Congrats Bud!! Happy for you. And glad to be of any help.
Visa approved today. I have listed all the important dates for my application below, since my University is in Quebec and the procedure was much longer than usual:
Date applied for CAQ - April 14, 2017 (Additional documents were received at the Ministry in Quebec via DHL on April 18, 2017)
Date CAQ issued - May 24, 2017 (I received the original via courier about 1 week later - but the PDF is sufficient to apply for a study permit)
Date applied for Study Permit - May 31, 2017
Medicals updated - June 7, 2017
Review of Eligibility updated - June 28, 2017 (approximately)
Date of approval - July 24, 2017
Date of passport submission at Mumbai VAC - July 24, 2017 (I expect to pick up my passport in 7 working days, on August 2, 2017)
A few points to note:
1. I had organized my financial documents very poorly, and I actually made a mistake on the study permit form under "funds available". I wrote a figure which was about 5 times the actual money shown in the bank statement that was attached. But I sent a CSE through their webform explaining exactly why I made the mistake, and why it should be updated to a different amount (which I also specified). I had also cited specific pages of my financial docs that would support the new figure. I assume that they took this into consideration.
2. I had attached no GICs and no affidavits from an Indian bank - just printouts of online statements and mutual fund accounts. The only "original" documents I attached were: a sponsorship letter from my father, a letter from my father's employer specifying his salary, and his IT returns from the last 4 years.
3. I had received three speeding tickets during my stay in the US (within the last 5 years). Court records in the US are freely available on google, and I was quite worried about this because it can reflect poorly on the applicant's character - but I assume it didn't make a difference since background check was not needed.
4. This is an application for a second masters. I graduated from my first masters in 2013, and have been working ever since. So this clearly proves that a study gap of 4 years doesn't make any difference.
A huge thank you to everyone all the great advice. Thanks Trust Him - for tracking everyone's progress.
Feel free to ask me any questions. I know the wait can be really stressful, so let's all stay positive and help each other!