London ban - SF here we come! Yippee!!!

After getting our hopes up about being able to arrive in London and see all my family and friends there, even setting playdates and dinner dates, we have had to change plans. Despite my having Home Office website printouts confirming that Sofi is automatically entitled to British citizenship as a result of our having legitimately completed a Hague adoption, the British High Commission staff, who appear to believe they are the law and therfore have no need to comply with the law, have refused to accept what it is. The law says she is a British citizen. They disagree. They refuse, despite several email requests, to provide any legal authority on which they rely. We had opted then for the visit visa, and were told it would be done in a week, after a week, I finally forced my way to the visa people only to be told they are not satisfied we are just going for a visit and they do not have sufficient proof that we are not going to settle there. My having 2 homes there, a company and property there, a flat I have to pay rent for, and all the other accessories of living there aside, they are completely mad! So we were told we would be required to come for a visa interview. But the earliest date would be the 19th. No guarantee of success. In fact, a suspicion they are looking for a reason to find a reason to reject it. What a country!? It reminds me why I choose to live in the US. If I hadn't grown up there and have family and friends there, I think it would be the least attractive place to live. Crappy weather. Overpriced. Overpopulated. Cripple transport routes. And a segment of people who still thinks Britannia rules the waves and everywhere else. These petty little bureacrats, who flash around diplomatic status, are nothing but trumped up little pests. Nonetheless, we are entitled to Sofi's passport and citizensip. A battle for another day.

All flights to London cancelled, all plans changed and now we are leaving to SF on Friday the 20th of May, 2011. We fly 15 hours direct to Newark, NY and have to clear immigration. 4 hour layover and off again 6 hours flying time. Continential airlines this time. Sofi in her own little seat. Mummy hopes Sofi will sleep 1/2 or 2/3 of the flight time. Let's see.

Am madly arranging lots of things for when we get there. We have a house to live in the Presidio which should be great. Lots of other things to sort out. But it's a great feeling that the next chapter of our life is starting. Sad to leave the friends we have made here. Sanaa, Arshia, Zahara, Agastya, Lia, Nanki, Raunak, are the Delhi gang. Good fun times Sofi has had with them all. Memories in the book, and many more to make over the years we hope.

Departure countdown is on!

I have mixed feelings about leaving India now that the departure is
imminent. In 9 days, we leave. We have applied for a family visit visa
to the UK and have been told it will be issued this upcoming week.
Accordingly we have booked flights to London on the 16th. We will stay
there 12 days and then board a flight with my parents in tow to arrive
in San Francisco.

A few days after we arrive in the US, Sofi turns 2 on June 1, 2011.
We are planning her birthday party for June 4. This will be a nice
time for Sofi to meet some of her new friends in the bay area.

Ironically - or perhaps not - now that the departure is imminent, we
have been making lots of friends or getting into a better groove with
the people we had already met before. It is probably a combination of
the length of time we have been here, but also that the paperwork
aspect is much less, and we are more often in Delhi rather than on the
go for court cases or family visits.

We are starting to pack up our Delhi home and put things in order.
Deciding what we can squeeze into a mere 2 suitcases is riddled with
decisions of what do we really have to take. At many levels, I am not
bothered about what we pack or take, as the joy is that Sofi and are
together and embarking on the next part of our journey together. I am
looking forward to being able to get in MY car and go where I want,
where I want, and actually know where I want to go. Sofi is blissfully
unaware of all the imminent huge changes. My Punjabi speaking baby
will be going full on to English very soon.