Gulf Foster a Child Car Drive

Sunday, January 22, 2006 will go down as a memorable day in the lives of some of Mumbai’s orphaned children who were part of the Gulf Foster A Child Car Drive. Surely, the 50-odd kids who drove from Mumbai to Khandala along with 39 families, who ‘adopted’ them for just a day, had a whale of a time, perhaps for the first time venturing out to the hill station.

Organisers Sportscraft certainly provided the perfect drive. Unlike the previous years, when participants would be seen driving around in circles around the streets of Mumbai, this drive had the trapping of a rally without the rigors of it. After Alain Dujean, Vice President Gulf Oil International, flagged off the 39 vehicles from Our Lady’s Home, the orphanage in central Mumbai, it was a guessing game all the way till the finish at Duke’s Retreat in Khandala. While speed was not a factor, the crew’s general knowledge and navigational capabilities was what mattered. Participants were asked simple questions on varied subjects from politics to sport to entertainment at the various time controls on the way to Khandala. And best among them was Jagjeet Singh and his crew of Dilraj Kaur (navigator), Twinkle and Sunny. The foursome put their heads together to read the course perfectly and answer questions well to come out trumps.

Hiren Shah with Jigna Shah (navigator) and Saloni Shah placed second while Himani Kapadia and his team of Tarun Gupta, Sanjana Kapadia and Mira Gupta took third place. Veeraj Doshi and his team of Kumar Doshi, Alpa Doshi and Neepa Sanghavi was fourth while Bob Rupani and his family of Madhu Rupani and Meher Rupani finished fifth.

The team of Pouruchisty, Kamalrukh Gotla and Gulzar Govewalla emerged the best all-ladies team. Mrunal Tanna and crew of Vinita Tanna and Binita Tanna placed second in the all-ladies category while Deepa Damadoran and team of Anila Likhita and Premila Damodaran placed third.

There was a special prize for The Best Dressed Team won by Pouruchisty With her team dresses as chefs & Bhakti Shah’s car was adjudged as The Best Decorated Car.

The results aside, it was drive for a cause as some of Mumbai’s privileged persons opened out their hearts and shared their warmth with the underprivileged kids. As most of them said, it was not for the prize that they participated but to reach out and touch a heart.

Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd., once again as proved that they do care and gave the children a perfect gift.

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