The winter this year has broken all records. It had to; I was around. It continued to snow, well into the third week of April, something that hasn’t happened in the past 50 years. The sky remained grey and the rains kept coming, and the ground was often covered in snow. Spring was largely unpleasant, and summer arrived a month late. But it’s here now. And I am loving it!

For a large part of my student life in Vancouver, I lived in a home-stay (also known as P.G. accomodation). And let’s just say that I was spending too much time staying at home. Winter skies and sunset at 5:00PM had an overwhelming influence on my will. Desperate for a change, in February I moved in with Nav (a.k.a. Jugnu), another student pilot from India. We now share a 2-BR basement suite. This place is a 200% bachelor pad. Being so much nearer to school and living with another student pilot was an irresistible deal. I spent my first week cleaning the place, reorganizing the furniture, setting up my room and stocking up on food. When I was settled into the basement suite, it felt good, like I would finally get on with the studying. There was another student pilot living just 2 doors away. He was everyone’s friend, and Big Papa or Big Daddy is how everyone called him. I called him Godzilla. Godzilla is long gone now, back home in the Caribbean.

Vancouver is not a cheap place to live in. I have written about this so many times. And international students can find it particularly daunting to make ends meet. My monthly expenses were in the range of CAD $800 to $900, inclusive of rent, transportation, medical insurance and grocery. I know of several students who share a large apartment to save on rent and grocery costs. Grocery is something that hurts the most. Imagine paying CAD $1 for an onion. Yes, that’s about INR 40 for one onion. That hurts. When I pushed myself into staying here through the winter of 2007, I also came up with a rudimentary plan to trim my expenses and/or supplement my financial resources.

Now here is something that most people outside Canada are unaware of. The explosive growth of the oil-sands has lured several people to migrate to Alberta, leaving the service sector of Vancouver starved of staff. Small and medium commercial establishments, in an effort to stay afloat, have had to raise wages, hire inexperienced people, and pay cash. There are numerous jobs at fast food joints, pubs, gas stations (petrol pumps), construction sites, etc. I got a part time job at one such establishment. I was working 3 days a week, and was making just enough for my rent and groceries. This lasted me through the winter, and as winter rolled out, I went back to studying full time.

The work was only partially physically demanding, but it kept me standing for 8 hours. While I worked, I learnt again, how difficult it is to earn money. People here acknowledge and respect this fact. How much you earn or what work you do is of no consequence. One could be a waiter, cashier, petrol pump attendant, cleaner, taxi driver, kitchen assistant, anything at all. It could be a day shift or a night shift. Work could be physically demanding or not. It could involve direct interaction with customers or could be completely behind the scenes. The one common thing is that everyone works hard. If you are in the workforce that runs the vast service industry, you win respect from every person you serve. I served hundreds of people every day that I worked. If there is one thing I remember about them, it is their courtesy and politeness, irrespective of their color, age, status. Even if I were mopping the floor, people passing by would stop to say hello. It sometimes felt strange, because equality among all is not something I have witnessed very often. And this stark truth often overwhelmed my senses.

There was always the one odd person, who behaved like he owned the world, but there are always exceptions, and we should be accomodating. I must mention these two youngsters. One of them, in his early twenties, stopped when he saw me mopping the floor, and suggested that I take up mopping as a career instead of flying. The other, late teens I imagine, offered to pay me to mop his house. Would you believe me if I said that both these boys are Indians? Well, they are. And now, would you believe me if I said that both these boys are student pilots like me? Yes, they are. This was a surprising and disturbing experience. I can only hope that such people will understand humility, learn to give respect and become better people. I hope, from the bottom of my heart, that all us Indians can some day discard the artificial walls of caste, status, income and the work we do, and just be simple, honest people who are respectful to one another.

Cheers
Mayur Poddar
@poddu.com
@www.67knots.com

I’m still trying to catch up with myself. I used to be regular with my articles, and I have promised myself that I will bring them up to speed. Until then, I am writing a few articles about the recent past, this being one of them.

After the California trip, life became slow, and low. I spent most of my time lazing at home, or at a friend’s place, watching TV and downloading movies, or playing games, and with all that, how far could I have been from food? I was hardly ever going to school, and barely studying at home. And if I could, I would blame it all on the depressing, gloomy and short days of winter. With the amount of studying I was putting in, and with the weather going the way it was, I was already extending my completion date into March. With the little effort that I did put into studying, I passed the last remaining theory exam (Instrument Rating) in mid-December.

The very happy hours of the day were the 2 or 4 hours I spent watching movies. And hindi movies, as most of us know it, can range from gut tearing comedies to drama to action to tear jerkers, with some of them even bringing the entire spectrum into a single movie. Being the way I am, I enjoyed all the movies. Of all those I watched, only one movie was a sheer waste of time. The one that was totally worth its while was “Taare Zameen Par”. After watching it, I wrote to a friend: “I downloaded the movie and watched it sitting on my bed all alone last night. I don't remember having cried so much for any one movie. There are movies that have a few sentimental scenes, and I would shed a tear or two. But this one ... It was like the rain showers wouldn't refuse to stop. And all the while, I was acutely aware of my crying. Holy cow!”

Right through winter, every facet of life seemed to be shrinking into oblivion. There was a time when falling snow would bring a smile on my face. This winter however, there were only sly grins, chattering teeth, even cursing. Besides being hopelessly homesick, the level of interest and excitement in training had nosedived, self confidence was dwindling, and the loneliness was overpowering. I tried to spend as much time as possible with friends. The situation couldn’t be more ironic, as most people here are not in a very different state of mind. Yes, we all try to keep these dark aspects hidden away, paste a smile on our faces and pretend that we are happy as can be. There are the lucky few, those who are either so focused on the training that they don’t feel anything other than the excitement of flying, or those who drown themselves in alcohol and smoke, or those who are just too naïve and ignorant. Reminds me of that saying - ignorance is bliss!

Cheers
Mayur Poddar
@poddu.com
@www.67knots.com

Only one word is appropriate for a person who doesn't write on this personal blog for 5 months. LAZY. Yes, there are several other itsy-bitsy reasons, but none that would matter as much.

I am still in Canada, and still not done with the pilot training. My revised finishing date is May 2008. And it has taken this long because winter really beat down on Vancouver this year, and because I am taking it slow and steady. Over the last 4 months, I have done a lot, and done almost nothing. I am going to split my last 4 months into 2 articles, the first of which is this one, and a rather long one.

My hurt feelings from the much bungled training cross country flight to California were healed when Ruchi didi and family came up to Vancouver for a weekend sometime late July. Those 2 days were just so much fun. For a day, I was rockstar mama for Gaurika. And then they were gone. But California was still calling. And so I went. And I didn't fly. I took the train, and was that the most amazing train ride ever! My vacation lasted 8 days in all. Besides the trip being so amazing by itself, my being able to write about it after 4 months is surprising too (to me!).

Day-1

It started with an exciting bus ride from Vancouver to Seattle. Exciting because an hour into the drive, the bus broke down. That put a dampener on my spirits because I would miss the connecting train at Seattle, killing the entire trip. Fortunately, another bus on the same route had just enough space to take on the passengers of the broken bus. Unfortunately, we had lost too much time waiting on the side of the road, to make it in time to Seattle railway station. Considering how punctual and proper all of North America is deemed to be, I was visualising myself running on the platform and jumping into a moving train, filmy style. The bus reached Seattle railway station at 09:44 a.m., just in time for the 09:45 a.m. train departure. By then I was sure I was going to be jumping into a moving train. At the platform, there was no train, but there were hundreds of people with their baggage. It was difficult to believe at first, but it was true, the train was 2 hours late. And I used to think that trains were late only in India.

The train, called the Coast Starlight, in 24 hours, would take me from Seattle to San Jose, where Naveen and Monali live. This train takes a beautiful scenic route, along the Pacific Ocean shoreline, over snow covered mountains, through forests and valleys, through small towns and big cities. It has a dining car (popularly known as pantry car in India) that is like a restaurant, complete with cutlery and waiters. The menu is fixed, like in an airline, and they also serve alcohol. The biggest attraction on the train is the sightseer lounge that has floor-to-ceiling windows, giving a magnificent view of the scenery as we move.

I travelled in the coach class that has sitting only accommodation. The price of sleeper coach was 3 times more. The seats weren't bad at all, huge seats, plenty of reclining, loads of leg room, tray table, much like an airplane business class seat. I was comfortable, and I have high standards. I also made a new friend on the train, Diana, who was my co-passenger. She was also travelling from Seattle to San Jose. I think now that without her, the journey would not have been as enjoyable and fun.

Day-2

The train reached San Jose 3 hours late. Naveen picked me up from the station. From San Jose, Naveen and Monali drove me to San Francisco, visiting enroute the famous and historic Golden Gate Bridge, downtown San Francisco, the Fisherman's Wharf for crab at a street-side seafood joint and finishing off the wonderful evening with fabulous seafood at the Bubba Gump Restaurant (remember the movie Forrest Gump?).

Day-3

The next morning, we packed omelettes and toast and were on the road, driving to Las Vegas. The drive was long and tiring, with all 3 of us taking turns to do the 9 hour drive, averaging nearly 100 KMPH. Naveen said that there was too much traffic due to the holiday weekend and that we could have gone much faster otherwise. Talk about life in the fast lane. The drive was fun though, with some breath taking scenery, and much bickering between Monali and me over my burping. I learnt that it is rude and unmannerly to burp. How in this world are you supposed to swallow a burp? We drove through orange mangroves, vineyards, lakes, mountains, and the desert. Las Vegas sits in the middle of the desert. For nearly 200 KM from Vegas, there is only barren land and bald hills. And then, all of a sudden, this vast city with bright coloured buildings emerges from behind the horizon, like a mirage. As we got closer and closer, it became clear, Vegas was real. The biggest show on earth.

What can I say about Las Vegas? Jazzy, flashy, sexy, lavish, attractive, romantic. We drove around for a couple of hours, getting a glimpse of the various casino-resorts on The Strip. The Strip is slang for the one road that has all the glitter and glamour of Vegas. It is all of 2 miles long and these 2 miles could take one from rags to riches, or vice versa.

The first attraction was the Bellagio Musical Fountain. If you have seen the musical fountain at Bangalore, then you could say the one at Bellagio is about 10 times bigger and jazzier. And then it was time to gamble. Naveen was an instant hit, raking in some moolah from the word go. I on the other hand experienced the pain of losing money, much due to my lack of knowledge and experience. Dinner was a quick stop at a crepe store inside one of the resorts. And then, some more sight seeing, some more gambling, some more sight seeing, some more gambling.

After all the gambling, we decided to head to the mall with aspirations of grabbing some bargains at Best Buy, one of the biggest technology stores around. Naveen wanted to get himself a GPS and a laptop. It was Boxing Day, and the day of the biggest bargains anywhere in North America. When we got there at 2 in the morning, we found over a 100 people in a line snaking all around Best Buy. People were battling the cold to save a buck. We were too beat and decided to retreat to our hotel.

Day-4

It turned out that Naveen got this discounted 3-day package deal for us by signing up to attend an investment property seminar. And this was the day. So we went into it thinking it would be a 10 minute deal. It took us nearly 3 hours instead. And Naveen blamed that on me. He had gone in with the simple purpose of listen to them and walk out. I unfortunately couldn't resist the temptation of throwing in questions, spending unnecessary time at the demo unit, asking the guy for more finance options and what not. By the end of it all, I must have made friends with the property agent, and was telling him how we Indians needed a lot more time to decide on important long term investments like property and that was the reason why Naveen was not able to make a commitment. I even promised him that I would come back some day. We later went to the mall, had lunch, and indulged in some shopping. And then, back to the sight seeing, and the gambling.

At night, we watched the American Superstars show at the Stratosphere. It was a great song and dance show, with lookalikes of Elvis, Britney, Michael Jackson, and others. I later learnt that Monali had imposed a no-nudity condition on any show we went to; else we would have had a wider choice on how we spent that evening.

Day-5

This was going to be a very long day. We started at 5 in the morning, taking a bus to the Grand Canyon. Naveen and Monali got into the front seat that was incidentally reserved by someone else, and pissed off the driver. Trust Naveen to say that the driver was rude to him! I had to go to the back, sitting through a long bus ride next to a Japanese tourist who spoke no English. We stopped at Hoover Dam, once for food, and once again at a gift shop, and finally reached the Grand Canyon at 2:30 in the afternoon. It's this freak of nature that has a strange attention grabbing view. I mean, it's not the Taj Mahal, or Mount Everest, or Niagara Falls, and yet, I looked at it, and I kept looking at it. The vastness of this ravine was amazing. No picture I took captured the depth of it in its totality. As if the canyon was not beautiful enough, the brilliant orange color of the setting sun reflecting off the stone was absolutely breathtaking. And if that was not romantic enough, the moon rising from behind the edge of the canyon would have anybody fall to their knees.

At a height of 7000 feet, it became very windy and cold, and Naveen and Monali being residents of sunny California, were just not able to take it. But having come down from Canada, I found it a tad easier. Eventually we made it back to the bus, and were on our long ride back to Vegas. On the way, we stopped again at Hoover Dam to get a view of the dam lit up at night. Back at the hotel at 9:30 in the night, a quick wash, and we were back in action, sight seeing and gambling. It was our last night in Vegas, and nothing could hold us back now.

Day-6

The big attractions that we missed out on were right there, on our hotel rooftop. There was the observation deck and the two jaw dropping thrill rides that protruded out over the edge of the 1150 foot high tower. Naveen and I enjoyed the observation deck. The mid morning view was fabulous. And like always, I was trigger happy. When we got to the thrill rides, I didn't have the stomach to get on them. Those who take the rides must be fearless humans. We got a coffee at the observation deck, and then headed back to the hotel room to pack up and get on with our long drive to San Jose. It was noon and the desert sun was upon us.

Answering my hunger pangs, Naveen first drove up to IHOP just across from our hotel. There was a 30 minute wait for a table. Naveen and Monali decided not to wait for a table, and start driving instead. They said we would stop enroute for food, against my wishes and repeated requests. And what do you know; the traffic on the highway was unbelievable, and we crawled for an hour before we found the first McDonalds. Thank goodness for that, for I know that when I'm hungry, I'm hungry; but when I'm starved, I get cranky. There was so much traffic that it took us 13 hours to get to San Jose instead of the planned 8 hours. We had our own little topics of discussion to while away the time. Monali and I had the longest debate on burping. She was all too grossed by my burps. I couldn't control them, after the big lunch at McDonalds and the big coke. If I have to burp, I burp. Better out than in I say! How do you expect me to control my burp, or subdue it, or make it artificial, and if that's not all, apologise for burping in the company of my dear friends! What's happened to this world? Anyway, I burped my way through, driving her nuts. Naveen was of course smart enough to stay out of the debate. I drove the last leg, like a maniac, fighting sleep and fatigue to the very last mile. Naveen was knocked out cold.

Day-7

Husband and wife were obviously too tired to go to work, so they worked from home. I watched a movie, lazed around, and packed my bags. In the evening, Naveen fried some frozen samosas and made tea for us. At 6.30, my cousin Shachi and her hubby Srikant picked me up and took me to their home. I met her in-laws, and we hit the road again. They were taking me out to dinner, and then to the railway station. We headed to Pasta Pomodoro, about 1 mile from the station. After a wonderful dinner, we drove to the station, only to find that the train was 30 minutes late. According to Srikant, that was enough time for us to get some dessert. So we headed back into San Jose. Now I don't remember the name of the place, but it was all lit up and decorated for Christmas, and it was beautiful and romantic. We got our choice of ice-cream and headed back to the station. There was excitement again, because we were running against time, and my mind was once again throwing images of me desperately rolling behind the train pulling out of the station.

Guess who I saw at the station! Diana! She was returning to Seattle by the same train. How many times in your life do you face such coincidences? Like before, she was a life saver, else I would have been bored to death on that train. The 24 hour journey from Seattle to San Jose starts in the day and the return journey starts at night. The scenery by day this time was mostly of the mountains, all covered in snow and mist, enticing none the less. The train reached Seattle an hour late and the bus that was to take me from Seattle to Vancouver was waiting. I got off at the first stop after crossing the border, and my friends picked me up from there. And what a happy ending that was.

Cheers
Mayur Poddar
@ poddu.com
@ www.67knots.com

So I had planned to start packing my bags and prepare to head home this time of the year. Then again, like my life has been for the past several years, it hardly ever goes as planned. Each time I plan something, small or big, short term or long term, it gets screwed up, and I end up doing things ad-hoc. And this applies evenly across the board. The nice part of it is that it all ends well. Like they say, it all happens for the good. Well, it mostly is good. Sometimes I have to tell myself that it's for the good, and make my peace. Although this format of life keeps things interesting and challenging, and I usually take things in a positive stride, this time around, it's getting to my nerves.

After weeks of preparation for the flight test, when I thought I was almost ready for it, the weather went bad prematurely, and I managed to squeeze 2 flights in 2 weeks. Times like these remind me of Murphy's Law - if anything can go wrong, it will.

Things started to look better, the weather returned to normal, and I got in another 4 flights. But something had to go wrong. Welcome the king of the season, Mr. Viral, bringing along with him, sore throat, headaches, and an overall crummy feeling. He decides to keep me grounded for a week. I battled Mr. Viral with everything in my arsenal - multi-vitamins, additional doses of Vitamin C and Zinc, orange juice, hot water, gargling, Listerine (not sure if that helps, none the less), and rest. This is all keeping in mind my personal conviction to avoid medication unless it's an emergency. My fight paid off. I got up after a week, squeezed in another 3 flights, and this time I felt ready for a flight test.

Now guess what. Something else had to go wrong. Mr. Viral was obviously very unhappy with the way he was dethroned. So he decided to regain his throne, and this time, invite Mr. Weakness to stay with him. Now I have a sore throat, headache, and weakness. Not like a persistent weakness, but let's just say that I had only enough stamina to be up and around for 2 hours, by when I was exhausted.

To make things worse, I get a blasting from mom. I have not been taking care of myself, the stress is the major reason I'm sick, and the tension is giving me those headaches. And all that is according to her. I am made to understand that macaroni and cheese, noodles, pasta and pizza are not a suitable diet for me. No matter how hard I try not to, I have to cook, even if it's only for me. So I bought some vegetables after who knows how long, and started to make mixed vegetable khichdi (Khichdi for the unversed) on a regular basis. I drank more milk and juice and soup. I really fed myself. And all this is probably getting me back on track. Well, back on the health track, and nowhere near my schedule track.

It's that time of the year. Decisions have to be made. And decisions have been made. I am 3 months behind schedule. If I break away now, go home for the winter, I will have to come back next year for another 3 months. Coming back is something I am not at all willing to do. I want to finish this once and for all. Additionally, at this time, I cannot write the Indian license exams either, because without first having a valid foreign license in my hand, I cannot write the license conversion exams in India. Making the trip to India is an overhead expense in itself, something I need to avoid now. People who understand business will know that when you are behind schedule, you also face cost overruns. I can do better this year.

I don't want to make a trip to India without a very good reason. And the best reason I could give at this time is that I am terribly homesick. Well, I have another good reason, but as of now, it is still ambiguous. It's funny when I think about it (or, the irony of it is that), I stumbled upon this new reason during my trip to India last year.

Summarily, I am staying put in Vancouver, till I am done with this training. Yes, the days are getting shorter, and weather is coming down, and it's getting cold and wet on a regular basis. But that's what Canadian winter is all about. I had the privilege of experiencing Canadian winter when I was in Ottawa some 6 years ago. The memories of my frozen nose and an extreme burning sensation in my fingers and toes when I got into the warmth of a bus, after waiting an hour for it, in a foot of snow and the wind howling in my face, at a super cool minus 20C (felt like minus 40), will stay fresh in my mind all my life. Vancouver winter is, according to the locals, mild, compared to Ottawa. It's just going to very gloomy and wet all the time. It doesn't sound very comforting with my state of sickness, and I just have to be strong.

That's enough of me and my sickness. I was watching TV the other day, and heard Have you noticed how childhood is becoming shorter and shorter. And who is to blame for that? Wow! So much was said in this one statement and blunt question. Nobody can deny that childhood has become shorter. And I have thought about this matter, without ever having summarized it so beautifully. Of course, I assume that childhood includes all of your life up to legal adult age. Among family and friends, I have discussed babies talking and walking much sooner, kindergartens already knowing their ABCs, preschoolers being acutely aware of gender differences and having girl-friends and boy-friends, primary school kids using the choicest of abusive language, and so on and so forth. To top the list, I can now say for a substantial percentage of teenagers, that society, morality and age have little or no relevance whatsoever to sex. And I can say all this by just keeping my eyes open to look at the world around me. And of course, the endless spate of sex surveys in our magazines last winter will endorse my statement on teenagers. So what happened here? Then again, is this really an issue? And must somebody be blamed for it? I don't know. I care about the future, much in the interest of my own kids (when I do have any). For India, I could apply one generic term to this situation: westernization.

As long as a change is for the better, everybody would accept it. But how often do we know for sure that a change that looks positive today won't turn out to be a nightmare tomorrow. Few people have the powerful insights to distinguish truly positive changes from shiny fakes. Hopefully all of us will grow to make these recognitions and be able to help in guiding humanity towards everlasting peace and harmony. Isn't that what we really really need?

Speaking of change. Over the last several weeks, I have moved my personal website to a free service called Blogger. I decided to do this for 2 reasons, first being the time+money involved in maintaining my paid website, and second is it's severely degraded performance. The one thing I couldn't setup properly is the subscription to the new website. It looked like it was setup, then it disappeared, then I setup again, it's just a big mess now. So till the time I can setup another subscription mechanism, I will be manually emailing the articles to those of you who were on the original websites subscription list.

The thought of my own kids gets my heart racing. I get this rush when I watch the ads on TV, featuring those cute kids doing their cute things. I'll get my chance someday.

Cheers
Mayur Poddar

I confess that I was on a cooking spree for several months, but am now growing tired of cooking and eating alone. And my only solace is that I have only 3 more months of training to complete before I can get back. Back home. Yup, I've been a little homesick lately. Honestly, I think I feel more than just homesick. But that's something I don't want to discuss just now, probably not the best time or place. Well, the homesick part, that's something I have to deal with on a daily basis now. So much so that last Sunday I had exactly the same menu, that mom has back home, on our catch-up-on-your-sleep, lazy, family-oriented Sundays - cucumber salad (long slices, sprinkled with salt and red chilli, and a dash of lime), moong, bhat, kadhi, and papad. While the familiar taste brought some consolation, I was still eating alone. And I'm scared I may be getting used to that. For the 2 days that my cousin and her family visited Vancouver in July, life was so different. Just being with family takes away all the distress.

On the training front, things are going quite well. I passed the Commercial License written exam. I am now preparing for the Commercial Flight Test. The season is changing and I can only hope that the weather will hold up till I'm finished here. There are no more 35 degree hot summer days, the temperatures are steadily decreasing, the sun is setting earlier, and the clouds linger around longer. Fall - do they call it the season of love? Or was that spring? Anyhow. Currently flying 4 days a week, with 150 hours of total flight time in my logbook, and feeling confident about this flight test, I should be done with it in another 2 weeks.

Once the Commercial License is out of the way, I go on to the last 2 legs of the training - Multi-Engine training (finally get to fly a twin-engine airplane) and Instrument Rating training (flying into clouds). The target, 200 hours, is getting closer and closer. The excitement is building. Unfortunately, due to the bank transfer problems in June and July, I am behind schedule, by as much as 4 weeks. So my previously comfortable target of November has now become a tough one to achieve.

I don't know how many of you got to watch Deepa Mehta's Water. I had the opportunity to watch it here on DVD, and was quite impressed by the movie. The Oscar nomination and 8 other awards, including Best Director, Best Actress, and Freedom of Expression Award, are all well deserved. The sad part is that none of these nominations or awards came from India. The movie was banned in India. I've seen Indian movies in the last 2 to 3 years, including several that portray extreme on-screen violence and sex, sometimes vividly, sometimes veiled, and all that without as much as a parental warning. And I am yet to hear of any movie having been banned on these grounds. But here we have this internationally acclaimed movie, based in 1938, and because it touches religion and caste, it gets banned! Simply outrageous. The people who resolved to have this movie banned are probably still living in 1938, blind to today's India.

Then again, here's something that puts Canada to shame. I live in a town called Ladner. A large part of Ladner is farmland. And for the past few months, owners of one farm have taken it upon themselves to put Ladner in the hall of fame of the stinkiest communities. Each time the wind picks up speed, every person living in the town covers their nose, and gasps for fresh air. The smell is so disgusting, that many residents have fallen sick, mostly with lung and eye trouble, and several want to sue the farm owner for air pollution. In their best interests, all residents keep their doors and windows shut tight. Those who travel through the town would never want to return. And the root source of the stink is, believe it or not, chicken manure. So Ladner is now crowned "the shit farm". So much for the Sundance Pub Wednesday special $3 chicken wings!

And while I'm at it, I might as well lash out at the Indo-Canadian community. If one googles Indo-Canadian crime, several thousand entries turn up. Most of them are about organised crime, gang violence, gun culture, drug abuse and peddling, and last but not the least, domestic violence. Nothing to be proud of at all. Over the last year, there have been several domestic first and second degree murders in the Indo-Canadian community. Some of them were shocking enough to leave me gasping for breath. Consider the case of Manjit Phangali. Her husband has been charged of burning his 4 months pregnant wife and mother of a 3 year old girl, dumping the body in a deserted place, and then reporting to police that his wife is missing. The police has to use dental impressions from the body to identify it. There are numerous such domestic murder cases. Then of course, there are the smart-ass bastards, who will get themselves a bride from India, bring them to Canada, and when they feel like it, throw the wife and kids out, leaving them to fend for themselves. And I thought these things happened only in India. Some people will never change. Excuse me for the language, but a strong point had to be made here.

If Canada as a country has a liberal immigration policy, and yet several legitimate migrant aspirants and other visitor and student visa applications from India are denied entry by Canadian authorities, we now have another strong point to add to the list of reasons for the rejections. Too many Indians, who migrate to Canada, and their lineage, are getting involved in these devious crimes, and every new visa applicant is probably being screened against profiles of known criminals.

Speaking of Canada, the cost of living is getting on my nerves now. Consider the fact that 1 Canadian Dollar will buy me half a litre of water, OR a can of coke, OR a litre of petrol. Compare that to India, where Rupees 40, the equivalent of 1 Canadian Dollar, will buy me 4 big bottles of water, OR 4 big bottles of coke, OR almost 1 litre of petrol. The cheapest loaf of bread costs $2 (Rupees 80) in Vancouver, and Rupees 15 in Bangalore. How about this one: the cheapest pack of 12 condoms costs upwards of $7, which is Indian Rupees 280. The last time I checked in India, a pharmacy was selling packs of 20 for Rupees 80. And wonder of wonders, most of the packs available at the pharmacy in Canada are, Made in India! Just FYI, no, I haven't been conducting a survey on the price of condoms. I was in a store, and just happened to see another example of an economy that is ripping off the residents of the country. No wonder there are hundreds of homeless people in Vancouver. And they call India a poor country!

Cheers
Mayur Poddar

Flying has been under suspension since a month now. Thanks to a major screw-up by my bank. They sent a draft that was rejected at clearance here in Canada because of a signature mismatch. Now I'm playing the cat and mouse game with them. Hopefully the situation will be remedied soon enough. That's that, and the near term plan is to do what it takes to complete the course and get back home by early November this year. The good news is that summer is here, temperatures are touching 30+, it's H.O.T., and the weather is good for loads of flying. I had my share of fun and beach last year, this time I'm going to concentrate on my studies.

I had planned this mega trip to San Francisco for my birthday. Along with Dhruv and Nipun, two other soon-to-be commercial pilots, I was going to fly the 4 seat Cessna-172 from Vancouver to San Francisco, a one way flight time of 10+ hours, and total flight planned travel time of 15 hours. The plan was to celebrate my birthday with my cousins and friends there, and head back to Vancouver a day later. A tremendous amount of planning and expenses went into the trip, and the school yanked the aircraft from us a day before we were to depart. They took it into maintenance and cancelled our 4-day booking. Just like that.

I was so pissed, so pissed, I drove myself insane, went around insulting others, poking jokes at them, making up stories about how the school had connived to kill my trip, and what not. My friends, after getting totally fed up of me, took me to the Sundance Pub for their Wednesday special chicken wings and fries for $3. Generally, you would get half a sandwich for $3. But we had loads of chicken wings and fries. And...And... I drowned myself in Jack Daniels. When I was so drunk that I could drink no more, I was escorted home. That was when I regained some sanity. More than anything, I think I was homesick that day, for I was so looking forward to meeting my cousins and friends in San Francisco. I tell you, life is a bitch, and when you least expect it, it jumps up and bites you in the butt. But then again, this is also what it's about, to be able to battle it out, and at its worst, to still be standing after it all, until things turn around. Although tragedies cannot have a happy ending, happy I'm going to be.

Since that night, every day that I've met my friends, they have greeted me with "let's go for a drink". It takes so much to convince them that I'm not an alcoholic. The last time I had a drink was on new years eve, at a party hosted by Naveen. And the one before that was more than a year earlier. Of course, one beer here and there, maybe an average of 4 in a year doesn't count at all. Jeeper's creepers.

This movie "Lage Raho Munnabhai" has eluded me for so long; I couldn't help but download it from the internet and watch it on the computer. The download unfortunately turned out to be a rotten print. The 4-inch wide display notwithstanding, I enjoyed the movie, from start to end, with laughs and tears, completely and in toto. It reminded me of Rang De Basanti. I'm undoubtedly a hopeless romantic when it comes to movies with special ingredients like peace, friendship, non-violence, Gandhi, India, nationalism, patriotism, truth, and love. In remembrance of the old man ...

	Ainak pehne, lathi pakde chalte the woh shaan se
	Zaalim kaanpe thar thar, thar thar, sun kar unka naam re
	Bande mein tha dum, Vande Mataram

I can sing this one ... oh yeah!

I also got Spiderman-3. And this goes like Spiderman ...Spiderman ... Friendly neighborhood ... Spiderman. Nice movie. And I got Shrek The Third. And I turned 30 last week. Big deal. I'm still a kid … ummm ... a big kid, and I'm not kidding! Cartoon Network zindabaad.

Does anybody know why a water-lily blooms by day and closes up by night (or why there are those that bloom only at night)? Why does something so beautiful have to hide when the sun sets ... there are still those who will admire it every moment ... sun or no sun.

Cheers
Mayur Poddar

Keeping in line with my target of flying hours is not an easy task. If I look back, almost all the flight bookings I have made in advance are washed out for some reason or the other; in majority of the cases, it's the weather. When I made a day-long booking with the intent of flying 6 hours, the weather would give me 2 hours at most, or none at all. And then there was this one day when the weather was unbelievably good, but the jinx had to extend to the aircraft. Nothing less than fuel leaking from the right wing. The leak was fortunately noticed on the ground, just before take-off, by my instructor, who was a passenger on that flight. We had planned to have lunch at McMinneville, a little airport in Oregon, some 500 KM from Vancouver. Fortunately, opportunity knocks ever so often, and I grab every one of them. In 2 weeks, I have managed to garner 30 hours of flight time. Compare that to the 70 hours in 8 months for my Private license. YES! I couldn't be more joyous.

There's this one requirement for the Commercial license that's the bane of every student pilot - the 300 Nautical Miles (NM) cross country trip. 1 NM = 1.9 KM approximately. That's the one way radial distance to be flown. It's not really difficult, but when you consider that one has to fly back as well, it adds up to 600NM. It's a whole day of flying, sometimes spilling over to the next. Most of the other cross country flights are 100NM to 200NM. So this 300NM trip is like a marathon, it's like an endurance test, and in other ways, it's also a confidence building mission. In Canada, particularly this side of the country, there are mountains every where. If you have to fly 300NM, you HAVE TO fly into the mountains. Then there are people like me, who get a USA visa, and fly down south, where there's little or no terrain for nearly 400NM.

The day I had planned to do this trip, the weather came down. Fortunately, dispatch at school was able to adjust some other flight bookings and give me another full day booking only 2 days down the line. And that day, the sky was as clear as it could be. I flew to Eugene (Oregon, USA), a 320NM trip. The flight in itself was rather boring, because I was alone, for I couldn't get anybody to ride with me on that day. No incidents to report, everything went quiet and well, only mild turbulence, landings were OK, lunch at Eugene was good (and expensive), basically an uneventful flight.

The different thing on the return flight was that I had just had a big lunch and was beginning to feel the mental and physical stress, with another 3 hours of flying staring me in my face. I knew such a situation was imminent, and had prepared myself adequately for this. Out came a can of Red Bull. 1 can of 250ml. More than one of my pilot buddies “strongly” advised me to carry a couple of these on the trip. I've never had this thing before, so I wasn't sure it was OK to down a couple of cans, and the can had a warning on it - do not drink more than 2 cans in a 24 hour period. I just had one. And at more than $3 a can, I didn't want to indulge anyway. But this can of Red Bull, it did what it's meant to do. In 15 minutes, I was feeling fresh and alert like I had just woken up after 12 hours of sleep. I made it back, safe and sound, and 3 hours later, was still raring to go.

The bird's eye view was beyond imagination, sights I probably won't forget ever and those a camera cannot capture (at least mine couldn't). Most of us have flown in big commercial airplanes, at 30000 feet, and in turbo props, at 20000 feet. But I feel so lucky and thankful to be able to fly at 3000 feet, the bird's eye view. The one that blew me away was the coast line. From 5500 feet, I could see the Pacific Ocean, some 20KM away. And the no-brainer that I am with words, I won't even try describing those scenes, but for this:

Water had become delicate cloud,
	Mighty waves like tranquil sand dunes.
The ocean was but a white desert,
	It felt for many moments a mirage.
Not quite. Was true enough. I fell in love,
 	Over, and over, and over again.

The entire coastline was covered with a thin layer of dense fog. Here's a picture, the green surface is an island, there's water on both sides, the far side is the ocean, and the picture was taken from the near side (inland). There are more pictures in the picture gallery.

Cheers
Mayur Poddar

The weather is getting better and better, and I've been flying all over the place, day and night. I'm done with my night rating, so I can do much of my flying at night. The thing about flying at night is that, where there are some advantages, like calm weather and negligible traffic, there are also some big risks, like the darkness for example, and if the engine quits mid-flight, with near zero visibility, it's going to be next to impossible to land safely in a field or on a road.

I also got the US check ride done, and I can now officially fly to USA. The check ride was to Seattle Boeing Field, a satellite airport near Seattle International. The flight from Boundary Bay (my base) to Boeing Field was 1 hour each side and we stopped over for an hour and a half, much of which was taken for customs and immigration. The cool thing about going there in a small plane is that we park the plane outside the customs building, and they come out to us! All in all, in about another week, the night rating should be complete, and I can start my night cross country trips to US. Well, cross country trips is not literally cross country, it implies a trip of greater than 200 kilometers. I also got checked out on a Cessna-172. It's a 4 seater. So I am now legal to fly this aircraft, and can take passengers. Of course, they have to be willing to take the risk. And I started my cross country flights. The first was to Campbell River, a little town on Vancouver Island. It's about 200Km away, the flight itself was an hour and 15 minutes one way. It was a good flight, the weather was good, and on the return trip, I flew over downtown Vancouver, all lit up at night.

When I did my Private Pilot License (PPL), I didn't really bother to set myself any time line. I took it easy, and learnt how I could at the time. This time around, it's going to be a different story. I'm setting a long term goal, and a short term goal. The long term goal is to complete the CPL and Multi-Engine + IFR and be home in India by mid November. The short term for the coming days is to fly 10 hours every week for the next 5 weeks, while studying for the Commercial Pilot License (CPL) written examination. At the end of 5 weeks, I should be prepared to do the written exam. This exam is probably the most difficult of all the written exams. At the end of 5 weeks, I'll be able to set a new short term goal.

A month ago, I went to the Vancouver Auto Show with a bunch of friends. The show was not all that exciting, at the end I concluded it was more of a sales and marketing event. There were no concept cars or pretty models or anything of the sort. There were some very flashy high-end vehicles. The ones that stuck in my mind were a chrome plated Ford Mustang, the miniature car track laid out inside and through the windows of a Suzuki van, and a ride inside a full motion roller coaster simulator. The pictures and videos are here.

On the camera front, well, I managed to find the place and leave the camera with them. And they said it'll be 2 weeks before the camera will be ready. The way the receptionist said that, I figured it's going to take much longer. But she did call me in 2 weeks. And I have my camera back. It's working!!! Yippy!!

I've been busy cooking as well. On the top of the list are: vegetable biryani, tomato chutney, palak paneer and paneer tikka. Each of these dishes I made for the first time, and they all turned out well. At least everything was edible. The paneer tikka was a special, made on very short notice, prepared and served in 2 hours flat. The palak paneer is probably the best thing I've ever made. It was for mom, on Mothers Day. Of course, I'll have to make it again for her when I get back home.

Cheers
Mayur Poddar

I'm so happy today, I'm literally jumping. My trusted A-70, 4 year old, 3-mega-pixel, 3X zoom, Canon digital camera, blacked out a few weeks ago. And no, that's not why I'm happy.

I was very frustrated with the situation, because like it goes with almost everything else here, taking the camera to a service center meant $100 to have it checked, and another $200 to have it repaired. That would be a grand total of $300. Now compare that to a brand new, state-of-the-art, 6-mega-pixel, 12X zoom camera for $400. This is the case with almost every electrical or electronic gadget available in North America. If it's not working, throw it, get a new one. That's the way it works here. Now I don't have the $300 to get the camera repaired, and that would also mean that I don't have enough to buy a new one. So I'm frustrated beyond my normal tolerance levels.

Now you probably know me and twitchy fingers, just waiting to get to a screw driver. After 2 weeks of doodling over the camera, I decided to open it up myself and give it a shot. Who knows, maybe it's nothing. So I'm almost started with the screw driver. I don't know what got into me; I decided to search on the internet if anybody else has opened up theirs, and that'll make my life easier. These compact electronic gadgets can be very difficult to open and reassemble. And lo and behold, I find this website that tells me that the black screen is a known manufacturing defect. And. And. And. Canon is fixing the problem for free, irrespective of where you purchased the camera and how old it is. Yowwyyyyyyyyyyy. That's how I went when I read that. They call this process a "recall". I scrambled for the phone, called them up, confirmed the problem, got the address in Vancouver where I can drop off the camera, and they'll fix it, for FREE! Oh boy, I haven't been so happy in many days.

By the way, I applied for, and was granted, a visitor visa to the US of A. The visa is valid for 10 years. Currently I intend to do a few 1-day training flights into the US, and if things work out Ok, I'll plan a longer trip for my birthday.

Cheers
Mayur Poddar