By Chathuranga Amunugama
When the sound of fire crackers becomes normal, when you feel the mouthwatering smell of Kavum with every deep breath you take, and when you find yourself defending that one kokis with all your might, you know it is Sinhala and Tamil New Year season. After spending a jolly good new year at home, it was time for the Gaveliers to celebrate the New Year with their second family; the Gavel family.
“We spend the 14th of April walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done… cracks to be patched… May be to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives…not looking for flaws but for potential.”
Yes, it is true. It was time for the Gaveliers to seek the maximum potential. Why just a Gavel Avurudu Table when you can organize a whole Gavel Avurudu event?
The day started with the traditional “Kiri Ithiraweema” by our top board members. Blowing in to the fire vigorously in order to make this tradition a success, they reminded us the age old adage “It’s not over until you succeed”. .
After a successful “Kiri Ithiraweema, it was time to enjoy the delicacies. All the Gaveliers enjoyed a delicious Avurudu meal which had been arranged under the guidance of Wimali.
Once the Kiri Ithiraweema was done and tummies were full it was time to start Avurudu Games. The first game was “Popping the Balloon”. Almost all the Gaveliers participated in this and with Vibhanu judging the event, Merl, our newly appointed President, won the game.
If you think you can trust another Gavelier when you are blindfolded, you have never played the game “Aliyata Aha Thabeeme”.With the guidance of Kanchana, most of the Gaveliers were able to pin point the stomach of the elephant instead of the eye, bringing smiles to everyone’s face.
However Wimali, displaying inimitable blindfolded spatial awareness, was able to mark the exact place of the elephant’s eye and win the game.
While some were trying to find the correct place of the elephant’s eye, others were gathered to the ground in order to find the fastest Gavelier by the event “Gama Haraha Diweema”. After a very competitive running event, Chathuranga was able finish the race becoming the fastest Gavelier. After that it was to find the fastest Lady Gavelier. Sachini was able to come first in that event.
Meanwhile at the far corner of the ground, near the “Gami Gedara”, organizers were busy organizing the next fun event “Yoghurt Kaweema”. The couples were asked to join this event and the girl would have to feed yoghurt to her mate while she was blindfolded. With his mighty powers of eating, Chandimal and Hasara were able to dominate in this event.
Well, yoghurt is a bit old school for a dessert after a good breakfast. That’s why the Gaveliers had organized the event of “Banis Kaama”. Contestants ran towards the buns which were hung on a rope and they had to finish eating the bun and then rush towards the finish line. Well if you think you know the proper way of eating a bun, you have never seen our Gaveliers eating buns. Praveen and Chandimal introduced a whole new technique of eating the bun while leaning on the floor. At the end, even though Chandimal finished eating his bun first ,he was unable to stand up from his newly introduced position, so Vibhanu was able to become first in the event.
Once you are done with running events, why don’t we add some more to the event? “Goniya” was what came to the evil minds of our organizers. It was time for the event, “Goni Race”. Well we simply cannot talk about Goni Race without mentioning our one and only love guru, Vibhanu. He was so determined to win this event that he even tried to end the race sliding on the ground. However, Kanna was able to come to the finish line first and win the race. In the women’s event, Sachini, the previous winner of the race, was able to become the first in this event also with her own style of doing the event. It was also a significant event for Timal which made everyone think why he is in Electrical department when he should obviously belong to the “Civil” department.
“Champions are to be changed with the era. That’s what makes this world running”. It was the time for the ultimate Avurudu Game; “Kotta Pora”. After a nail biting match, Chamode, one of our recent members of the family earned the title by defeating the former champion, Vibhanu.
After doing lots of events which involved the physical abilities, it was the time for the Gaveliers to participate in an event which involved the intellectual ability. It was to guess the number of seeds of a papaya! Harsha was able to win the event by guessing the closest number of seeds of the papaya. After the group event of filling the water bottle and “Kamba Adeema”, all the Gaveliers divided into two groups and started pulling the rope to their side.
Give a man a spoon and he will run a mile, how about keeping a lime on that spoon? Not so much I guess.
It was the time to test the statement. All the participants were provided with a spoon and a lime. They had to come to the finish line without letting the lime fall off the spoon. While Chamara was dominating the boys’ event, Yasoda dominated the girls’ event.
After an exhaustive yet fun filled day, the Gaveliers sat on the ground in front of the “Gami Gedara in order to start one of the most awaited moments. It was the time to select the “Avurudu Kumara” and “Avurudu Kumari”. The event started with our president, Merl. Then after his act he had to select the next one who had to come in front and do the performance. At the end of the act the contestants were asked to tell the biggest lie he/she can ever imagine. Kanchana was able to become the Avurudu Kumaraya and with the shocking lie of Waruni she became the Avurudu Kumari.
A day full of laughter, excitement and joy ended just like that. At the end of the day there was only one thought in everyone’s mind. It was to feel that whole day again and again.
For a Gavelier, a day is empty without a Table Topics Session. At the end of the day, everyone gathered to the open theater in order to start the proceedings of the 282nd Gavel meeting. As for the Round Robin session, it was to find the best cry and the best smile of the day. When Natasha gave the best smile for the day, Rahu was able to make each and every Gavelier cry and give a reason which will haunt for the rest of their lives.
When you are with the Gavel family, every moment is special. It was Kanchana who broke the silence as the first speaker. He also added how much he cherishes all the Gavel memories. After Kanchana, Chamanthi explained about CIMA and engineering and how it related to being in a relationship. “A Gavelier will always understand another Gavelier, because we are one big family”. Athif expressed about his true feelings for the Gavel family. Then Samavath explained about how his day started and how much he cherishes the Gavel events as it is family. Listening to these speeches made us forget about the mosquito bites. As for the last speaker it was our dearest alumni member Kanna Ayya who gave us valuable advice on doing the most memorable things during the university life.
“The biggest regret in life is not with all the things you’ve done, but with all things you have not done”.
All good things must come to an end. It was the end of a perfect day which was full of nothing but the true essence of brotherhood and sisterhood of Gavel members. This was one of the days that each and every one of us will cherish for the rest of our lives.
Role Players
Project chairs: Shehan Avindra, Dinuka Salwathura
Toastmaster- Rochelle Silva
Table Topic Master – Dinuka Salwathura
Timer –Warunie Adikaram
