'Josh' machines and jostling crowds

RIPPING ACROSS the battered Chennai roads, burning rubber all along 50 km in one wild `josh' filled rally, the participants were on an adventure. Sixty five instructions. Two hours and ten minutes to do the job.

The `Josh Car Rally' organised by Ford India and Welcomgroup Park Sheraton Hotel and Towers, was flagged off around nine on Sunday morning by Mr.Phil Spender, Managing Director of Ford India.

Twenty-five Ford cars, a few of them IKONs, soon hit the roads, either hunting for parking slots of specific shops, or racking brains, cracking clues.

There were even a couple of all-women teams participating in this adventure of sorts.

Keeping a watchful eye on the participants were the five Marshals, who signed the question sheets of the rallyists.

Driving along Anna Salai, and then Cathedral Road, the rallyists had to find out when the Horticultural Society was established.

Next, at the beach, they went hunting for the statue of the wandering monk to find out who unveiled it.

On to Adyar, Thiruvanmiyur, and New Mahabalipuram Road, to count the number of lights at VGP, and number of wooden pillars at the Tanjore restaurant.

The rallyists had a few things to buy as well. One was `slim and tall with a pointed head' - a pencil, a Pepsi can and more, before they returned to Park Sheraton via Kotturpuram.

Car No. 15, came first and the team consisting of Mr. Nishit Jain and Ms. Sonika Jain won two air tickets to Goa and back, a two- day stay at Cidade, Goa, a two-day stay at Hotel Carlton, Kodaikanal and lunch for four at Vijay's Cafe.

The second prize went to Car No. 25, the team of Mr. Ramkumar, Mr. Rajendran and Mr. Venkatesh, who won a two-day stay at Windsor Manor, Bangalore and a lunch at Residency for two.

Car No. 9, the team of Mr. Sumanth, Ms. Namrata Sumanth and Mr. Siddharth, finished third and won a two-day stay at Grand Bay, Vizag, and a dinner for two at Vijay's Cafe.

The prize for the all-women's team went to Ms. Sunita Suresh, Ms. Shobha Srinivasan, Ms. Kavita Krishnan and Ms. Lakshmi - a stay for two at Sullivan's Court, Ooty and a dinner for four at Vijay's Cafe.

How about getting a luxury car itself as a prize for a contest?

As the car makers target more Indians to sell their wheels, they have shifted to top gear.

A Suzuki Baleno was placed at Taj hotels in a joint promo effort, and customers were required to show how much they knew about the basic details of the car.

The participants were guests at the hotels.

The winner was of course chosen by draw of lots. And who was the lucky person? Mr. Surajit Mukherjee of Chennai.

The keys were handed over to him at the Taj Coromandel, by Maruti's Regional Manager, Mr. Rakesh Srivastava and the hotel's General Manager, Mr. Rajiv Narain.

Pity the vast majority of city dwellers have no such excitement in their quest to be mobile. Suzuki used the opportunity to create a ``rich database of prospective customers''.

The city bus service by MTC could take a leaf out of their book, and ask its jostling passengers what they would like to see in its uninspiring buses.

How about a contest to design a bus for the MTC taking suggestions from the user public ?

By Sudhish Kamath

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