By Mohamed Athif
The 327th Gavel Meeting was a very special one for the Gavel Club of University of Moratuwa. The very first joint meeting between us and Gavel Club of University of Colombo happened on 17th May at the Electrical Engineering Seminar room of the University of Moratuwa. The gathering was ablaze with the excitement of celebrating Gavel kinship. Our Immediate Past President, Merl Chandana, and Vice President Education (2016/17), Timal Mohan, also joined us for this special occasion.
The President of the home club, Piyumi Bandaranayake, greeted the extended Gavel family followed by the customary recital of the national anthem. Being the lady with all the authority in her hand, she ordered the bunch of Moratuwa and Colombo Gaveliers to mix and mingle and get to know each other.
For 5 minutes the entire hall was full of chit chat and small talk when the President ordered again. This time, she wanted everyone to speak about a Gavelier that they just got to know. Surprisingly, almost every single Gavelier had got to know someone new and most importantly, something strange and exciting about them as well. Among many other interesting facts, we got to know that Kasun finds more than a friend in Kanchana and that Kavindu has a ‘thing’ for ‘Akkis’.
The one who can’t hear without her pair of spectacles, Yasoda, assumed the role of the Toastmaster for the day. Guess what she brought in a huge shopping bag?
A cake to celebrate the Joint meeting?
No!
But a pile of garbage!
The Round Robin session was to pick an item (A non-gross waste product!) and tell the audience something useful that could be done using that waste. The house saw how wedding cake boxes can be reused as gift boxes – in the case of Arshad, to propose to a girl – so that the box ends its life cycle in another wedding! Do you know how old watches can be made into weapons? Weapons that can be used to hit your innocent brother while he watches TV! Gaveliers proved their inherent creativity in the Round Robin session.
The Table Topicsmaster, Vimukthini, had brought in the topics written on pieces of paper. The impromptu topics were well balanced and reflected the heart and soul of every university student. Gaveliers poured out their heart with each of the topics taking the house on a roller coaster ride of emotions. Asitha’s sarcastic claim of how much he enjoyed doing group assignments himself made us laugh till our stomachs hurt. Oshira brought us back to the ground questioning how much we care about the ordinary person around us, not knowing the story behind them. The Table Topics session was summed up by enlightening evaluations from Harith, Piyumi and Sandaru.
Kasun Ranasinghe’s 4th Speech on the Competent Communicator manual brought the climax to the meeting. With all the charms of drama, Kasun delivered the important message of how we can develop ourselves by associating people around us.
Following the General Evaluator’s comments, the President formally ended the meeting, wishing the Gaveliers a safe journey home. The Colombo and Moratuwa Gaveliers exchanged goodbyes with the promise of meeting again; hopefully in Colombo next time.
Role Players
Toastmaster- Yasoda Gamage
Table Topicsmaster- Vimukthini Jayalath
Grammarian- Wimali Galgamuwage
General Evaluator- Shankamal Harinda
Ah counter- Shayen Yatagama
Timer- Warunie Adikaram
Table Topics Evaluators- Piyumi Bandaranayake, Sandaru Karunasiri, Harith Wirasinha
Prepared Speech Evaluator- Harith Wirasinha
CL Evaluators- Shehan Avindra, Sathya Munagama