252nd Meeting

Posted On July 9, 2015

By Shehan Thilina Jayasinghe

”Every day is a better day with Gavel!” The 252^nd meeting of the Gavel Club came to life on 9^th July 2015 at the PG Seminar Room in ENTC Department.

It was a normal meeting with no predetermined theme, but every meeting at Gavel is special. This day was made so by the number of new faces that took the stage to enjoy and enhance expressing their thoughts with Gavel. Vibhanu Arachchige, the president, brought the meeting to order, welcomed the attendees and announced our club’s role in establishing a Gavel Club at IChem Sri Lanka, to the proud applause of members. He then handed over control to the “friendly loving person”, Timal Mohan, the Toastmaster. Timal was delighted to see the newcomers and invited to introduce themselves.

Next, every one took a refreshing moment to speak on the “most hilarious moment” they’ve had, for a laugh inducing round robin session. The challenge was to compact a hilarious story to mere twenty seconds!

Then Rochelle took over as the Table Topics Master; ”a hard working Gavelier”, having come up with a set of deep, mind provoking and constructive table topics, at a short notice! Kicking off first Vibhanu broke the silence, and described how he used to wait at gavel meetings methodically planning speeches, but how as the president he has to rise to the occasion and speak now, even if words fail! On a similar line Dinuka also emphasized on the importance of being able to “think on feet”, impressed by one of his team mates.

Then came Malith, who dramatically showed how life would be if it were a film; gravity defying, bullet proof and always dancing! Even though real life lacks those special effects you are its main actor and director, he added with a twist. Thilina surprised the assembly by relating how he followed Commerce stream in A/Ls and what transpired for him to go to engineering. A gift of affection at the correct moment can make a huge change, Shehan Thilina explained how mother’s love can keep you inspired. Buddhika took examples from past intellectuals who did great things without current technology to show that it is dulling our brain!

Chathuri took the chance to analyze how parents affect our decisions and why higher education must be our decision, our passion. Anuradha questioned a student’s entitlement and responsibility in a free education system, citing recent demands. Niluxsi stated why it’s important to live in a way you’d be happy remembering, later on. Sachini described how her phone evolved from love messenger to academic aide, at the university. “Should we fail when our words fail?” Mojith left a point to ponder. Kathusha also shared how she followed Bio for A/Ls before following her dreams in Mathematics. Timal explained how he feared strangers looking at him as a child, but now everyone is busy on their phones to notice anyone lest socialize. Yasas spoke on why new technology is important for faster communication, meeting deadlines and broad scopes on subjects.

As the table topic session came to conclusion the Timer’s and Ah counter’s reports were given and a set of valuable evaluations were delivered by the evaluators Thilina and Vibhanu stressing on how to improve further. Before handing down the control the Toastmaster praised the Table Topics Master for the easy, open topics that resulted in a series of wonderful speeches.

The reports by Grammarian and General Evaluator were presented as the president appreciated the enthusiasm and spirit of the attendees, new and old. The president formally concluded the meeting, with an announcement on future activities related to the upcoming Speech Olympiad 2015 event. Thus concluded another refreshing Gavel meeting with a promising addition to the ever-growing membership of the club!

The role players for the day

Toastmaster – Timal Mohan

Table Topics Master – Rochelle Silva

Timer – Ravidu Lashan

Ah Counter – Sachini Perera

Grammarian – Buddhika Kithmini Senevirathne

General Evaluator – Dinuka Salwathura

Table Topics Evaluator I – Thilina Madumal

Table Topic Evaluator II – Vibhanu Arachchige

Table Topics