Eventful Visit to Delhi

We returned day before yesterday from a hectic, but enjoyable trip to Delhi. Feeling completely exhausted! I had gone to attend my PhD convocation at Jamia Millia Islamia, with the whole family in tow! While there I got some medical check up done because I am experiencing the typical symptoms of women of my age. I had thought that one fine day menopause will just set in and then I can throw a party to celebrate this happy event, but seemingly it is not as easy as that, there will be several convolutions and hiccups accompanied by numerous side effects! Ah well, such is life...the sooner I get used to the bodily changes brought on by my age the better. I can thank my stars, meanwhile, that the silent killers "thyroid'and 'blood suger' have not struck yet! The cure is simple and known to everybody- proper diet and exercise!! Such a lot of ringmarole to find an answer that I have known all along!
Meanwhile, after a lot of priliminary procedures the day of the convocation dawned. All my earlier notions about convocations was dashed at Jamia. Unfortunately, I had not been able to attend a single convocation ceremony in my life. BA, MA, BEd, MPhil all convocation less, therefore I was looking forward to this day with great expectations. The convocation was a very big affair with students of every faculty being awarded degrees on the same day and at the same venue. The event moreover was badly mismanaged. The students were told in writing to appear at the venue gate at 1pm but when we reached there we were informed that due to Friday prayers the entry time is postponed to 2pm. Now, Jamia gets over early on Fridays for prayers and therefore the univ starts work early at 9am sharp. This should have been common knowledge among the organisers and the time should have been assigned accordingly, but not so. We were left standing outside the gate of our own convocation venue for nearly 2 hours all dressed in our robes and sweating at the collars!! Another important thing that was overlooked was the guests that the students were allowed to bring. There was no mention of guests or passes for them in the convocation notice sent to us. When I asked at the robe counter in the morning they asked me to find out at the exam branch. At the exam branch the laid back guy at the information counter said that the family of the degree getter can enter the venue but might not be able to sit. Later we found out that passes were being issued by the organisers. No one knew what was happening! Our chief guest was Omar Abullah, CM of Jand K, therefore security was immense and we students were not allowed to go to the podium and the VC and Dean awarded the degrees in a single announcement for each department and we were told to stand up in our places when I Dean announced the names of our faculties. Thus the whole aspiration of hearing my name called out and receiving the degree at the podium amidst claps and cheers was left unrealised. The Mr couldnot attend the ceremony, as we could only manage to get one pass in the last moment and my Father in law and the brat attended. The Brat girl got bored but took some great snaps both at home and at the venue. The final put down was that we could not receive our actual degrees in our robes...the office assistant informed us that we would be given the degrees after we returned the robes. There was a huge line at the robe counter and I was apprehensive that I might have to stand there for the rest of the night, that's when a troubled soul came to my rescue. This person was from the Engineering department, he had returned his robe only to find out to his horror that his department was holding a separate function and he had to appear in his robe to get his degree! He came running back to the robe counter only to be told that his robe will not be given back, once returned. Well, I gave him my robe and got the security money and return chit which would help me get my degree. After all this drama, I returned home with the degree at 8pm.
I also celebrated my 39th birthday in Delhi and this time the evening cake cutting was attended by my parents who were staying at my brother's place in Gurgaon. My mother and the mite sang 'happy birthday to you' together for me...my heart was gladdened. This was the first time in my married life that my parents and parents in law were all together with me.I also managed to meet my friend Anjana, before the mite decided to fall ill again and all outings were stopped! Amidst all this activity I also managed to make the mandatory trip to Sarojini nagar market and bought some pajamas and pants for the kids and myself!