posted By Roohshad

Hurray, we’ve passed the first day!

Murphys Law states that when something goes wrong, it usually happens in the worse possible order! He was right, well, kinda!

Today we had our driving tests and had to work out and submit our route plans to the judges. Now you’d think driving a car on a regular road was easy, right? A few slightly steep turns, a couple of downhills, turn here, turn there, u-turn maaro, the usual, and, ummmmm, and obstacle course. I’d like you to imagine this, there I was, “Ace driver”, maverick behind the wheel, the gung-ho of street cars, the guys who’s taught almost all his friend how to drive, yes, that sooper dooper Mister Roohshad Garda, sitting behind the wheel, taking a SIMPLE driving test, and before he could even get to the obstacle course, he make a wrong turn, trips the engine (ok, so they tailored this one!!), forgot for a while which side of the road to drive on, and when this guru driver gets to the “piece of cake” obstacle course, he even manages to knock over one of the cones!!

*Take a bow Mister Garda! WAY TO GO!*
Sigh!

And i warn you commentators, if I see any more of you guys’ comments under this post, no cake and champagne party for you when we win!! HAHAHAHA….........

On a more serious note, I had a ball of a time. I don’t know what got over me in the beginning and why I was so stiff, but after having my tushy kicked by Zinaida and our (turns out he’s pretty cool) judge half way through the drive, I just let go and drove like I usually did, and everything was just fine after that—OH AND THEN I WENT OVER TWO NICE FAT BIG SPEED BREAKERS throwing everyone up in the car, introducing them to the lovely roof of our gorgeous red Cedia (and might i mention here, that the suspension managed that like a breeze).
So there you go. The driving test was passed with flying colors and was a great success. No, really!

JUDGES - The gorgeous Bachi Karkaria and super-cool Aadil Jal Dharkanawala !

And then we had to submit our route plans to the jury, and we had most of it ready, just had to make a few tweaks to the route and we were set to print, except, we couldn’t access the darn file! AND THEN, we cant access the internet, AND THEN the power keeps going on and off—locking us off the network until the IT guys comes along and warms his lap with the laptop trying to figure out why it doesn’t work, until we finally decided to give in to Murphy and just stick it out there to the judge and hope shes kind enough to see our case even without us having the documents we need. Now it was either my charming smile or Zinaida’s gorgeous eyes, but i think we managed to pass this one too

Think Spartan Hedgehogs, think! How do we submit our route plan in time with no connectivity!!!

Now, I know its not too late for us healthy young birds to blog, but I think I’m going to call it a night. Thank you guys for all the support, I know the whole sign-up process to this new blog is a bit of a yatch but thanks for taking the time, you guys have once again managed to make us number one with the highest followers and maximum likes. We
must obviously be doing something right and for that I wanna sneak in a special thanks to our family and our close friends, who’ve made us the nutters we are today.

Gonna leave you with some sneak-peaks of the excitement and stress building up at the “Jade Room”!

Route plans! Route plans! Route plans!

And more discussions on route plans! Phew!

Paying attention in class.

Pavithra is all ears. “Handbrake Harry” is all smiles.

Radhika, forcing a smile through all that tension.

Joe & Namrata in conversation with the judge - Tanya Chaitanya.

Rishi sending out a Hi Five to all you readers out there!

With all our love for our gorgeous little villa in Bollywood,

Roohshad & Zinaida

Page 1 of 1 pages

Latest SMS Feeds

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 17th Aug 09 12:59:02 PM

Beautiful drive from Nashik to Bombay, one of THE best roads we have driven on!

From : TWaC

Sent : 17th Aug 09 12:40:00 PM

Had fallen in love with Cedia. Now, it s time for detachment.

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 16th Aug 09 03:20:55 PM

Bright, blue sky.. Cotton candy clouds.. We head to Nasik

From : TWaC

Sent : 16th Aug 09 01:30:31 PM

Heavy rains in Konkan. Near zero visibility.

From : TWaC

Sent : 16th Aug 09 11:58:04 AM

Back to Maharashtra

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 16th Aug 09 08:27:16 AM

on the road again, heading from udaipur to baroda

From : TWaC

Sent : 15th Aug 09 04:28:50 PM

Rain welcomes us at Goa

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 15th Aug 09 03:54:33 PM

In pot-hole territory. Thank god we are on empty stomachs!

From : TWaC

Sent : 15th Aug 09 03:36:16 PM

Now on the fringes of Western Ghats

From : TWaC

Sent : 14th Aug 09 04:05:56 PM

Touched Kerala once more. At Bekal Fort

From : TWaC

Sent : 14th Aug 09 04:02:45 PM

Morning drive through misty Coorg

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 14th Aug 09 01:31:24 PM

just reached jaipur... Its super warm here

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 14th Aug 09 01:17:21 PM

300km from home! :) :) racing to indore!

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 14th Aug 09 12:18:33 PM

Still pouring, hoping its also raining in MP where the soyabean farmers are looking up hopefully at the sky

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 14th Aug 09 12:08:08 PM

2361 Shivpuri

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 14th Aug 09 11:51:43 AM

Pouring all the way from Agra into Jaipur

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 14th Aug 09 07:54:28 AM

On our way to Jaipur

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 13th Aug 09 11:12:33 PM

Blogging! The bed beckons..

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 13th Aug 09 07:46:54 PM

Just out after seeing the taj mahal!

From : TWaC

Sent : 13th Aug 09 04:51:36 PM

Madikkeri - Ghats, rains and pot-holed roads

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 13th Aug 09 04:10:44 PM

10km from Gwalior, pulled over by the police to be asked Kya yeh sports gaadi hai? ;D

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 13th Aug 09 03:43:28 PM

Had breakfast AND lunch today! Niiiice! :D

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 13th Aug 09 12:38:26 PM

Still on the road to Agra...

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 13th Aug 09 08:04:32 AM

Heading to Agra. Its going to be a long drive..

From : TWaC

Sent : 12th Aug 09 06:31:31 PM

On our way back to Mysore

From : TWaC

Sent : 12th Aug 09 05:35:06 PM

In Wayanad. Western Ghats Kerala episode

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 12th Aug 09 02:42:18 PM

Tan! Tandan!! .. Aaja aaja dilli chhodein! .. Delhi dropped from plans. We head straight to Agra!

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 12th Aug 09 01:46:03 PM

It s hot at the Hawa Mahal! :|

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 12th Aug 09 12:59:33 PM

In Varanasi, walking along the ghats and looking at the Ganga

From : TWaC

Sent : 12th Aug 09 11:48:58 AM

Through Nagarhole National Park

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 12th Aug 09 11:41:21 AM

At Akad Cars, the Mitsu showroom. Mr. Abhinav, the MD, is tellim us the best way around Jaipur.

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 12th Aug 09 09:13:27 AM

Good morning world! We are in Jaipur! Today s objective: getting Joe a pink shirt/kurta ;)

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 11th Aug 09 10:20:04 PM

In Varanasi, just got back to the room after the ganga aarti. Stunning.

From : TWaC

Sent : 11th Aug 09 09:03:36 PM

Swine flue alert in Hassan. We cancelled our stay and hit Mysore.

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 11th Aug 09 07:55:47 PM

On NH8, long day comin to an end.

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 11th Aug 09 04:51:56 PM

Dust storm outside, but IIM Outdoors is snugly cocooned in the Blackhawk :)

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 11th Aug 09 04:06:41 PM

30kms from Varanasi and its pouring..

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 11th Aug 09 01:51:31 PM

Leaving Jodhpur ... On our way to Ajmer.. Hoping to visit the dargah today .. Jodhpur was beautiful! *sigh*

From : TWaC

Sent : 11th Aug 09 01:40:47 PM

Cedia Sports turns its SUV mode on. Climbs Kemmana Gundi peak.

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 11th Aug 09 12:28:05 PM

Superbly bad roads on route to Varanasi. Soaking in the last sights of Madhya Pradesh.

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 11th Aug 09 12:20:07 PM

Just had a long conversation with Mr.Brijraj Singh - great-grandson of HRH Ratan Singh .. Visit to Mehrangarh Fort delayed

From : TWaC

Sent : 11th Aug 09 12:20:02 PM

Driving through coffee estates to Kemmana Gundi peak

From : TWaC

Sent : 11th Aug 09 10:23:44 AM

Bhadra dam & WLS. Touch & go.

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 11th Aug 09 08:52:51 AM

Just got up, not a single post been uploaded so far, gotta hurry.. ttyl :)

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 11th Aug 09 08:31:52 AM

Passing through the Panna Forest Reserve..stopped on a bridge..

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 11th Aug 09 08:01:54 AM

Heading from Khajuraho to Varanasi..

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 10th Aug 09 08:43:24 PM

Sitting at Raja Cafe having a European thali.. :)

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 10th Aug 09 07:56:44 PM

In Jodhpur old markets - SHOPPING!

From : TWaC

Sent : 10th Aug 09 07:50:45 PM

At Shimoga after a rainy day in rain forests

From : One Foot Wild

Sent : 10th Aug 09 07:40:11 PM

Back at the hotel after seeing the absolutely stunning temples of Khajuraho.

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 10th Aug 09 06:47:10 PM

As the sun sets, we enter Jodhpur, today s travel - 396km, but not feeling blue at all :)

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 10th Aug 09 04:50:05 PM

100 km away frm jodhpur, horrible truckyktraffic on the way. Had lunch for the second time in four days! :)

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 9th Aug 09 02:27:22 PM

Just had tea with Mr.Dhanraj Mallik, Rann veteran & advisor to the BBC. Right now, on our way to discover some salt pans, thts how we spend our Sunday! ;)

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 9th Aug 09 12:05:24 PM

On state highway 07. Namrata s driving while I m writing and Enrique s crooning.

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 8th Aug 09 07:30:34 PM

At the Vintage Villa of classic cars, droolin over the sports tourers. Got here after blastin the 88km NE1 Expressway in 42mins! Cedia, take a bow!

From : TWaC

Sent : 8th Aug 09 12:01:23 AM

Sagareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary A manmade forest spread over 84 sq km A haven for deers peacocks an many birds

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 7th Aug 09 10:25:40 PM

Ab hum bhi poore punjabi! ... Current track: Kangana .. For Gaurav from Chandigarh :)

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 7th Aug 09 09:56:45 PM

Just discovered d USB connector for the blackhawk s music sys... one of d best moments of d day! :D

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 7th Aug 09 05:28:25 PM

Reached our first destination Daman, it even has its own airport! :)

From : TWaC

Sent : 7th Aug 09 04:38:22 PM

We haven't heard the 'Suprabhatham' chant for many many years. While we were in Chennai and Kerala we used to hear that quite often. First day morning. And as we walk into this nice restaurant at Vashi for breakfast, the 'Suprabhatham' chant welcomes us. Perhaps a good omen on the first stop on first day.

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 7th Aug 09 04:19:19 PM

Just drove 21 km in our cedia, for the very first time! This vehicle is just so smooth!! :) 50 km from Daman. Joe s taken over coz we have to reach by 12

From : IIM Outdoor

Sent : 7th Aug 09 03:09:15 PM

Good morning! :) on our way frm thane to vapi. Jus done upma n rawa dosa at Kamat Vithals. Catch the pic on our flickr n twitter!

About us

"Zinaida! You, me. Mitsubishi! 3000kms. 4 days to go." Roohshad tells me at 01.28AM, Saturday. Roohshad is primarily an adventurer, a (ridiculously brilliant) photographer, artist and sometimes human.

Based in Bangalore, he's the centre of attention, and a big brat! I'm a DJ, a partner in Goa's biggest nightlife firm, a writer (and an angel of the lord). When not being awesome, I sing, play the Piano and drive better than your better than average man.

Day OneDERFUL!

About us

Followers

Other Teams

Recent Posts