Preparing for my application...

In around March or April 2013, I had logged on to the Mars One website (www.mars-one.com) and registered an account there. I had to pay an application fee (US $ 7 for Indian applicants) before I could proceed further to view anything of the application process.

The payment of the fee could be done via PayPal or Bit Coins, both of which required a credit card. I knew I had to ask my parents, as I did not have a credit card. Anyway, the application deadline was 31st August 2013, so there was quite some time left. Also, I was busy working on my final year team engineering project (I guess a whole new blog can be started to describe that mammoth experience). And the final exams of the 8th (final) semester [of my Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering) course in the University of Mumbai] were going to take place in May 2013. I knew I would be busy in studies till all my exams got over, so I deferred my application work to the post-exam vacation time.

Once the exams were over, I talked to my parents about Mars One. Initially, my father was skeptical about the whole thing. I did not want to pressurize anyone too much, so I thought of getting my own credit card from the bank that I had an account in. But upon inquiring in the bank's office, I learnt that I was not eligible for a credit card yet as there were limits on minimum balance maintained in the account, minimum income of the account-holder, minimum time for which the account had been functioning, etc., and I did not satisfy these conditions (I was practically still a student, not working; and the bank account had been created recently). So I had to talk to my parents again. My mother was fine with me applying to Mars One, and my father also agreed this time, and paid my application fee via his credit card.

So finally, I got to see the application process about which, till now, I had only got a little bit of information from the newspapers. Mars One's previous announcements had already mentioned about the application video that each applicant had to submit in the first round. Once completely registering myself, I saw that, along with general information like certifications, awards, etc., there was a questionnaire consisting of 5 questions, and a "motivation letter", that were required to be submitted. The application video also had some requirements.

So now, I started thinking about what to write in all these places, and how to create my application video...