The wedding went off very well. It was extremely tiring and stressful for me, I'm still sleepy and groggy and trying to make up for the lost sleep. And all the shopping, tweaking, listening to ATC is not helping me at all.

Friday night was the get-together of the Ranchi group, this one especially in honour of the newly wedded couple - Puneet and Kavita Maroo. And of the 6 families, the newly weds were the last to arrive. It was one of those good times, when some 25 of us can have fun, with the super housy (a.k.a. tambola) that is conducted by Pawan uncle, and the hilarious comments from Prem uncle. This time Prem uncle was overly generous with his wise cracks. Throughout the evening, he kept everybody laughing and even took shots at Kavita and Saroj aunty (Kavita's mom-in-law).

Anshu came over for the weekend. Got a movie on Saturday morning. Rang De Basanti - this is a rocking movie - no questions about the quality of a movie with Aamir Khan in it. Then we went to Avenue Road to buy her 4th semester books. Just like old times, she brought along her previous semester books. I took her straight to Shiva Book Store, the shop from where I used to buy my books. She bought books for Rs.1500 and her old books saved her Rs.420. Oh those were the days. College was such a fun time. Then there was this Scullers “height sale” happening, and Anshu with her 5'7” figure got us a whopping 57% discount. Together we shopped and shopped, in 4 Scullers stores, and ended up spending over 4 grand. That's after discount. And with all the stress from shopping, we gulped down paani puris at Jeevanbimanagar. Where would you get better paani puris than at Calcutta Victoria Chats. And then I drove the bachcha party to Baskin Robins. That's the 3 kids on the 5th floor.

Sunday was relatively less eventful. Anshu and I went to HAL museum on Airport Road. The place is open all days from 9AM to 5PM. It's a great place, with several planes on display, loads of posters, models, photographs and some audio-visuals too. The entry is Rs.20 and it's worth it.

In the middle of all this, I managed to buy a data cable for my Motorola V635. Downloaded some super software from the internet, and was tweaking the settings on the phone. Nothing major, but plenty of learning. And I can now download software to my phone.

Also bought a bunch of DVDs. Mostly recent hindi movies, just one which was a 3-in-1 of old Amitabh classics - Kabhie Kabhie + Silsila + Abhimaan. These are must see.

Here's the plan for the coming week. Tuesday morning 28FEB I leave for Kolkata. From there to Jamshedpur, to meet my grandparents and uncles and aunts, and to check on a new private flying school. Back to Kolkata on 5th March, fly to Delhi the same night. Overnight in Delhi, by train to Agra on 6th morning, day in Agra, back to Delhi same night. Have the Canada study permit visa interview at Delhi on 7th morning. And fly back to Bangalore same night. Sometimes I feel so uncomfortable with the uncertainity surrounding my Canada plans. I prefer the stability of a YES or NO, but when I have to wait endlessly for a decision, it kills.

I'll be gone for more than a week. Hope to come back with some positive news.

Cheers
Mayur Poddar

It's been a rather hectic week. I've managed to pull together the documents for the visa application .. all over again. This time I've written a two page covering letter, trying to objectively document my career change - why, how etc; and also added more proof of funds. Hopefully the visa officer will see light. That of course I need not worry about until next Monday, when I can expect the passport to be back.

Meanwhile, I'm now getting involved in organisation yet another wedding. People are already saying that I should junk the pilot program and become a wedding planner. It's only with a heavy heart that I participate in the planning and execution of these weddings. While I'm emotionally stable now, memories are still a little difficult to handle. Sometimes I feel that organising these weddings is helping me cremate my own. And finally, it's ok for one season, but I can't make this a career.

People, while I stay isolated this evening, no red roses, no movies, no fancy food and drinks, what have you been up to?

Cheers
Mayur Poddar

It's been a rather long and difficult fortnight for me. I got back from Indore on Tuesday night. And only on Wednesday afternoon did I feel the exhaustion and lack of sleep. It's going to take a while for me to get back to normal now.

First the updates on the visa. And then the trip to Indore.

So I left on 23-Jan hoping that my sister Madhavi will be able to submit my Canadian student visa application on my behalf, while I get poked by a doc in Mumbai. The doc cleared me for Canadian Class-1 medical - that means I can fly! But the visa application could not be submitted. And that's entirely my stupid mistake - I had not signed the main application form. So I found a cybercafe in Mumbai, downloaded the form, filled it again, printed and couriered it to my Bangalore. The application was finally submitted on 25-Jan, thanks to Maddy (that's how everybody calls Madhavi). On Tuesday I got a call from Bangalore that the passport was back with a rejection. According to the immigration counsellor, I did not satisfy him/her that I would leave Canada after my studies, specifically because my proposed studies (professional pilot program) was not reasonable in light of my previous studies d employment and my future prospects, and because I have had no prior training or studies in the field of aviation. Additionally, I did not satisfy him/her that I have adequate funds available to pay for the tuition and living expenses while in Canada and to return to my country.

This comes as a shock, because I clearly wrote about my career change, the booming aviation industry in India and the state of flight institutes in India, and gave a copy of the bank loan sanction letter - covering 100% of the tuition fees and most part of the living expenses as well. With all that, the officer was not satisfied.

For this, I'm now getting ready to file another application, this time explicitly showing my miscellaneous accumulations - like PF, pension, investments etc, and a covering letter to explain my choice of career change.

The Indore trip was fabulous. 2 weeks in all. Total mazaa. When I got there, Ruchi, Shachi and Ashish were already in. And then it was fun. And Ruchi didi brought her daughter Gaurika - she's such a cool girl - only 2 years old but just so cool. The first few days went in fun. But it was work pretty soon. Goel uncle got us moving and then we all got busy organising things for Shachi's wedding. It took a lot of typing and editing to get the "red-file" ready. This was the master file for the wedding - all people who would participate in the execution of the wedding had a copy and it had clear instructions for everybody. The final execution started on the morning of 01-Feb and ended on 04-Feb evening. All this time, at least 2 dozen people were on their toes to ensure that everything went smooth. And smooth it went.

I think the most fun was the night Dinesh, Shachi and I woke Ashish, just after midnight, to wish him Happy Birthday. Apparently, a "mystery girl" beat us to the first person to wish him. So we got Ashish to call her back and then snatched the phone from him. Then Dinesh and I kept switching roles and spoke to her for a long time. I've never laughed so much.

Actually, I'm not in such a good state of mind. With the visa getting rejected and all. I have to get this sorted out and then I could me my own self. I mean, seriously, why does it have to be so complicated? Why can't things happen right the first time???

Cheers
Mayur Poddar