Beep Beep! I woke up to the sound of my alarm. To everyone else, it was just a normal Sunday morning, but for a gavelier like me, it was a very special day. It was the day that we got to host a joint educational meeting not with just one other Gavel club, but with two!
It’s a known fact that whenever gaveliers get together, it’s bound to get very loud. That day, I could hear the voices of the gaveliers of the Gavel clubs of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, the University of Moratuwa, and the University of Colombo even before I walked into the Zoology auditorium where the meeting was to be held. Soon after, the meeting was commenced by Gv.Loshini, the president of the J’pura Gavel Club.
The theme of the meeting was ‘A Love Confession’, which was chosen by the toastmaster for the day. She explained her unique take on the theme with a very nice poem, implying that love confessions don’t necessarily have to be romantic and that they can be platonic as well. The word of the day chosen by the grammarian was ‘ardent’, which was used by everyone throughout the meeting quite creatively. Next up was the round robin session conducted by Gv.Sanjeeda with the question ‘Is everything fair in love and war?’ with a rather dark approach. Some interesting views of our fellow Gaveliers were brought to light, and I’m certain that all of us relished them.
During the table-topic session, we got to listen to six phenomenal speeches with bits of humor here and there done by six amazing souls. Speeches were done by gaveliers from all 3 clubs, and each speech was second to none. The unexpected twists and turns in their speeches kept us at the edge of our seats, eager to hear the rest of their speeches. One gavelier’s speech on a love story was about a gas cylinder, while another gavelier’s speech was deep down, about what he wanted to say about a breed of dogs. All these speeches were quite entertaining and left us in awe.
Then came the fun part… We were randomly divided into six groups and assigned a certain stage of life. We had to act out how love is related to this particular stage in life. This helped us mingle and bond with gaveliers from the other two clubs. The preparation for our act was enlivening. We all had a good laugh while watching all of the acts. This made us realize that gaveliers are not just good at public speaking; they’re good at acting as well.
After three hours of pure bliss, it was finally time to conclude the meeting. It was concluded by the presidents of the Gavel clubs of Mora and Colombo. Refreshments were served, and then all of us went to the “Ehela Wala” to take photographs. 100 photographs and many friendly conversations later, all of us went home with huge smiles on our faces.
At the end of the day, hosting this trio meeting wasn’t just another milestone for our club. It was also an opportunity for us to meet so many incredible souls and create a bunch of gleeful memories that I will cherish forever.