Tribute to the Board of Directors 2020-21

The previous term was filled with many memorable and joyous moments despite a global pandemic. The Rotaract Club of SLIIT always gave us a reason to smile throughout the entirety of the previous term. This was all thanks to an amazing leadership by the Board for the term 20-21. In remembering all the amazing people we worked with, we asked the Board of 20-21 to write anything about someone in the Board. We made sure to keep the anonymity of the author and give you only the name of the person that the text is directed at. This is what they had to say on their fellow Board Members. Enjoy!

Rtr. PP Duleesha

Waidyarathne

Immediate Past President

“First of all, I would like to thank her for guiding us even in her very tight final year schedule. She is one of the nicest people on our board who always supported us through thick and thin. No matter what, she was always there to cheer and encourage us in every activity and project. For the past two years, she was like a Nymeria to our Rotaract pack and we wish her success in her future endeavors.”

Rtr. IPP Keheliya

Rajaguru

President 20-21

“It is with immense pleasure that I sit to pen down the following words about our fellow friend, Keheliya Rajaguru. I have known Keheliya for more than 2 years now. Keheliya started off as a proud Thomian, appointed last year as the president of Rotaract Club of SLIIT for the year 2020-21 and presently continuing his studies at the Engineering faculty of SLIIT.

He is an enthusiastic, humble and honest gentleman who has an excellent rapport with people of all ages. He is extraordinary at handling any tough situation, with flare, whilst still maintaining his composure and cracking jokes with everyone to make them feel comfortable. He has always been on the ready to guide others whenever possible too.

Furthermore, amongst the several qualities that he possesses that mark a great gentleman, he is also considered to be an amazing host. Keheliya’s ability at hosting events in both English and Sinhala languages fluently has certainly inspired many. As perceived from above, he has always seemed to take up any task and handle it with ease. Hence, he is also one of the few called upon at any event or project for help too. I must also mention that amongst his several talents he is also a much-appreciated singer.

Keheliya has been a responsible leader and I am honoured to have known him for this long. He started his journey in a very small way yet has achieved much within these years. I strongly believe the presidency was just one milestone of many to come in his life. It is a great pleasure to be a part of his team and I would like to wish him all the very best for all his future endeavours and milestones.”

Rtr. Thathsarani

Wickramaarachchi

Vice President 20-21

“I have known this person since 2017. She has been a very good friend and a very supportive person. In addition to that she was very famous for ‘SALT’. She is well known for using Appeton weight gainer to gain weight back in the day. Also, I need to highlight that she is a very responsible person. She does exactly what she is assigned to do. Whether academic or extracurricular, she does her job perfectly. She’s very organized and never misses a deadline or forgets an assignment.

Back in the day, we had some time to gather and have a chat with our bunch, but now in this situation we didn’t get any chance to get together like that.

Nevertheless, I won’t forget to mention that her most famous word which she often uses when she meets a person: ‘Dude’.
‘Duuuuudeeee… how are you doing…?’
That’s how she replies to everyone.
Anyway, I wish her every success in her future endeavors and all the best. Thank you for being a nice person to me.“

Rtr. Menuka

Withanage

Vice President 20-21

“I have known Menuka as a friend (one of the tallest friends I have) as well as a fellow Rotaractor. He doesn’t miss a chance to do a lame joke, to show off his not so good dance moves or to remind how tall he is to his fellow “short” friends. And I truly hope this would be the year he finally gets his driving license or maybe not, just so we can keep making fun of him. In all seriousness, Menuka is a person who carries a good moral character, cares about people around him and makes sure to strive to do the right thing. He is truly a pleasure to work with. His ability to manage and coordinate team tasks is exceptional. He effortlessly connects with people and makes everyone feel included. I wish him all the very best with his future endeavors.“

Rtr. Vinuri

Galagoda

Secretary 20-21

“Her demeanour cold and distant

But could that be just a ruse?

To her minions ever insistent

Even on your birthday she won’t let loose

She’ll stupefy with a glare

She carries a heart of stone

She seems to love bad hair

Yet flowery shirts she won’t condone

But beneath all this enigma

Lies an ally most loyal

In a world of judgement and stigma

A loving friend most royal

So, here’s to another lifetime

Of insults, quips and hot lip-bites

As partners ever in crime

For many more days and many more nights”

“Nethara is a classy individual. A high-end work perfectionist with a charming charisma, always down to share her knowledge with others, let it be “say-say meh-meh” or “Rotaract citations” she knows the best. Grateful. Will miss you Madam Secretary AKA 911”

“Vinuri, I call her Vinu, is a multitasking girl and there is literally nothing she can’t do. She can sing, bake, she handles the workload of 2 degrees, and she was the Miss Secretary of the club and I must say she is one of the kindest, most beautiful and loveliest people I have met in my life. Sometimes she acts like she is tough but deep down she is so sweet and she loves all of her board members. She loved us all like a mama bear. She will always hold a special place in my heart and I wish her nothing but the best of everything.”

Rtr. Randima

Fernando

Assistant Secretary 20-21

“To the one who loves my voice notes the most, to the one who cheated on me and left me to go with Vinuri 😒(oh cool down people, he was my ex-co director!), to the one who’s been caring about other people a lot, to the one who’s always been there for us no matter what, to the one who’s always working hard, Oops, I almost forgot…. to the one who is a master at report writing and who is speaking English like French.

I have told everything I wanted to say on the other day but the world should know how amazing and how caring you are. Gonna miss you 💔

I know you gonna miss me and my voice notes (Now you all know who I am😂). Stay safe and keep smiling 🥰.

From the one who always wanted to keep entertaining you all.”

Rtr. Nisal

Gunathilake

Treasurer 20-21

“Nisal MONEY Gunathilake, our club’s Treasurer, is a well-known team player. He never fails to share his knowledge with others and always shows up to save the day. This sporty guy with an unreserved personality has gained many achievements from Rugby as well as in academics. With his commitment towards his goals, Nisal has been able to balance his education and his extracurricular activities incredibly. Although Nisal’s puppy holds a special place in our heart more than him, Nisal is a sweet personality and always lends a helping hand to the team. Nisal’s strategic thinking worked perfectly when planning was done and to maintain the accounts precisely. Furthermore, he had to change his Money Heist Plan which he devised with his Assistant Treasurer to a money RAISE plan for the betterment of the club, which shows his quality of putting the club before himself. We were lucky to have him as our precious Treasurer.“

Rtr. Nimsara

Fernando

Assistant Treasurer 20-21

“I still can remember the first day I met you. You were talking with me like we were known for years, lol. You were truly remarkable and so active on everything. Those innovative ideas that you have on your mind are truly amazing. And also, you are such a humble and a fun type person. You always help others and led them in the right path. Wherever you are, you are sending the boredom away. I told you that you can be the President one day and here you are, by being the President for the year 21-22, you showed who you are. I am really happy for you brother and I wish you luck in your future endeavors.“

Rtr. Sakuni

Galappaththi

Co-Editor 20-21

“She’s the Editor madam of our Board with a never-ending smile on her face, spectacularly doing the job with her Co-Editor, Lathu. A very caring, sensitive person and a proud Kandyan. she’s always very supportive to the team. Her supportiveness is not only limited to her job role, she helps everyone in any situation no matter what.“

Rtr. Lathushanan

Koneswara

Co-Editor 20-21

“Oh boy! I’ve been waiting for this moment for a very long time. Now everyone’s going to know what I’ve always wanted to say about you LATHU!!! (AKA Lathushanan)

‘BRO, you are so an annoying and……..‘

Okay, who am I kidding. You’re truly an amazing person and a very good friend anyone can ask for. I’ve known you since the first day I joined Rotaract, you’ve supported me on so many occasions. So, I would like to take this moment to thank you for that. Keep being the amazing person you are.

The only thing that annoys me about you is that you like to collect awkward pictures of others, so you can troll them later. I used to fear tha, but not anymore. Because I’ve got plenty of your awkward pics as well. So, BEWARE!! HAHA!!“

Rtr. Nipun

Maduranga

Sergeant at Arms 20-21

“I don’t know how to start this. By the way, I can say that I am going to write about an amazing person. The first thing I can certify is that Nipun is a friend that anyone can count on at our good times and bad times. Nipun is a kind-hearted, generous and a friendly person to anyone. He was our former Community Service Director and the former Sergeant-at-Arms for the RACSLIIT last board. He has skills like singing, compering and playing guitar. He is a very dedicated person when doing projects. Then let’s move to his funny and harsh things, he always tries to be the joker in the community and he is our bite material at any time. In the end, I would like to recommend this individual as a good friend and a person who can do different things for the society.“

Rtr. Ishini

Weerasinghe

Director 20-21

“Don’t ever be fooled by this girl’s calm and quiet demeanor. She is undoubtably one of the hardest working people in the club. Organized, neat and ever dedicated, one rarely needs to check up on her work, because she always gets it done, even if she has to do it alone. Ishini is reliable, smart and truly truly passionate for service towards others and helping people in general. All of these qualities make Ishini one of the most beautiful and inspirational people you will ever meet.“

Rtr. Banusha

Jananga

Director 20-21

“’Bouncer’ also known as our very own ‘Babu’ was the Director of Finance last year. He was a very active member in every one of our projects. Whenever there is a project, he will always be there with his old but royal Honda Corolla to provide us with transport every day. His car transports almost 7 -8 of us which is why “Babu” plays a very important role in our projects. Jokes apart, he is a very responsible person who does his best when he gets a task. He completes his work in full perfection and everybody loves him as a responsible person. Although he had his special someone in the previous years Board, since he couldn’t muster up the courage to ask out from that special someone we have come to know that he has almost given up on her. This years Board, be alert he might still be having his eyes on her.“

Rtr. Kanchana

Kristhombu

Director 20-21

“If you collect sunshine in a bottle and personify it, you get Kanchana. One of the most genuine and delightful people you would ever come across, Kanchi is eternally uncorrupted by all the happenings in the world. Dedicated and always a delight to hang out with, she’s the sweetest friend one could ever hope for. In a world of dull monochrome and washed out greys, Kanchana is a bold brush-stroke of vibrant.“

Rtr. Nishiki

Yapa

Director 20-21

“The best way to deliver this to Nishiki is through a voice note but I will put it into words this way. Nishiki was the ideal person for the position of Community Services Director as she is a passionate Rotaractor who puts service before self. She is a good friend to everyone on the board and more than a friend to certain Directors of PD and IS avenues. Nishiki claims that she is raised in Japan but we doubt that if you get to know her interpretation of the Japanese inspired name of hers. Spending time with Nishiki is like watching your favourite vines on repeat and she can either make or break a photo with her face. Nevertheless, she is a beautiful person inside and out and we are grateful to have been able to work with her the past year even when she responds to messages after three weeks with an apology email.“

Rtr. Akaam

Zain

Director 20-21

“I met Akaam in 2019. To give an example of the word professional, I would say Akaam. He is such a knowledgeable, humble and intelligent person. He is also very easy to work with. Although he belonged to a different religion but he respected people of all religions and took advice from them. It only takes a very short time for someone to befriend him. He is a person who is committed to complete 100% of the tasks assigned to him. His speaking ability was another strength to his Toastmasters journey. As far as I know, he’s a very sensitive person. I also remembered that during the time he worked with me, he successfully balanced his degree and completed the Rotaract journey. Akaam is a person who understands team work perfectly. It was his vision that helped the club win an award. I wish him every success in his future endeavors. Congratulations Mate and Good Luck!❤️“

Rtr. Mohamed

Abraar

Director 20-21

“A first friend through Rotaract who has always been side by side. From starting Rotaract together as strangers to going on together in this movement by making fun of out each one of us. I remember the way we used to make groups active and troll someone together. Also, the strange rides we had 😂. It was a good experience working such a supportive person in this movement, I will cherish all those memories forever. Good luck man and we are not done yet…. ❤“

Rtr. Sharoni

Anthony

Director 20-21

“Sooo I got to know Sharoni akki first from the project Stand Up Sri Lanka and then after we became PR Directors I think there was rarely a day where we didn’t text each other. She’s super funny, talented, organized and patient. I have no idea how she tolerated my constant dumb questions :p

I have learned so much from her the past year and she has become the elder sister I look up to. She would handle everything perfectly, even when we were crammed with projects. Sharoni akki made Rotaract even more fun, with her random singing, sticker-sharing and funny stories. Sharo, I’ll still keep bugging you and being a pain😌 Definitely the best co-director anyone could ask for! (Yeah, everyone definitely knows who I am🙊)”

Rtr. Azfa

Azhar

Director 20-21

“I couldn’t have asked for a better person to work side by side with during my tenure.

Azfa is a person who has a big heart and someone who will help you whenever she can. She also comes up with the craziest captions – PR director kiyanne nikan neve.

She perfectly compliments me and made it easier for me to get through the year amidst all the halabalu.

Thank you so much Azfa, for all the memories, although we couldn’t meet as often, I think we spent a lot of time together checking posters, captions and overall gossiping about the crazy stuff xD. Also thanks for randomly checking up on me and asking if I am okay <3. You’ve been an amazing friend and partner in crime to me. I’ve had so much fun working with you and I am definitely going to miss you so much.“

Rtr. Sasmitha

Athige

Director 20-21

“Thank you so much for being patient each time we bugged you to make posts and edit them like a million times (very sorry for that🌚). You’re so creative and talented and the posts that were made by you and your team were soo good🔥, please do a session so we can learn too! Keep being amazing and share more hiking videos and photos. No more annoying “Sasmithaaa innawadaaa” messages again #InnerPeace #SasmithaIsFree #DanNamIwarai PhotoshopGuru“

Rtr. Infas

Irfan

Director 20-21

“Infas, the pinnacle of the club’s masculine attraction, he was solely responsible for 80% of the new female recruits to the club. This guy has some god level confidence and top-notch fashion sense. He’s easily one of the coolest dudes in the club and it’s fair to say that men wanna be him while women wanna be with him. With all this going on it’s easy to forget that Infas is also amazing with his work, never forgetting any of his work. Honestly, Infas can go as high as he wants to with ease.“

Rtr. Lasandara

De Silva

Coordinator 20-21

“Lasandara De Silva is an individual who possesses an open mind with constructive criticism and rational thinking. He is a very straightforward person with the ability to stand his ground under any given circumstance and always has his own opinion on anything and frequently gets into trouble because of that. Yet, this genuine lad with a heart of gold will never fail to make up to his mistakes and learn from those to be a better individual. Lasandara is a quick learner and a hard-working individual. If you need a physical project to be launched within few hours, “Lasa” is the number you dial. Also, this hardworking individual has brought glory to our club by achieving the “Most Popular Idea” in a prepared speech contest organized by the Rotaract Club of University of Colombo Faculty of Medicine. Our Coordinator is indeed a friend we all need and has been a great team player, rallying club members together whenever the club needs their support.“

Rtr. Sriram

Rajeswaran

Coordinator 20-21

“Not many people could capture beauty in such detail as much as Ram does. Be it nature, wildlife or the most mundane of incidents, Ram and his camera always knows where to find the beauty in a moment. Perhaps the only thing that surpasses the beauty of his pictures is Ram himself, the kind, humble and sweet guy that you rarely see without a smile on his face. Despite being the entire length of the country away from most of us, Ram never forgoes an opportunity to get together and have fun with the rest of the Board. Ever enthusiastic about whatever we do, Ram is the nicest person you will ever meet and he definitely makes every occasion a little more special.“

As the time comes to end, all of the anonymous paragraphs were directed to all the members of the Board out of love, we wish them the best of luck in their future endeavours. This brings us to end of a chapter and a beginning of another.

පසුගිය කාලය ගෝලීය වසංගත තත්වයේ ශෝකාකූල බව නොසලකා ඉතා සතුටින් ගතකල කාලයකි. SLIIT රොටරැක්ට් සමාජය සෑම විටම අපව ප්‍රිතිමත්ව තැබීමට හේතුවක් විය. මෙය රොටරැක්ට් සමාජයේ එම නිලධාරි මඩුල්ල හා විශිෂ්ඨ නායකත්වය අගය කිරීම සඳහාය. 2020/21 නිලධාරි මඩුල්ලට ඔවුන්ගෙ වෙනත් නිලධාරියෙක් පිලිබඳව යම් කෙටි සටහනක් තැබීමට අප විසින් ආරාධනා කරන ලදී.

මෙහිදී ඔවුන්ගේ රහස්‍ය භාවය ආරක්ශා කිරීමටද අපි වග බලා ගත්තෙමු. මෙහි දක්වා ඇත්තෙ ඔවුන් එකිනෙකා පිළිබඳවද දැක්වූ අදහස්ය.

අවසානයේදී සියලු රහස්‍ය පිටපත් අප එකිනෙකා අතරට බෙදා දෙන ලදී. මෙම විශිෂ්ඨ නිලධාරී මඩුල්ලට ඔවුන්ගේ සියලුම අනාගත අපේක්ෂා සාර්ථක වේවායි අපි හදවතින්ම සුභ පතන්නෙමු.

முந்தைய காலமானது உலகளாவிய ரீதியாக தொற்று நோய் பரவிய போதிலும் பல மறக்கமுடியாத மற்றும் மகிழ்ச்சியான தருணங்களால் நிரப்பப்பட்டது. SLIIT இன் ரோட்டராக்ட் கிளப் எப்போதும் எங்களுக்கு புன்னகைக்க ஒரு காரணத்தைக் கொடுத்தது. இதற்காக கழகத்தின் 20/21இன் அற்புதமான தலைமைக்கு நன்றி. அனைத்து அழகான கழக உறுப்பினரையும் நினைவுகூரும் வகையில், நாங்கள் 20/21 வாரியத்திடம் குழுவில் உள்ள ஒவ்வொருவரைப் பற்றியும் எழுத கூறினோம். அதே சமயம் யார் யாரைப் பற்றி எழுதுகிறார்கள் என்ற இரகசியத்தையம் வைத்திருப்பதை உறுதி செய்தோம். இதுதான்

அவர்கள் தங்கள் சக குழு உறுப்பினர்களை பற்றி எழுதியது. அனுபவியுங்கள்!

இறுதியாக, இறுக்கமான இறுதிக் கால அட்டவணையில் கூட எங்களை வழிநடத்தியதற்காக நான் அவளுக்கு நன்றி சொல்ல விரும்புகிறேன். அவள் எப்போதும் எங்களுக்கு ஆதரவளிக்கும் எங்கள் குழுவில் உள்ள சிறந்த நபர் ஆவார். எதுவாக இருந்தாலும், அவள்

ஒவ்வொரு செயலிலும் திட்டத்திலும் எங்களை உற்சாகப்படுத்தவும் ஊக்குவிக்கவும் எப்போதும் இருந்தார். கடந்த இரண்டு ஆண்டுகளாக,

எங்கள் ரோட்ராக்ட் குழுவிற்கு ஒரு பக்க துணையாக இருந்த அவளுக்கு எதிர்கால முயற்சிகளில் அவள் வெற்றிபெற வாழ்த்துகிறோம்.

நேரம் முடிவடையும் போது, இரகசிய பத்திகள் அனைத்தும் குழுவினருக்கு அனுப்பி அன்புடன் அவர்களின் எதிர்கால முயற்சிகள் சிறக்க வாழ்த்துகிறோம்.

இது ஒரு அத்தியாயத்தின் முடிவிற்கும் மற்றொன்றின் தொடக்கத்திற்கும் நம்மை அழைத்துச் செல்கிறது. மேலும் புதிய வாரிய உறுப்பினர்கள் மற்றும் அவர்களின் ரகசியங்களைக் கண்டறியவும் படிக்கவும் இங்கே கிளிக் செய்யவும்.