Mission control, launch sequence initiated
T-10
Time to meet the team. The ex-co had selected a team to spearhead the organization of the membership day and I was excited (with a pinch of nervousness) to meet the team. The first OC meeting was at the sky canteen, and something just clicked between all of us. We had never met before, yet it did not feel like we were strangers. We could not stop talking. One would think that brainstorming ideas would’ve been the hardest part of the meeting, but that wasn’t the case with this OC. Filtering all the crazy, wild and outlandish ideas, now THAT, was the hard part.
Well, it had been 30 minutes of getting to know each other, the next step was to make PR videos. Of-course. The legend, the iconic, Kawyasha akka, took on the role of director, producer, camerawoman, acting coach and post production editor. Lights. Camera. Action! Her vision was clear, but we were worried we wouldn’t be able to bring it to life, but, alas, it did turn out well.
T-5
Things were starting to heat up, the agenda had to be set, we had to get cracking with the decorations, the script, the games. The to-do list seemed never-ending, but we tried our best to stay back after lectures and get things done as much as possible every day.
Boosters engaged, Full burn!
T-4
As the days rolled on, the team was on go mode. Decorations were being made at the speed of light. The agenda was green lit. The games were decided upon. Even though we were a team of 12, it wasn’t feasible to get everyone to come at the same time, every day. So, we tag-teamed everything. The few who were there first, would start the deco, and then pass it on to the others who would come at the next time slot.
Houston, we have a problem.
T-3
One of our centerpieces of deco, was the moon. A 2D replica of the moon which would light up. It was textured to be like the surface of the moon, with craters, domes and ridges. It was absolutely the most beautiful piece of deco that had ever graced the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (I may or may not be biased). The problem was to figure out how to hang it, without it ripping out the cardboard support upon which it was built, as it was too heavy. Time to troubleshoot.
Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong
T-2
The rain. We had not taken the rain into account. Even if the OC members had differing ideas, the hatred towards the possibility of rain ruining our event brought us back together. Unpredictable rains were always the curveball that ruins the game plans with any uni event. Initially, the event was set to take place at ‘Hadawila’; an outdoor area, but it had been raining every single day, exactly in the evening. Of course, that too was the time at which we planned to have our event. Now, what do we do? Prepare an alternate plan to make it an indoor event, in case Murphy’s law did come true. Plan B it is.
Brace for impact
T-1
The day before the event, my stomach was in my throat with nervousness. We felt very unprepared even though we had completed all that we had set out to do. While we were adding the finishing touches to the deco, the singing team was also with us at the gavel room, rehearsing the songs. While listening to them practise the songs, ‘night changes’ and ‘anagathaye’, a calming presence washed over me. We stopped what we were doing and were completely immersed in the song. It was going to be okay. We had prepared as much as we could and this was it. We wrapped up for the day and went home early.
D- Day! D- Day! D- Day! All systems are go for launch
It was finally the day of the event and the OC came in 5 hours early. As we slowly started to set the deco up, I could see everything come together. We had a rehearsal with the emcees of the event, went through the flow of the event, and got all the things necessary for the games. These words may portray a calm organized environment, but it was anything but that. We were running around like headless chickens trying to get things done.
It was time to start the event. We started off with the official welcome, followed by the national anthem and the university anthem. Next was the gavel oath. There were plenty of new members who had come for this event. Watching them say the gavel oath, loud and with pride, made me a little emotional.
Next up, was the presentation by the lokkas, to show the newbies what Gavel was all about. Aaqilah akka and Asma akka gave everybody a wonderful intro on gavel and what we could expect if we chose to continue this beautiful journey with the club. The highlight of this session was not what they spoke of, but the way they spoke about it. They spoke about their journey with Gavel. The raw emotions that they expressed, the words came right from their hearts, the passion and love that they had for the Gavel family, left an everlasting impression. Even though it was their journey and not ours, we felt emotional at the end of their speech. This session left us yearning for more, filled with excitement awaiting what the future holds for us with Gavel.
Now, the fun begins. Games. Remember how I said rain was our arch-nemesis? What we feared never came to be. The past few days, it had been raining heavily, but today? Nope. The sun was shining bright, the clouds were out. It was nice and breezy, with not a single rain cloud in sight.
Murphys law, take that! Things were turning up our way, so we quickly switched back from plan B, to plan A: outdoor event.
We are on trajectory, vectors locked, course set.
Everything was going as smoothly as it could be. Before we went outdoors to start the games, we had a singing session indoors to get everybody in an excited mood. People were vibing, singing along. The singing team did a spectacular job as always. Following this, we divided everyone into their teams and asked them to come up with a team name. The volume of the sounds in the room, while coming up with the name, was thunderous, but I expected nothing less, from a room full of gaveliers.
Names were set. We were ready to start the games.
The OC might have slightly underestimated how competitive gaveliers can get. The competition was brutal. Everybody got into the team spirit and were determined to bring their team to victory. First up, was the game ‘trailblazer’, where the members of each team had to work together to pass 5 balls down the ‘trail’, only using books, and land them perfectly in a cup. Next up, was the game, hilariously named as ‘headbutting’. The members had to hold each other’s hands in a circle and try to keep a balloon afloat, but by only using their head, hence the name head butting. From the audience’s POV, this game was absolutely hilarious to watch. The next game was charades, where we gave the teams, space related words and phrases like telescope, star gazing, moonwalk, alien cooking on mars. The charades session went from 0 to a 100, QUICK. The final game was ‘squat quest’, where everybody was in a huge circle and a member of the OC would throw a basketball to someone at random, from the center of the circle. The people on either side of the person who caught the ball had to immediately squat. This game might sound simple, but somehow it brought out some really funny moments. It was a real knee-slapper. Some teams had to be reminded that this was a friendly competition after all, emphasis on the friendly. With four games completed, nightfall was slowly upon us. We decided to move back indoors for the last part of the event. The points were tallied up and the Winner: TEAM SLYTHERIN!!
Commence final approach
Indoors, we wrapped things up with another singing session. This time, more freestyle, everybody was standing around the singing team, singing along. They had the flashlight on on their phones, waving it around. The vibes were immaculate. I saw smiles on every newbie’s face, seeing them enjoy the event we tirelessly planned, brought so much joy.
The OC, Gaveliers Aini, Chamodi, Dinil, Hajara, Inam, Malin, Minoli, Nabeel, Nirosh, Ranga, Tharindi and I, couldn’t be prouder of each other. This was the dream team. When push comes to shove, I knew I could rely on this team to get the job done.
And, that’s a wrap. The final act was done, time had run out. Memories were etched in time, friendships were sparked, the newbies were looking forward at what lies ahead, with hopeful optimism. Membership day ’24- Gavel Galactic turned out to be even more of a success than I could have ever imagined.
With Gavel, the sky may be the limit, but your potential is limitless.
One small step for man, one giant step for mankind.
Very well written poddo!