A Graduate At Last

{The Graduand outside the Sheldonian}

Hello everyone,

The family and I took a small vacation to England this summer. The vacation was meant to coincide with my graduation ceremony (Degree Day) at Oxford. You may have seen recently on the news, the famous Aung San Suu Kyi (Burmese politician who has been under house arrest in her own country) receive an honorary Bachelor of Civil Law Degree from Oxford. That is the degree that I graduated in on June 9, 2012. 


{The Ceremony, inside the Sheldonian}

It was the most amazing ceremony I have ever been to. It's completely in Latin. You're brought in and presented still as a student of the University and you're asked, in Latin (excuse my translation), whether you agree to abide by the rules of the University and uphold what your degree stands for, so they may confer it upon you. And you agree, by bowing and saying 'Do fidem'. You're then escorted out, so you may change your existing gown, ie, your existing student status at University, put on your new gown defining your new student status at University. You are then brought in and presented to the whole theatre in your graduated status, with the entire theatre roaring in applause, you stop before the Vice Chancellor again, he takes off his mortar board to you and you are now a successful graduate. 

I really don't mean to gloat, but the degree conferred on us, and later that week on Aung San Suu Kyi, is one of the most prestigious law degrees in the world. Which, is why it is conferred before every other degree during the ceremony. The whole experience was quite intoxicating and everyone felt as if they were the centre of the universe. Until it was time to return the rented gown. At 5 pm, sharp.  

Oh well, the rest of the trip was quite amazing too. We had a proper family vacation with all three of us after a very long time. The Passi came down for the graduation as well. And we all had a splendid time.   But, more on the vacation later. For now, I'd really like to share some memories from the ceremony.


{Pre-Ceremony Drinks at Corpus Christi College}

{With Mum}


{With I Pops}


{With The Passi, Before Heading to Drinks, in the Corpus Garden}


{Post Ceremony Family Photo}


{The Whole Lot}


{With Katie}


{Freaking Out in the Corpus Garden}

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Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)

Review: Out Of The Box, Hauz Khas

OTB, Out of the box hauz khas, hauz khas, delhi eating joints, white russian
{Worst White Russian Ever}

Right, since I have on my own taken up the role of the tackle-bad-food-joints-in-Delhi-crusade, I am going to continue my rant on how bad the service really is in Delhi restaurants. 

Last night, at Out of the Box, Hauz Khas (OTB), we had a "wonderful" experience. 

As we made our way over a large number of steps,  we found that there was no one to direct people to their tables at the entryway. So, we wandered about until we found a suitable place to sit. Once sat, we waited about 15 minutes for menus, after repeatedly asking two different waiters. We then spotted a more suitable table that had just been emptied, and seeing as it were a free-for-all we headed down to make ourselves comfortable there. Waiting for another couple of minutes or so, we finally caught hold of a waiter and proceeded to tell him how we have not been waited on, at all. 

Since our menus were not being brought to us, we proceeded to check out the menu on Zomato's iphone app. Finally with our menus, we happily ordered our drinks and food but not before finding out, 'surprise, surprise!', some items on the menu were not available. Alright, deep breaths.

Since I don't want to annoy you with our regular wait intervals, please note that between any two events we waited about 15-20 minutes (which we understand for food, but drinks? Really?). 

Anyway, service begins. First came the beer. You really can't go wrong with beer. But, cocktails? Yes. Not thinking that bad service would also culminate in bad food/drinks (and trusting them so), I ordered myself a yummy white russian. Or so I thought. What I could taste was ice water and a subtle undertaste of baileys', which by the way burned me a hefty Rs. 400+. What does a rational person do when they encounter a terrible/non-working product? Ask for a new one or a replacement. As did I. Who wants to guess what they brought me? Look at the photo above for hints. No prizes - it's obvious. They removed the ice that had already melted and brought the drink back to me in a surprisingly 2 minute window. I'll applause them for that. No. Not really.

Annoyed and not willing to argue, like a lot of consumers in Delhi, I went with it. Next, food. With the things we ordered, I can't fault them much, except that the food tasted just about alright. My enchiladas tasted like a Shawarma and the Shish Touk, I thought was average, nothing spectacular. We did, however, really enjoy the Chettinad Chicken with Malabar Paratha. It was, by far, the best thing I had that night and would highly recommend it. Yum. Unfortunately, as you may have figured, technology and I aren't the best of friends and she bails on me when I really need her. Which is why, I don't have photos of the food we ordered. Next time, I'll make sure, I promise. 

Just to add to my crusade, have you checked out Akosha yet? If you haven't and if you do, in fact, have any consumer concerns or issues that have not been resolved by your respective companies, do try them out - they're extremely helpful and very effective!
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Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)
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