[gurha]

I am not sure if everyone who enrolled to team-bhp got this email, which says:
Team-BHP Membership : Please register again!

But I got it five(5) times. After submitting my registration every time I always think, this time I'll get the membership. But within 2-4 days I used to get an email which has the subject as mentioned above. Initially when I was applying to get a membership in 2011, I got this email and then I thought what may have gone wrong, why my membership was declined? But I couldn't think of a reason and as a result I didn't applied again till April-2013.

All these years I really thought it would have been nice if I had got the team-bhp membership as I travel frequently around Bangalore(the place where I am living since last 8 years), I would have taken whole lot of information with the fellow bhpians, but that's how it goes. It'll only happen when it actually has to. And moreover I always follow one very simple formula in my life: Whatever happens, happens for good. But I am still not able to figure out what was good in that .

Then finally in April this year I thought of applying again in team-bhp, as I was planning to buy a new car(Duster) I read through lot of ownership threads on Duster by fellow bhpians like Suchit23, gennius and himadrimondal and obviously the Official Review of Renault Duster which really helped a lot to me to book and then finally own a Duster - 110ps RxL.

But to my dismay, I again got rejected. But this time I had made up my mind that I'll not give up the hope and will apply again n again until I get team-bhp membership. So I kept on applying again n again and every time it got rejected. And then the day finally came when my registration got approved.

In all these attempts the only thing different which I did in the last attempt was:
For all those three questions I was precise enough and tried to complete the answers within 120 words. I infact searched for word counter apps online and then entered answers for each of the questions exactly less than 120 words. To be double sure I counted my words with two different counters to confirm that the content is less than 120 words.

So, coming to the conclusion of this whole story, I feel if anyone wants to get into team-bhp the only thing they have to do is write down everything precisely, answering each of the questions properly, and make sure its less than 120 words. And that's it, I think you will get the team-bhp membership.

Finally, Who Am I?
My Name is Pallav Gurha and at the time of writing this down I am 30 years and 17 days and the 16 hr is running. I am by profession a software engineer working in Bangalore since almost 8 years. First time I heard about team-bhp when I was planning a trip to Kodaikanal way back in 2009-10, and since then I am die-hard fan of team-bhp and always check team-bhp before I plan a trip anywhere around. With my old car(Omni) I have actually been to Ooy(3) , Mysore(5), Coorg(3), Kodaikanal(1), Mangalore(2), Pondicherry(1), Goa(1), Kolli Hills(1), Hoggenekkal(1) and Tirupati(1). And I have a desire to go to 3 main places Gujarat, Laddakh and Sikkim with my Duster, and I hope I can do this if time permits.

Well I love cars but not as many others on this huge forum. Being a software engineer am always involved in technology so that's my other interest. I was previously having a Maruti Omni which I sold recently and bought Duster 110ps RxL and got the delivery on 29 April.

Thanks,
-Gurha

[Soumyajit9]

A warm welcome to the forum, Pallav !!

An upgrade from Omni to Duster is a major one. I am excited to see that you have been to so many places in Omni !! Hopefully we'll get to see more of your experiences with the Duster and fun-reading Travelogues from the places you are planning to visit in your new ride.

Regarding membership approval, I was foolish enough not to check the word count while applying. Got rejected some 8 times (if I recall correctly) and when I got frustrated and checked up the word count online, found that my word count was way (3 times) above the permissible limit. Well, in excitement, I had jotted down whatever came to my mind - Cars, Bikes, Travel, Past-Time, blah blah. The mods must have found it so funny to see my applying so many times with same count of words.


There are threads ranging from just Automobiles to Engines to Food Joints to Rants to Rainfall to Photography to infinity !! You search, its' here on Team-BHP.
Have a pleasant stay in our world of like minded people.

On an ending note, since you and me are from the IT world, here's a video for the IT Guy. Check out Team-BHP towards the end of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW9Hu3w-4mA

[ACM]

Welcome aboard Gurha, so persistence won - congratulations.

Though the mods would be better aware of your exact case, a very high premium is indeed given to the Language and Grammar aspects. Do make it a point to go through the Forum Rules upfront.

I can assure you that even if you were to go through TBHP for a few hrs. each year for more than a year you would still find new and interesting sections that you have somehow missed over the period. The info available is vast and it is upto us to figure out how best to use it.

[girishglg]

Welcome gurha to our very own TBHP and great job on being so persistant in getting in after all those glitches. Also congrats on your new ride which I am sure would be put to great use at all your future travels.

As you must be aware there are many superlative travelogues of Ladakh, Gujarat and Sikkim from members - adc, hvkumar, tsk1979, debuda and many more. You can use the search option to source them.

If you need more info on Sikkim in terms of places, stay options etc do let know since have been there couple of years back (thought didn't drive myself but hired taxis).

Welcome and safe driving!

[fine69]

MS Word counts word for you, no need to look for anything beyond. Welcome and have fun!

[gurha]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

A warm welcome to the forum, Pallav !!

An upgrade from Omni to Duster is a major one. I am excited to see that you have been to so many places in Omni !! Hopefully we'll get to see more of your experiences with the Duster and fun-reading Travelogues from the places you are planning to visit in your new ride.

Thanks Soumyajit, Oh it definitely is. I always go by one Hindi proverb which says - Sasta roye baar baar, Mehenga roye ek baar. Which means(You will cry more often if you keep buying cheap stuff, but will cry only once if you buy a good stuff by paying a lot more).

So, when I bought Omni in 2007, it was a necessity for one particular reason, and since I always had a eager to go out, and go out in big nos. to be precise atleast 5-6 persons at a time, I had no other option but to buy Omni due to budget constraints. In fact I got a mattress custom built for my Omni and moved the seat to the extreme back and put the mattress in the empty space and we use to happily sleep. I generally go with one of my friend, so when he is driving I sleep and when I am driving he sleeps.
Though my wife really miss that sleep on the mattress, which she says she can't do in Duster. But then as everyone says, you can't always keep your wife happier.

And then all those years, I always wanted to buy a big car and my interest was only in SUV's. So initially liked Safari a lot, then when I was planning to book Safari, XUV was launched. And it took my heart away, I didn't got a chance to book it in the second attempt which was a lottery one, but booked it in the third attempt when the booking re-opened in Aug last year. Then after going through lot of reviews on team-bhp, esp the XUV niggles thread, I decided to cancel the booking and wait for another year.
And then I somehow I liked Duster mainly because it is cheaper than XUV, as I had already spent the money which I had kept for XUV somewhere else. So I finally booked Duster and got the delivery within 15 days.

Originally Posted by ACM

Welcome aboard Gurha, so persistence won - congratulations.

Though the mods would be better aware of your exact case, a very high premium is indeed given to the Language and Grammar aspects. Do make it a point to go through the Forum Rules upfront.

Thanks ACM, yes persistence do win every time. I definitely agree with you, its not just the word count, its definitely much more than that. I won't say my grammar is intact, but if I would have been rejected once or twice and then got it in, I would have thought may be my grammar was not correct. But getting rejected for 5 times, I knew I am doing some other mistake.

Originally Posted by girishglg

Welcome gurha to our very own TBHP and great job on being so persistant in getting in after all those glitches. Also congrats on your new ride which I am sure would be put to great use at all your future travels.

As you must be aware there are many superlative travelogues of Ladakh, Gujarat and Sikkim from members - adc, hvkumar, tsk1979, debuda and many more. You can use the search option to source them.

If you need more info on Sikkim in terms of places, stay options etc do let know since have been there couple of years back (thought didn't drive myself but hired taxis).

Welcome and safe driving!

Thanks a lot girishglg. Yes, I have read lot of those threads, the main being from J.Ravi, droolingvoyager and Debuda. I am yet to congratulate them for their awesome experience which they have shared.

And I will definitely trouble you one day when I am going to Sikkim, which is there in my list as must go destination.

Originally Posted by fine69

MS Word counts word for you, no need to look for anything beyond. Welcome and have fun!

Thanks fine69, MS Word never came to my thought, though I am using it since so many years now.