The 24^th of October began as a chaotic blur of classes, presentations, and all things academically draining. So when the afternoon whooped in, the directors of our club despite being energy deficient dragged themselves to the auditorium for rehearsals and last minute preparations for the big day ahead: our installation ceremony.

Fast forward through the hilarious mishaps and questioning whether their chosen song was“vibey enough” for the walk-ins, we knew the perfect way to end this long day. We were heading to Diyatha Uyana Park to celebrate Vibhavari 2025, organised by the Club Service Avenue as a subproject of Project එකமுதுkama to renew our energy to the highest level possible so the next day would be an absolute blast.

Vibhavari was an event to celebrate Diwali, the Festival of Lights, where we honour the victory of light over darkness, hope over despair, and joy over fatigue.

Even in our tiredness, the thought of that warm, glowing atmosphere felt refreshing.

Once we wrapped up our prep, we headed to the event where the chairpersons, Rtr. Dinuli Boteju and Rtr. Luhansa Sooiyabandara and organising committee were already busy setting things up. The ride there itself was entertainment at its peak. The first car was packed with eight people while the rest of us piled up into Rtr. Anishka’s car.

This opened up the chance for plenty of side quests like poking fun at each other’s cities, roasting Rtr. Danush over the phone as he tried to make it to the event, and daring Rtr. Shanjai to stay silent for 10 minutes. He almost succeeded if we ignore him furiously typing his responses to our brilliantly crafted questions and sighing dramatically at one point. The chatterbox in him was fighting for life. You could see the pain in his eyes.

The sky had been threatening rain the whole evening but as Rotaractors, we always try. Only this time, nature said sike and dumped half the ocean on us halfway through our ride.

At the location, our fellow rotaractors were already struggling to create kolam patterns (floor designs made out of coloured rice) and light up the diyas (clay lamps). They had to pause and watch the downpour drenched them completely. Meanwhile, we… laughed from the comfort of Rtr. Anishka’s car when we heard about it.

As we reached, the rain slowed down a bit….

most likely to welcome my arrival….

We arrived to a beautiful scene of people from all cultures coming together dressed in traditional colours. The clay lamps shimmered making the whole place look even more magical against the raindrops sliding down our windows.

We were warmly welcomed with hugs though it was only partly affection, since the secret agenda was to drench us too. After their half successful attempts, we joined the fun. Vibhuti (sacred ash) and kungumum
(vermilion) was drawn on our foreheads as we joined in to make the kollam patterns.

We lit up the clay lamps while playful arguments erupted about who did it best and battles were being fought to take aesthetic, candid pictures of themselves. As the flames fought to survive the rain and the kollam patterns tried its best not to scatter, there was this beautiful, festive chaos that took away all our worries, our tiredness and almost our hunger.

Almost being the key word.

Because while all of this is happening, there were a set of people wandering around, mumbling what we all had in our mind: Where are the sweets? When will they give them?

Thankfully, the chairpersons, Rtr. Dinuli Boteju and Rtr. Luhansa Sooiyabandara read the room and blessed us with delicious sweets that revived our last bit of energy. We were asked to take only one of each but Rotaractors live by the phrase “sharing is caring” so no one forgot that Rtr. Danush was yet to arrive. His bestfriend, Rtr. Yadhurshika kept two aside for him and so did many others. For a moment, Rtr. Danush suddenly became everyone’s best friend especially Rtr. Tharukshan.

But by the time the thalaivar finally arrived, only Rtr. Yadhurshika still had the sweets she saved for him. As for the others… their ‘reserved’ sweets mysteriously vanished. Pure magic. Harry Potter who?

After our hunger was restored and mocking died down, we gathered for a group picture that would create a digital imprint of this beautiful day. A kind stranger took the picture with a smile that matched ours and, despite the bad lighting he warned us about, the glow on our faces made the picture glimmer regardless.

A soothing end to a tiring day is something we all hope for and Vibhavari 2025 gave us exactly that.

Penned By:

Rtr. Rana Rilwan

Editor 25-26