Needles that stitch
One of my friends in Grade 10, back in 2015 used to always practice speeches for something called “Toastmasters Gavel Club”. As we both were like the Cat and the tail, I used to listen to her very expressive and dramatic speeches. On top of that I was to give my opinion about it and I tried my level best to give my opinions just as professional as her. Time passed by and we did this for a long time. Her speeches were on point in class and everyone maintained pin drop silence whenever she spoke .Most of thought to ourselves “Wow she is so extra” and we teased her about Dhananjaya Hettiarachchi the champion speaker and her constant praise towards him. However after we finished the G.C.E. O/L
examination, I made a pact to myself to just see what she talks so highly of aka the Gavel Club. So one fine day after some constant nagging (in a good way), I decided to go for it. This was after OLs and what happens after OLs you ask? Trying to involve in all the activities you planned before the exam and
“Making the best version of yourself”. Well honestly speaking I had a lot in my bucket list like stop procrastinating , watch movies I missed , get involved in a hobby and etc which I failed big time in achieving it. Luckily, trying out Gavel was not one of them. So the journey began…
It was a fine Tuesday afternoon and I was dressed in Smart Casual and maintained a super disciplined self on my first gavel meeting. Place was filled with people and I was sticking to my friend just like the Cat and tail metaphor I brought in earlier. My first impression was a good one because I was overhearing
so many “Cashmeousside Howbowdah” conversations. If you are wondering what this is, this was a phrase or a meme that stormed the Internet back in the day. As a big meme-a-holic myself I felt a sign of relief knowing that these people are not that foreign to me after all.
Fast forwarding to the meeting, after an anxiety filled fellowship session, there I was seated amongst the seats feeling super anxious. Since my friend introduced me the procedure of the meeting I played along really well. After knowing these people are into memes, for my speech as a guest I decided to involve something we all love which was the TV show friends. I mean these people made a good impression on me so at least I have to make them know I am a funny and an updated person as well
right?
The introduction was actually good since a lot of people there, apparently was into watching the 6 misfits trying to hold their life together. Then the round robin session came. Yet again, I used the word of the day and got myself a huge round of applause and I thought to myself “I see something in them, but I don’t know what it is..”. The prepared speech session was amazing and then I realized why my
friends put so much effort into crafting the perfect speech. Sometimes speakers failed to remember their lines and messed up every now and then and yet the whole audience just gave off this vibe of motivation and “I’ll be there for you when the rain starts to pour” feeling and I was in actual cloud 9. I never have seen a surrounding which is so supportive towards growth of another individual .At this
point I already knew I will be attending to the next meeting as well.
The meeting ended swiftly and then some of the “friends” fans greeted me and networked with me (Yeah this place is in some other level, I’ll tell you). I also got to know the two busy bodies who always ran around and made sure everything was in place. That is when I got to know these people were cousins and not siblings. I identified them as brothers just as fast as Tuhan’s speed of talking. The other cousin was named Lakindu and he was just Lakindu for me until some meetings where I realized “man this guy (Grammarian is shook) should be the next Mr.Bean.
If you meet me now you would see a much more extroverted, much more confident Bimshika. However that was not the case before I joined Gavel. As days passed by I became more and more open to welcome criticism and be okay with failing. I’ve seen people repeating speeches, some good speakers going off topic and people getting blamed for not maintaining decorum. The Old me would have not come back a second time, if I was one of those people who had to endure some criticism or negative feedback. I would not be comfortable to put myself in a place where I can always be subjected to open criticism. You see I would just avoid the chances of even being criticized or failing in front of an audience at any cost but I wanted to give it a chance. After all I wanted to at least make one bucket list goal ticked off. However, there was something about this environment which was so uplifting that I wanted to challenge myself to bring me back to the meetings each and every time. Soon, I was okay with myself being open to judgment and Gavel was something that I always looked forward.
Let me tell you about the Icebreaker speech I delivered. Humbly speaking, I am very good at being creative with ideas and words. So I made a pretty good speech with a good source of sarcasm and humor. I was always sarcastic around people close to me but hey! Plot twist! after Gavel I was comfortable in my own self traits that I always made sure that I was 100% myself even with strangers
and people I am not very close with. So in a nutshell, gavel made me confident to be utterly myself and not apologize for it. If you look around a meeting today, you would meet all sorts of geeks, comedians, NSA agents, artists, singers, couch potatoes and dreamers. Not to forget MMA freaks!! So my Ice
breaker speech was just that. Pure authenticity. The audience loved it. The evaluation really opened my eyes and I was so determined to correct all my mistakes in the next speech. The ice breaker feels so
refreshing. Trust me if anyone out there is wondering what it is like to give the Ice breaker, I can only tell you , you can only experience once you just give it. Rip the band aid off quickly and get it over with. Sometimes you will be wounded if it does not go well, but what is the one thing that is unique about
wounds? It always heals.
As you can see this whole gavel thing develops so much about our character on top of public speeches. It taught me that communication is not just verbal. It is the way you carry yourself, respect others and how you dress, how you network and so on. The mentors in this Club are also such great leaders who are like soul guides to me. You may think the mentors are also just typical Lankan adults but NO! They are the open minded free spirited people who always are open to change and growth and that is not something we can find often these days. Most teachers I had at school would just bring me down each time I had to speak or messed something up but the mentors at Gavel motivated me to get back up in the most humble way possible. Recently I had a presentation at my university ( first ever presentation) and I was actually looking forward to it because I was confident in my content and I know I practiced hard since gavel always taught me to do the work in order to get results. Not to toot my own horn, but I got highest in class and that moment all I was grateful was for none other than the Colombo Gavel Club.
With every themed meeting, the annual trips, workshops and inside joke at Gavel, I have evolved so tremendously. I always saw something in gavel and I did not know what it was until this year. It was passion. Passion for life, passion for growth and passion that ignites other fires to shine. From such an introverted shy version of myself I leveled up to be in the Gavel Exco in this year and trust me , being a part of me made me discover some truths about me that I did not even know that existed. I found my purpose within this opportunity, to be frank. I realized opportunities are for me to grow as a person and it does not come without the smart work put in. Since gavel is always challenging us to be better people, I always give my best work to the duties and make sure to be organized and co-ordinate through effective communication. Even arriving on time is a big deal for me now because of gavel. Once you taste the taste of growth you will always want to expand your horizons. When you grow, you always water the surrounding around you, since a tree always absorbs water from its surrounding right? I have done just that. I introduced a lot of my friends who were just as me years back and now they have evolved to be the best version of their selves. It brings me so much happiness to see my friends and I grow in harmony together and I suggest you to do the same. If you want to change the world, first change yourself and invite others to do the same. As you can see, CHANGE is a chain reaction. If my friend didn’t nag me to join, I would not have done the same to my other friends. I won’t be even writing this if it wasn’t for Sayuni, the friend who made me take the first step. Forever thankful for you.
Lastly, I would leave you with this note. I was inspired by the pin drop silence Sayuni got on her speech at school. I was also a tiny little needle among another stack of needles, average, repetitive and stuck in an audience of ‘’I am not enough”. But little did I know needles had the power to stab you in the toe or
to bring so many beautiful strings to make the perfect piece of clothing. It has the power to either make or break. So dear Needle, you are given a choice every day. So should you make or break?
Bimshika Udugama
