jealous easily, and they soon forget. As I began to grow with each passing minute, I began to be quiet at the right time and start observing. And what I saw was horror. I saw how people lost themselves on the minute they saw money, and in that process I saw how easily they forgot about love, friendship, sharing, generosity, and laughter. And for that reason I started to think that maybe no one can come out of that trap, until I joined the University of Kelaniya Gavel Club in 2015. I was amazed to see how many more thought like I did and how many more wanted people to start living life and enjoy little moments of life. Every Gavelier had an amazing story filled with a beautiful message to share with the rest of the crowd at every educational meeting and we always left the meetings with a happy heart.
To my luck, I had a small realization that I was always blessed with the ability to listen to people, share their views, guard their secrets, provide them comfort, make them listen, help them move towards a more comfortable life, and make them feel blessed for who they really are. And I always believed that my strongest weapon was, my words. When I applied for Best Speaker 2015, I had little knowledge of what to say and how to say it. But when I became a finalist, even if I didn’ t win, I won something else. I won when I realized that I need to speak to someone’ s heart. Determined to make a change, I started to treasure every single word I said to someone else. If I ever made a mistake, I learned to sit down, listen and respect what the other person had to say. I learnt that everyone had a different life and aspired to be what their heart tells them. I also saw how honest and humble people become when they shared their deepest secrets with me. With everything I gathered from the previous year, I applied for Best Speaker 2016.
From the moment I decided on what to speak on, to the moment I started delivering it at the Grand Finale, I knew the key to enjoy my speech was to love it. I had observed how people always feel unwanted and neglected by those around them and how little they think of themselves. We tend to easily forget that every one of us is special to someone else, in one way or another. It could be to a partner, a parent, a sibling, a friend or even a pet or to a stranger. And this was all I needed the world to know. Even you, who is reading this right now, is someone who has been blessed to be in this world so that you feel special. With every word I wrote, and with each practice session, my mentor and those around me taught me how my audience would receive it. I had all the freedom in the world to completely ignore what they taught me and carry on with my speech the way I wanted. But I never did because I knew I had to respect everyone’ s opinion and that those opinions didn’ t harm what my heart wanted to say.
On December 8 th 2016, I woke up knowing that I should make the day
“ I was always blessed with the ability to listen to people, share their views, guard their secrets, provide them comfort, make them listen, help them move towards a more comfortable life, and make them feel blessed for who they really are.”
“ And for those seven minutes, I felt like I was on top of the world and I never remembered that I was at a competition.”
count. I knew that I should make someone change their life for the better even if I didn’ t win. I knew I had to make my father proud who came all the way from Kandy just to listen to me for seven minutes. I knew I had to make my roommate proud and feel worthy of all the sleepless nights she spent with me helping me practice my speech. And I knew that I had to make every Gavelier know that their efforts were not in vain and that I had to try my best to bring the trophy home.
As soon as I was called on to stage, I knew exactly where my father was seated and I smiled at him. And for those seven minutes, I felt like I was on top of the world and I never remembered that I was at a competition. My father, the audience and the rest of the Gavel family were listening to me so quietly, that if I dropped a pin, the entire hall would hear it. When I opened the file to see what my impromptu topic was,“ After a Storm, Comes a Calm”, and a wide smile covered my face. Because I knew this was where I got the opportunity to tell the world what pains my father had been through to make me who I was and am up to this day. With each passing minute at Best Speaker 2016, I knew I was happy and that I will make someone change their life. And that it had given me the rare opportunity to say what I wanted to say. I had never been speechless in my life but when I was announced as the winner, for the first time, words failed me. For a brief moment I couldn’ t believe what happened, because deep down, my heart told me that“ you finally made it after all these years.” With confetti thrown all over me, with the standing ovation and loud cheering, I knew my father shed happy tears secretly. But most of all, I was truly amazed by one particular moment. When I had to share what I felt after I won, I took a moment to thank my father for making numerous commitments to keep me high in my life. And the moment I told the word“ Appachchi” the entire Gavel family started cheering so loud that I began to cry. They knew how important he was for me and I was truly humbled by the fact that they knew it. And just like that, I am wiping off a tear drop from my face as I type that special moment in this article.
Gavel is where no one will judge you. Even if you say one sentence, even if you speak in broken English, even if you speak in Sinhala or Tamil, and even if you cry or laugh, you can become comfortable the way you are. It is one of those places where everyone eagerly waits to listen to what your heart says. Best Speaker 2016, thank you for showing me what I can do, thank you for giving me the opportunity to realise who my true friends were, who would stay beside me even to this day after I won. Because they knew I would never forget my humble beginnings even as a winner. Thank you for giving a chance for my father to shed happy tears by finally seeing me win and tell it to every person he meets. Thank you for giving me a memory and a journey that I can learn so much from even up to this day. Thank you for every effort you put to make everyone feel that they are worthy of something. And mostly, thank you for letting me be who I am in a world full of judgment. At Best Speaker, I may have won a trophy. But what I truly won was to learn to be humble for the rest of my life, even as a star.
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