So it all started in April first week when my friend Abhishek Thakkar sent me the link to the Fantastic Five - The South Africa Chapter microsite on www.in.com. It asked "Is traveling in your blood and blogging your second nature?" Aye aye sir! Those who answered in affirmative could win a five day trip to a city in South Africa. Too good to be true? Yeah, too good to be true. I checked the sponsors - South Africa Tourism and South African Airways - and it all looked good.
I promptly filled out the form and submitted my entry. The contest closed on 15 May and on 19th I got an email from Radha Barooah saying I was shortlisted for the final auditions in Bombay. I could have jumped six feet into the air at that moment.
Ten people were shortlisted for the auditions - Arjun, Chhavi, Hrish, Pallavi, Rohit, Sasha, Sumanyu, Swapnali, Yudhajit and I - and were supposed to make a 5-7 slide presentation on one of their previous travels. Five finalists out of these ten would be sent to five different cities in South Africa for five days. I crossed my fingers and waited for the auditions on 5 Jun at TV18 Studios in Lower Parel.
The Auditions at TV18 Studios
On the day of the auditions, I met six other passionate travelers (others couldn't make it for various reasons). Radha and her colleagues were busy shuffling through the papers to arrange the auditions. We were to go in one after the other for the presentations. As the initial candidates went into the audition room, I settled into the guest room sofa and waited for my turn.
About half an hour later, Radha came running down the corridor and called my name.
"Zishaan, you are up next."
I walked to the audition room with her through a long corridor between bustling colorful desks and glass cabins. All was calm till I entered the room - a TV studio. But as I entered the dark room, my heart skipped a beat (was I nervous?) My eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I saw a chair and desk with a spot light on it. This was the hot seat. 5 yards away in front of the desk were seated 4 jury members - Suresh Venkat, Harsha Subramanium, Rishi Khiani and Medha Sampat. Medha, I understood, headed the South Africa Tourism Board in India.
"You have 5 minutes for your presentation," Suresh said.
My presentation was projected on a large white screen beside us. I started with a shaky introduction about myself and moved on to the slides. They were titled 'New York, I Love You!' and were a hash of human emotion and neighborhoods in New York City (e.g. Surprise in Meat Packing, Optimism in Greenwich, Awe in Harlem etc.) After the slides, the jury started with their questions and I think the session went off well till Suresh, seated on the extreme right, asked me if my list of '100 Things To Do in Bombay' was original.
"Yes, it is," I told him.
"So tell me a few of your favorite Bombay experiences," he said.
I mumbled something for the next two minutes which I am not sure made a good impression on Suresh. So my auditions went okay but ended on a slight low. After the presentation we all headed back to our work places / friends. Radha told us that the results would be announced on 8 Jun, Monday.
After a Saturday and Sunday that seemed incredibly long, Monday came and went. No word on results yet. Tuesday, a very long one, came and went too. Still no word. Finally on Wednesday, i.e. after five days of killing suspense, I got an email which read, "Hi Zishaan, Congratulations! You have been selected to go to South Africa."
w00t! Chhavi, Hrish, Rohit and Swapnali were the four other finalists!
Read the complete travelog.