The Great Driving Challenge | User Application

Sameer Patil & Pooja Patil

Total Vote(s) : 260 | Total Testimonial(s) : 20

Hi Everybody, We are Sameer & Pooja, a brother & sister team. We are here because we are CRAZY! We are late here coz we were trying to negotiate a probable leave from Pooja's company for this event but know what? its not possible.. but what the heck! We were Crazy enough to risk the job to be a part of this exciting adventure. Long live the adventure spirit! Pooja is a legal eagle working with an MNC Insurance as AM Legal Compliance, she is a double PG, MBA & LLB. She loves travelling & parties in Mumbai / London whenever shes not working. If not both, then you will find her glued to her cell phone. Its soon gonna be an extension of her ear :) About me, well I am a just born entrepreneur launching a travel promotions site by the name of Traveltechie.com. Before this, I was Heading Marketing for Arzoo.com, the Travel portal developed by Sabeer Bhatia. I dig Golf, Trekking, Martial Arts & Adventure Sports. Man v/s wild on Discovery is my kinda thing.

We are the best candidates because...

We are travel & adventure freaks & if not trekking in the sahyadris, we are mostly out on every alternate weekends to all possible nearby destinations including Matheran, Alibaug, Kihim, Murud (my favourite), Khopoli, Lonavala, Manor, Kelve, Daman, Wada, Nashik - dont be surprised about Nashik, its really a good weekend place to be in, especially if you love sula wines ;) Across India, our fav place is Rishikesh, love the spirituality in the air apart from rafting down the Ganges. Goa, of course is an all time fav. love the benaulim beach as north beaches are two crowded.. love 9 bar though.. coppacabana used to be our fav. place.. feni & port wines our poison.. Corbett was amazing.. Beyond India, Pooja's work related travel had her swinging on the London Bridge recently. She plans to take a TGV next time & do a little backpacking across France & Italy. Ibiza island, off the Barcelona coast is my favourite place. Its the world party capital with a single street lined up wiith more than 100 pubs. Foam parties, topless babes.. you name it, everythings there... It's also a world heritage site by the way. The water theres coloured like blue pepsi.. n also tastes like one... just kiddin.. it actually is pretty salty.. mediterranean sea .. you know..Elsewhere..Paris is pretty romantic, shoppings great. Thai Foot massage is amazing in Bangkok, Love the night safari in Singapore, the windows street in Amsterdam ;). I long to go to the cantanals in Brazil one day & also watch the carnival in Rio on my way back. Well, where ever we go we make it a point to get the local tastes , smell the local flavour & try to make the most of the trip by not only doing the popular stuff, but also try n get our hands on the hidden treasures... we have the spirit of Marcopolo n Colombus within us!

Our Travel Plan

We plan to zoom down the Pune expressway enjoying the waterfalls at Lonavala & taste some zany missal pav at the Cultural Capital of Maharashtra heading onwards to buy some Sholapuri blankets at local markets of Sholapur. Moving forward to tickle our taste buds with the famed Biryani of Hyderabad & look out for some pearls at the right price. Then on, we look forward to seek blessings of Lord Balaji at Tirupati to win the TGDC! There on, we move to Chennai to buy some silk sarees for our mom. Driving down the picturesque road overlooking the Bay of Bengal, we move to the erstwhile French Colonial Capital town of Pondicherry & capture its beauty on our lenses. We then move down south through the paddy fields into the temple town of Madurai & visit the famous Meenakshi temple. There on we drive down to Kanyakumari & touch the feet of our Mother India & pay our tributes to Swami Vivekananda at his Memorial watching the sunrise over the confluence of 3 great water bodies of Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean & Arabian Sea. The real fun starts here when we wiz past the jungles, backwaters & the beaches of the Gods Own Country - Kerala on our way to Mangalore to savour the appams. The climax of our journey starts here as we prepare to reach one of our favourite destinations which we have visited umpteen times but always longed to experience it in the rains. Yes.. I am talking of the great Goa! Tasting some port wine & buying some feni would set our spirits to visit some of the most magnificent but not so well known beaches, Forts & temples along the coastal Maharashtra. After stopping by at Ganpatipule & seeking blessings of Lord Ganesha, we will continue our drive northwards via the Konkan coast to reach Mumbai with beautiful memories, photographs & experience of a Lifetime!

Our Travelogue

Corbett was fun, while on Safari, we had halted at an observation post & were playing Tiger Tiger & scaring each other with roars & mews n suddenly we heard a real tiger roar pretty close by.. man.. what followed was must have been a fastest entry in to a Gypsy by any human beings... Pooja always longed to experience the real snowfall...couple of years back, she got an awesome dose of the bone chill effect when she was stuck on the Kashmir Highway due to heavy snowfalls. Till then she didn't know what is cold.. now.. her teeth chatters whenever anyone utters the word snowfall. At Barcelona, I was famished & decided to try out the local restaurant. Being a pure Veggie( not even eggs), outside India in most countries, its always hard to get decent veg food beyond the Indian restaurants ( usually run by the pakis or bangladeshis). So I walk into this spanish looking restaurant nearby & see this white skin head sitting on the counter. I explain him in english that I need something to eat, no fish, no meat, no eggs. He doesn't seem to understand. So I try to explain him a couple of more times.. but no luck as few spanish understand proper english.. I thought for myself, it useless to bang your head on the wall & was about to leave .. when this skin head asks me.. "Indian"? I nod.. guess what happens next??? He calmy walks to me n says, " Bhaisaab aap ko kya mangta hai boliye naa, mujhe angrezi nahin aati"! I was floored for a moment. Too stunned to speak.. I stood there all by myself. He then explained that he was a Punjabi & he was running this spanish restaurant. Wah India wah!.. tere bacche to har duniya ke galiyon And kono mein.. I thought. While at amsterdam, I was at a pub & ran out of cigarettes. The guy sharing the table offered me one & I lit it up.. although the taste seem weird, I didn't think too much as thought it to be some local brand of ciggie with local taste n puffed on.. but .. damn.. it was laced with marijuana! I was so stoned... so stoned ......that, next day I promptly went to the same bar without buying the cigarretes ;). In Amsterdam, smoking Marijuana is akin to smoking a Ciggie...! Wow!

8th July 2009

Shashi Nair

7th July 2009

Testimonials

Rakhi

Sameer & pooja, both are travel freaks & very adventurous. i've know them for more than 7 years & always get to see pics of the new destinations they keep on travelling to. I wish them all the best.

chiru rungta

dey r d best..ppl beware cos u gt tuff challengers lyk pooja n sameer...cheerz pooja..yu gona win it easily..rock onn guys...cheerzzz

Narendra

u deserve to be a part of the rally ..... :) My wishes with u :) Get geared up for the rally.

Poonam

Well now that we have the fastest guys in here...time to see wht speed in its real sense means...wishing u all the best champs...GO GET IT.

Saurabh Deshpande

Yeh...... I am sure u will win this rally. Because I know your Thinking. "Who Dares Wins" And u guys are daring ones. so Congrats in adv. "Dare Devils" BEST OF LUCK :)

Brat...

Bravvo..... Keep it up guys,Wish u very best luck for rally. Cheers

Viren

an Apt team for an apt challenge.. Go for it!

Ashish

Pooja & Sameer DEFINATELY deserve to be here! They are adventurous & am sure will come with flying colors! All the best folks!

Don

Sam & Poo are a rocking duo who together, can move mountains. I look forward to their whacky comments & blogs & zany pics while on the rally. have fun guys..

Khan

I am thrilled to see Sameer and Pooja as a team on this driving challenge... I know they will rock! Khan

Ranjit Patil

pooja is an adventoruos girl ... she is a car freak & likes to speed up in her life ... my best wishes are always with her ... all the best for the competition & hope she wins the same

london.maher

i wish you all the best i will be voting for you ....hope you win!! Good luck

AMIT RUNGTA

Hi, This amit rungta from Akola,wishing you best of luck and lots of good wishes.

Manoj

i wish you both all the best & hope that you win the contest

Manoj

i wish you both all the best & hope that you win the contest

prashant

i have known Sameer for almost 4 years & i very well know his passion for photography & driving! i'm sure he'll make it to the finals and win this contest!

Rasika

Sameer is very good at driving to the extent of having driven 700 kms in a day. The best part is he really loves driving. I'm sure he'll enjoy this challenge and win it! All the Best to Sameer

Sunil

Sameer n Pooja, both have a passion for photography Whenever you travel with either, you are sure to go through umpteen stops on the way as they & doesn't leave the smallest opportunity to stop the car & click good pics. Now that Sam's got his new n97 with 5 MP, I am sure there are great many photo graphs come up! Cheers to Sam & Poo

Dr. Pushpa Patil

Sameer is an extremely Good Driver having extensively driven in Western India & little bit in Northern India. With this Challenge, he will cover the South & enjoy the Drive. My Blessings to him & Pooja for a safe & fun filled journey. - Mother

Dr. Pushpa Patil

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