The backpacker's dream come true

Who among us hasn't, at some point in our reckless youth (or reckless middle age for that matter), fantasised about that perfect backpacker's vacation?

A few weeks spent travelling across the country, just a haversack on one's back, altering plans constantly, catching a train with seconds to spare, making last-minute accommodation arrangements or just bedding down at a local bus-stop...

But then reality comes a-calling, kicks you in the teeth, anchors your feet firmly to the ground and laughs at you for good measure.

In this vast country, how will you decide on a route that can claim to be fairly representative of all the things you want to see? What might you end up leaving out while planning your itinerary? While you don't want a no-surprises, tour operator-managed holiday, you can't afford to be too disorganised either. Most importantly, where's the money? Thus are the dreams of great adventurers scuppered by the tinny voice of practicality.

If all this sounds painfully familiar, chances are you'll want to log on to the OK, Tata, Bye Bye website (http://www.oktatabyebye.com/) and register for an innovative new contest that is being promoted as "India's first online reality show".

The winner of this contest, jointly sponsored by marketing consulting firm Webchutney and travel site MakeMyTrip.com, will be given Rs 50,000 to travel for 15 days to seven destinations around India.

This distressingly lucky person will also be provided an Internet-enabled laptop and a digital camera to record his/her experiences along the way and post regular updates about the trip on a blog that is being especially created for the purpose.

Webchutney is currently inviting applications for the reality show. The winner will be announced around June 10 and the grand adventure will commence shortly afterwards.

The contest is open to just about anyone (theoretically, you can participate even if you're living in Siberia: the only condition stipulated is that you have plans to visit India at the specified time and you're willing to begin the trip from Delhi).

But understandably it's been creating a lot of buzz in the blogosphere "" bloggers already being technology-savvy and accustomed to the idea of writing/posting pictures online on a regular basis.

"We have, in fact, been using the blogging community to help publicise the contest," says Sidharth Rao, CEO, Webchutney. Generating publicity through bloggers is part of the "69 Marketing" strategy pioneered by Webchutney, where a feedback loop is created between the marketer and the consumer. "Viral marketing" of this sort is based on rapid word-of-mouth communication, which is facilitated by the Internet and by email forwarding.

Part of the long-term idea for a contest like this is the creation of a dedicated online travel community. "In the long run, what we're hoping to establish is the equivalent of a Wikipedia for travel in India," says Rao (Wikipedia is the constantly growing online encyclopaedia that is maintained, updated and corrected by regular Internet users.)

"An effective online travel community has been lacking in this country, and we believe that with increasing numbers of bloggers showing interest, we can get something rolling."

Low Internet penetration in India is, of course, an issue when it comes to an online show like this one; it goes without saying that even if Ok, Tata, Bye Bye is a big success, it won't operate anywhere near the scale of, say, an Indian Idol. But Web-chutney believes there is a lot of potential.

"Our research shows that while the number of Net users haven't been increasing exponentially, the depth of Internet use is shooting upwards," says Rao.

"What this means is that existing users are more intense than before and are using the Net in many different ways." It's showing: in its first week the contest received over 500 applications and they expect 2,000-odd by the end of May.

Log on to www.oktatabyebye.com for contest details.