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CIM TOASTMASTERS CLUB - Installation Ceremony 2017
If I can describe Toastmasters in one word – the word would be “Serendipity” – which means “the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way” - let me tell you why
I joined Toastmasters to simply tick off my bucket list just two years ago and today I stand before you as the new president of CIM Toastmasters Club – Serendipity.
If I can describe Toastmasters in one word – the word would be “Serendipity” – which means “the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way” - let me tell you why...
I joined Toastmasters to simply tick off my bucket list just two years ago and today I stand before you as the new president of CIM Toastmasters Club – Serendipity
Toastmasters international has paved the path for me to explore areas in life and career that I never thought existed and now I am advancing into becoming good at skills that I never thought I possessed – Serendipity
My life is filled with people who adds value – who adds love and who stands by me as pillars of strength – I would have never met such a variety of fabulous human beings if not for Toastmasters – Again Serendipity.
Today I want to thank a few people, they are the reasons for me to be here and talk about how serendipitous my life is.My dad. The first Toastmaster in our family who enthralls people with his wit and paralyses all the boys I know by just looking at them.
Thank you Dad, for introducing me to this life changing movement. In toastmasters we encourage members to listen. A skill that is very hard to master. But I am pretty lucky because I have a master in listening at home. My mom. She is the person who listens to all my speeches over and over without ever losing enthusiasm. She has and will always be the biggest strength of my life. Thank you Ammi.
Mafaz, The Toastmaster who gently persuaded me to deliver speeches when I was trying to fade away after my ice breaker, because like we all know courage always runs out from the back door and you need a nudge to find it again. Thank you for being a mentor and a friend and for gently manipulating me to accept the role of Vice President Education last year.
TM Ashane, TM Chathushika, TM Tina, TM Sliema, it will take the whole night to say the things I am thankful for. You’ll have been a huge part of my wonderful journey in Toastmasters. To help me, to guide me and to calm me down when things go bad. Thank you. The past year of CIM Toastmasters club was an year that nourished the glory of Toastmastering with pride and dignity under the focused leadership of TM Oshan and his Executive Committee. And this year we will continue to keep the same spirit and work towards reaching the pinnacle of success.
Our theme “fuelling Quality – sparking success” focuses on enhancing the quality of all elements in Toastmasters. Quality speakers, Quality evaluations, Quality mentoring and quality leadership.
We also believe in breaking the barriers of the club mentality. We don’t want to say we are from this club, or that club. We want to be Global Toastmasters. Make friends with many others in our district as well as in others and connect with fellow toastmasters and work with them towards the common goal that we have all signed up for. To become better human beings.I have personally witnessed the power of this serendipitous movement and my purpose is to help my members as well as many others to witness the same. Here’s to another year of knowledge sharing, purpose building, and a year of delightful moments as Toastmasters of Toastmasters International.
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Acceptance Speech - CIM Toastmasters Club AGM
All I possess in my acceptance today are the evidence of a year that nourished the glory of Toastmastering with pride and dignity.
Being a daughter of a Toastmaster, I started witnessing the power of public speaking at a very young age, but it took me a long time to gather enough courage to finally become a member of this prestigious and life changing movement. And when I joined, all I wanted was to complete the two manuals and become a good speaker as well as to tick off my bucket list. And never in my wildest dreams did I plan to lead a club.
I take great pride in being a marketer, it is the qualification that gave me a competitive advantage in the fashion industry, and thus the choice to be a member of the CIM Toastmasters Club above all the 220 clubs in district 82 was a natural choice.
And when I stand here today as the newly elected president of CIM Toastmasters club on its 9th year, I feel truly blessed to be part of this family of wonderful people. And I am brimming here with pride because all I can see is love, unity and a common dream to succeed with quality.
I believe our network is our net worth and a great portion of my net worth is right in this room. And we as a team will shine brighter in the year to come with the path that was paved by our immediate past president and his Executive Committee. Thank you President for leading this club to a place where it is recognized and respected. And a heartfelt thank you for the committee for your unending support to make this a successful year.
A special thank you to all our past presidents for guiding and motivating us. And most importantly, the heart of the Toastmasters movement – our beloved members. Thank you for your commitment and friendship toward making this year an unforgettable one.
Here’s to another year of knowledge sharing, purpose building, and a year of delightful moments. I believe the year to come will certainly be ours to win!
AGM - 23rd May 2017
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YOU WANTED TO MEET...
A decade can flash by in front of our eyes. And then in the most unexpected moment; life reminds you how fickle it can be. Ten years - A long time when I calculate it but gone by in an instant.
I hope you are in a better place looking down at us and saying “I told these bitches let’s meet up – now here you are – all of you when I am no longer there!”
I am sorry I didn’t make time to meet you or even to drop you a message once in a while. I was proud to say I know you. The Head of Design at a famous local clothing label, but I never made the effort to say that to you in person. I am sorry,
Your exit has shocked us. Shattered us. Broken us. And most of all reminded us that WE NEED TO SHOW UP & MAKE TIME!
Liking each other’s pics on facebook seems like the most menial thin to do now. This we did very often. We made sure we liked, loved and ha ha’d each other’s pictures and posts. But we never picked up the phone to call and say hello. You did. YOU WANTED TO MEET.
It breaks my heart and fills it with guilt to remember how you wanted to meet up, not only me but everyone else whenever we encountered you. Although we may not have been very close we did share the most important years of our lives learning to become designers. The creative souls in this society. And that bond is very strong.
I see the true versions of people now. So many are inquisitive of the reason of your demise. So many pass judgments. So many makes excuses not to be a part of this grief. Your demise has reminded us that in the end only the very FEW who truly connects from the heart remain by your remains.
Thank you for reminding us that we need to SHOW UP.
Thank you for showing us the value of true connections.
Thank you for bringing us back together after a decade.
Thank you for making us question our contribution to this world.
Thank you for reminding us to live and cherish and love every person in our lives.
Thank you for being a part of our memory.
And we are eternally sorry we couldn’t make time for you. ETERNALLY.
But I promise you my dear friend; we will all see you on the other side. Let’s throw a gala fashion show, laugh out loud and dance till we pass out.
Until then… Guide us. Look down at us and look after us.
Lots of love,
Ludee.
AOD – Fashion Design Batch of 2008
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HOW I BECAME FLAW+SOME
How many of you think I look attractive? How many of you think that I am awesome?
Mister toastmaster - and my dear fans. First of all, thank you so much for the love and being so kind. Second of all I know some of you must be thinking “what a self-obsessed woman that is. And I completely agree. I am self-obsessed. I love myself – too much sometimes and I consider myself as my biggest fan.
But today I am not here to be pompous or to brag about myself. I am here to share my humble journey of how I became flaw+some. Not Awesome but flaw+some. And I will tell you what it is in a bit.
We all have our own stories of shame, stories of courage and stories of pride. And this is my story where all those three elements merge together and created this fantastic beast in front of you.
Like all the other stories mine also started once upon a time ago when I was a little girl who was just stepping into the challenging era of a teenager. to that young girl, life felt boundless and the options limitless. And I was expecting the world to accept me with a loving embrace. But no. not yet. Because every good story had to have a villain and some battles and tears before the happily ever after.
My first villains were my own genetics and hormones. First the genetics took charge and said, this chick is going to have dark skin and not the porcelain color of her mothers. Done. I Was born with the dark skin. Then came the hormones, and they decided, this chic is going to be fat, and thus I started cultivating enough fat to feed a third world country. And the moment I thought ok this it, my teeth decided to grow away from my mouth instead of being inside. So you see I was extremely lucky to have inherited all the challenging genes of my family. Now what do you get when you put all that together. You get a short, stout dark skinned girl with her teeth in front who’s trying to figure out the new body parts she’s growing. It was utterly confusing and I was lost and nobody helped me. Even at that very young age I learnt how hard and harmful it is to live being humiliated for the way I look even before I figured out who I was.
But the worst of the villains were the vampires I came across in my life. These are the people who can suck out the positive energy and drain you with their harsh remarks. They have tongues that only flex to criticize and humiliate another being but never to compliment them. I have come across many and I continue to meet them on my way. And they have caused me to cry buckets of tears throughout my few decades on this earth. They are the reason for my scars of shame.
They have called me fat. They have called me black. They have called me ugly. And they consider me as a failure. Some of them still do. They discriminated me because I had bigger body parts than the other girls, because I was darker than my mother, and because I never belonged to the majority.
These my friends are the most common villains that all of us face at some point in life. The biological villains are manageable and we can adapt to them but these vampires are the ones who makes us drown, kill and ruin us with their venom. Because these vampires come in all forms of life. As family, as friends and sometimes as lovers. Thus we fail to identify them and when we let them; they eventually ruin us. I have met all of them in all forms. And I will tell you how I manage to live amongst them.
All battles in life has a source of salvation. And in my battles salvation always comes from books and the stories that I expose myself to. They help me to become better and more of who I am. They help me to become somebody when I feel like nobody.
One story I read has always been etched in my memory. This story always helps me to get back in line when I feel disoriented. It is a story about the French revolution. When the revolutionaries arrested the royal family, they took away their son, the heir to the throne and imprisoned him in a separate dungeon. There they wanted to do a human experiment. The young prince was verbally and emotionally abused for a period of time. He was exposed to drinking, prostitution, drugs, violence and all the bad things that life can offer. But even after months of being exposed to these negative environments, this young boy did not change his attitudes, nor did he succumb to the bad habits. In the end, the revolutionaries were confused, they went up to the boy asked how and why he did not fall prey into these habits. And the boy simply said, I was born to be a king, nothing and no one can change that.
But for me it took many years to see even a glimpse of royalty within me. Because it is very hard to see the good in you when you are constantly told otherwise. However there came a moment where I decided that I would make friends with courage and accept myself rather than letting the vampires suck the beauty and energy out of me. And courage helped to be who I am today. It helped me to be strong to wear a painful metal brace to fix my teeth. Today my Smile is one of my best features - but I didn't get it from the heavens above nor did I inherit it from my family. I suffered for it and courage helped me to do so. It helped me to look at myself in the mirror and look at all the imperfection and still tell myself how beautiful I am. And courage helped me to stop worrying about my skin color, throw away any cream that had the word “fairness’ in it and to feel extremely sexy and confident about being a brown girl.
Now this is what I call being flaw+some. It’s when you have the courage to accept all your flaws and imperfections but teach yourself to feel equally awesome. And when you continue to practice doing that you master the art of being flaw+some.
One of my favorite authors Anais Nin said that “Our mission in life should be to find peace with exactly who we are. To take pride in our thoughts, our appearances, our talents and our flaws, and stop this incessant worrying that we cannot be loved for who we are.” Because we can be loved for who we are! I know that now.
Life starts feels boundless when you learn to admire your flaws, and when you take pride in your transformations. Embrace your flaws, and stop worrying accept yourself in all its glory and improve it. We have the right to be self-obsessed and we have the luxury of being our own cheerleader.
And don’t forget; that just like Vampires there are angels amongst us. These are the people who helps us to build ourselves again from the ruins that others caused. They help us to make art with the broken pieces of our lives. Sometimes these angels comes in unconventional forms; maybe as a younger man or and older woman. Don’t block them for the sake of the norm. Be open to these people who rejoice you and just let them love you. And be alert and identify the vampires and stay away from them, but don’t forget to forgive them for they don’t know that they are committing a crime and that forgiveness will give you a kind of glow that will burn all the negatives in your life.
Today I stand before you, as a woman you who proudly accepts and loves all her flaws, who truly and deeply understands the agony of rejection and a woman who strives to become even better in the years to come. So I suggest that its time that all of you go in front of your own mirrors look at yourself and accept everything that makes you feel inferior embrace then but still tell yourself. Oooh baby. let’s be flaw+some!
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Redefining My Success
Money – we all love it. We all want it. An abundance of it is a sign of power – A lack of it is a sign of struggle.
These colorful pieces of paper in all its glory and in all currencies runs the world we live in. We cannot live without it and we cannot say we don’t want it. I personally love to have a bundle of these with me at all times. Which sadly doesn’t happen very often these days. So instead I tend to look at pictures like these and visualize and plan what I might do with it.
Many of us associate success with these pieces of paper. I do too. Every day we wake up in the hope of making more of these substance. And in this process we trap ourselves in a race and lose ourselves in a maze.Once I was also a part of that race and was trapped in that maze. But something in me changed, and it started telling me that I need to find a different purpose and that money should only be the result of it.
That is me on a bright sunny Monday at my last job. I was a fancy fashion designer at a reputed firm with an even fancier pay check that came every month and made me feel like practically Beyonce! I did love the fact that I had enough money to do what I wanted to. But I didn’t like what I had to do to earn that money. Because my work was not creative enough. It was not innovative enough. and it certainly was not fulfilling! Some you might think; oh gosh, what a stupid girl. Should have just kept quiet and got that bulk of money every month without complaining. To be honest I did. For eight long years. I went for work for that pay check. I went for work for money.
But then, the inevitable happened.
Now those of you who know me, knows that I like hairy men. And this is a gentleman that I truly admire. And I read something that he said that changed my world.
From the moment I read that quote, the artist in me started screaming and struggling and suffocating. She wanted to come out. She showed me that I am lost in the majority but that I don’t belong there. She wanted to create. To share. To end the day feeling fulfilled.
The turning point of my life came when I learnt the concept of redefining my own success. This simple concept made me reassess what I considered was successful to me.
A lot of us were brought up and taught that success meant having a good job, a big house, a husband/wife and kids etc. It was the norm and this is the sole reason why it is hard for us to break away from that mold that was inculcated into our minds from our childhood. we thing the norm is right and what we want is not! this concept made me realize that success to me didn’t mean a lot of money. It didn’t mean to have a job that had no creativity whatsoever. It did not mean a fancy lifestyle with endless cocktails.
Back when I was a kid I wanted to be so many things. A Designer. An artist. To start a Barbie doll store. A lawyer. A librarian. Then I heard people telling me this.
A jack of all trades will be the master of none. they told me to choose because if not i will fail. They said that in this world a person can only be one thing.
I generally don’t hate many things in life. But I despise these few words and thoughts from my core. They almost killed the artist in me. So if you hear anyone saying this to anybody, just jump in and stop. I believe this is the most negative quote that exists in this world. Today I don’t feel there is anything I cannot do if I want to and if I put my mind into it. And like my good friend Garwin Murray says: We can be jack of all trades and master of many! And I completely and totally agree with him.
Another hairy gentleman that I love and one of his famous quotes. We associate lots of quotes. We Share them on social media. We Paste them on our pinboards. We talk about them in our speeches. But do we actually practice what these great people taught us? Do we take them into count when we live our daily lives? I don’t think so. Why? Because we are lazy. We are inconsiderate. And we think we have time.
This quote helped to become a better version of myself. To think that this is your last day is not a negative thought. But it’s the most empowering thought that can make the best out of any human being.Simple. Precise. And life altering. We don’t have a lot of time my friends. Even if we live up to 70, that gives a lot of us around 40-45 years in this beautiful world. So take the plunge!
I know it’s risky. But take the plunge and follow your heart. It’s not easy. It’s scary as hell and there will be many doubts haunting you throughout your journey. But do it nevertheless. It is completely worth it.
And before I conclude I would love to share my own definition of success at this junction in my life.
To me success means
The ability to create every day
To inspire as many people I can to go back into creating things and to become makers of this world.
It means to teach and give back the knowledge that I have
To be a healthy human being physically as well as mentally
It means to strive and become a jack of all trades and a master of many.
And most of all to live my legend and change this world by doing work that I love.
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The pair of wonders
There are two areas of the female body that attracts most of the attentions. Do you’ll know what they are? Yes it’s all about the back and all about the front.
Several years ago while being extremely and feeling like half woman, half cow, I came across a website that changed the course of my life. It made me start loving myself again and motivated me to take care of my body and made me decide that my greatest asset is just below my neck.
The website was called “the Scar Project”. It is a collection of photographs of breast cancer survivors. Young and old. Happy and sad. Wives and mothers. With scars that will never heal, and leftovers of a body that they have to live in. It was a shockingly raw reminder for me that my body will not be the same if I don’t take care of it and embrace it for what it is.
Because according to world cancer research one in eight women, develops breast cancer in their lifetime. One in eight. And this adds up to more than 500,000 thousand of deaths annually around the globe. Half a million of our mothers, daughters and sisters die with breast cancer every year.
Breast cancer is the most common invasive cancer in females worldwide. It accounts for 16% of all female cancers and 18.2% of all cancer deaths worldwide, including both males and females, and 1.7 million new cases are diagnosed around the world and the numbers are advancing each year.
Thus making this disease one of the strongest enemies to demolish our beautiful lives. It has the power to destroy solid relationships, bury your daughters before their time, ruins our sisters and cut apart their bodies and to rip your weeping baby away from its mother.
We live in a culture that puts barriers to women and discourage them to talk about their health in public. We live in a culture that teaches girls to walk hunched so that they don’t expose their breast. We are a culture that mindfully ignores subjects such as cancer labeling them as god’s diseases.
In fact I have come across many women who have actively decided not to be aware about breast cancer – stating that they prefer living not knowing than to undergo treatment knowing very well that the only successful way of curing cancer is through early detection.
And because of that, although breast cancer is thought to be a disease of the developed world, according to Breast cancer org. almost 50% of breast cancer cases and 58% of deaths occur in less developed countries.
Are we to fear this enemy? NO! But we need to prepare ourselves to fight it. That’s what warriors do.
There are many commonly known causes for breast cancer. Genetics, Long term usage of contraceptives, obesity and many more. The National breast cancer foundation has simplified and have illustrated all of these details so that even a 15 years old can understand them. So we cannot give excuses saying we do not understand. It is our responsibility as family members, wives, mothers and daughters and especially as women to take care of ourselves and our pair of wonders so that we strive to live a healthy long life.
Now Girls below 30 might think – oh we have time, we are not 40 yet so nothing to worry. But just like we can be lucky to get a nice boyfriend we have the equal probability to carry a genetic defect that can cause breast cancer.
World health organization states that diagnosing breast cancer in women under 40 years old is more difficult, because their breast tissue is generally denser than in older women. By the time a lump in a younger woman's breast can be felt, the cancer may be advanced and aggressive and less likely to respond to treatment. Which makes us have a very poor prognosis for survival. Almost 78% percent of young women affected with breast cancer never make it.
I’m sure all of you know who Angelina Jolies is? She’s famous for many things. Brad pitt’s wife – ex wife. Her army of adopted children. But in 2013 she revealed a decision she made that took female empowerment to a whole new level. She underwent a preventive surgery of double mastectomy after learning she carried a gene that made it extremely likely she would get breast cancer.
In simple terms, a double mastectomy is the surgical removal of both breasts. And Angelina being an A class celebrity, a sex symbol, a movie star and one of the prettiest women on earth made the decision to let go of her most influential body part at the ripe age of 37. Why did she do that? She it so that she will live long enough to her see her children grow up. Because she lost her own mother to this scornful enemy. I believe this kind of publicity is the right kind of publicity. Giving light to subjects that are very dark and giving exposure to possibilities and paving the path to save many more mothers from their untimely death.
We are a generation of women exposed to new kinds of harmful chemicals and unhealthy lifestyles. We are busy being stressed out about work and casually munch down poison in the form of fast food. We replace exercise with excuses. We wear frumpy clothes thinking that we have tomorrow to dress up. When in reality our future has a lot of blurred and dark possibilities.
So instead of wearing a pink ribbon only in October for trend, let’s start becoming more aware about the common diseases in our civilizations and act wisely to prevent them. Let’s walk without being hunched and embrace being women. It doesn’t matter whether your size is the size of lemons or the size of melons you need to realize that we are equally exposed to this enemy and it is our duty to take care of ourselves and to be alert and aware. So that the one in eight will not succumb to death and we won’t have to leave our children shattered, alone, and without a mother.
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DANCING ON MY OWN
Somebody said you got a new friend
Does she love you better than I can?
There’s a big black sky over my town
I know where you’re at, but I bet she’s around
I know it’s stupid, but I just got to see it myself
Im in the corner, watching you kiss her,
I’m giving it my all, but im not the girl you are taking home,
So I keep dancing on my own
That was a part of a song that can sum up the worst heartbreak of my lifetime. As human beings this is the most natural and the most common ordeal we have to encounter. But that doesn’t make it any less painful. Because we are beings who are connected through emotions, words and hopes. They keep us tangled into a past and to people that no longer exists.
We lose the people we love for many reasons. Misunderstandings, values, religions, infidelity and sometimes death. Death can be the most painful, but infidelity causes a kind of pain that can paralyze the soul. Because in death you do not encounter the other person again, but in infidelity you continue to see the person you love; forgetting you, replacing you and leaving you for another.
And in this digital era where we are eternally connected; it has become a horror to experience such great sadness. Because we are constantly exposed to the insanity that is displayed on social media. And to top it off, we live in a small country and the chances of you bumping into the same people who broke you into pieces is very high! However life happens and it doesn’t wait for us. So we need to shut our flood gates, put a bandage on the wound and carry on.
Love is the ultimate feeling which is the base of all humanity. We have built palaces in the name of love, we have waged wars for this thing called love, and we have created invaluable masterpieces inspired by love. And we become whole because of love.
But my friends love comes with loss. It is the universal truth. This we forget in the beginning and sometimes in loss we forget that we first loved. And especially in infidelity, the victim feels defeated and rejected, that gives energy to the negative beast that is sedated within all of us. And mine almost woke up.
And that’s when I decided to take charge. I reminded myself of the beginning. Of that thing called love. No matter how hurt or broken I felt, I reminded myself that I first loved. I then came across an insightful quote written 2000 years ago in the Bible that made all the difference in my life.
It Says,
Love is patient: Love is kind
It does not envy: It does not boast
It is not proud: It does not dishonor others
Love is not self-seeking: and is not easily angered
It keeps no record of wrong: and it does not delight it in evil
It always protect, always trusts always hopes and always perseveres.
Love never fails.
So there it was right in front of my face. I chose not let my love fail so did not to keep records of wrongs and I chose to be kind. Just as love empowers us loss can be the greatest teacher of our life or the worst enemy of our happiness. It is up to us to choose. The agony of loss taught me to live one day at a time and to enjoy one moment at a time and to accept hardships as the pathway to peace.
It also taught me not to take take our relationships with our loved ones for granted. Because a future with them is never guranteed. All we have is this moment, and we should live it and love it as if we are going to lose it the next minute.
Sometimes we encounter one another to become each other’s mirrors. To wake each other up and to be the best possible version of ourselves—but not everyone is ready to be awakened. Not everyone is ready to dive to the depths of their soul, to see what lurks there—and sometimes, no matter how our hearts feel, in the end, it is sometimes easier to run away. And we need to understand this and let the runners go.
I also learnt about a fascinating fact that helped me cure my broken heart. I read that the Japanese use an ancient artistic method to rejoin broken objects using gold or silver epoxy. They believe that when something has suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful. It will never go back to being what it was before it broke – instead, its cracks are highlighted to create a masterful work of art.
Likewise our transformation comes by putting the pieces of you that are broken or hurting back together, working through the silver of sorrow and gold of pain to reinvent yourself – so you emerge into a stronger and more powerful individual.
Today I am grateful for my destiny for altering my path to come across this painful hurdle. It has marked a before and after in my life and has revolutionized my world. It tore apart my ego and broke my heart so that new light can get in.
I am still very sad but I know it will pass. I know I will eventually mend my soul to love another. Until then I am diving into the depth of my soul to understand myself better and get healed all the while trying to live this amazing life dancing on my own.
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Welcome Address at the 8th Presidential Installation of CIM Toastmasters Club
Good evening ladies and gentleman.
Welcome you all to the 8th presidential installation of the CIM Toastmasters club - where marketing meets public speaking and leadership. We are the first and the only CIM Toastmasters club in the world and we take great pride in the journey we have come so far.
Each year we focus on a mission to add value to our members as well as to build great leaders in our communities. This year as we step into the 8th year of existence, we have crafted a mission that will change the course of our club.
They say that people never forgets how you made them feel. So let me start by warmly welcoming all of you to this glorious event where we will be appointing a new group of leaders that will take our club to greater heights.
We are truly delighted and humbled to have the presence of such a distinguished set of guests today.
We welcome our chief guest Mr. Sanjika Perera – Chairman of CIM Sri Lanka Region who along with his team assist us with all our club activities.
Our Guest of honor – DTM Ajantha Jayawardena – the program quality director of District 82 who accepted our invitation to grace this event in spite of his busy schedules.
It also gives me great pride to welcome our Keynote speaker and my dear teacher – Mr Yasas Hewage who amidst his busy cycling and teaching schedule, agreed to share some of his wisdom of being a revolutionary leader.
We extend a warm and heartfelt welcome to our Division Director for Division A – TM Sliema Gunatunge and our Area Director for Area A3 TM Chithra Veerabahu.
I am indeed honored to welcome the charter president of CIM toastmasters club who is one of the heroes that made this club a reality; as well as all of our past presidents who continues to be the pillars of this club.
Finally it is with great pleasure that I welcome all the other distinguished invitees, fellow members and friends. I hope that all of you will enjoy the rest of the evening and witness the glory of the CIM Toastmasters club.
I wish you all a very pleasant and an interesting evening ahead.
Thank you.
#Toastmasters#Toastmasterinternational#District82#Srilanka#CIMsrilanka#CIMUK#QualitytoConnect#CIMToastmasters
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We live. We love. We let go.
We live. We love. We let go. This is the circle of life.
But while we are immersed inside this circle the brilliance of optimism in living and loving often blinds us of the inevitable step of letting go. Which is not far beneath our present and it is the step that would demolish our ego and mold our soul. We tend to forget about the perils of reality, and dance throughout the summer of bliss without taking a moment to contemplate how to take refuge in the winter of distress.
Being left by choice is a harsh reality that many humans have to endure. Some losses carve deep scars while some can completely ruin a life. Grief is the last act of love to those we love. Where there is deep grief, there is great love. But letting go of this pain starts with forgiveness and completes with release. If we want to live contently, we need to learn how to forgive and to release.
But sometimes letting go feels like self-amputation without anesthesia. The pain can cripple the soul and drag the remaining optimism through a thorny road leaving you helpless and in traumatic agony. Your thoughts keep you awake. The tears keep you awake. And life feels suffocating. But throughout this common ordeal of grief, destiny gives us signs of survival and hope. Acceptance starts to creep in. It applies a soothing balm on our wounded souls by making us realize that suffering is inevitable, preordained and it is destined, and the cracks in your heart will absorb more love and energy the next time it starts beating for someone you love.
During these times of doubt, our subconscious takes the role of a master and pump sense into our weakening minds and gives us clarity and courage not get confused over lingering thoughts about the past. It helps us not to lose our precious time on hallucinations. So during these times of trial we need to listen to the voice within. There you will start to find light.
Destiny can be both kind and evil. When she’s kind, she amuses us, comforts us and let us doze off in her reassuring embrace. But when she’s evil, she shakes us from the blissful slumber and leaves us in a dark and lonely corner of this world where we suffer re-living the good memories that keeps us tangled into a past that no longer exists.
The light at the end of the tunnel looks very blurred and you doubt it to be a mirage. It feels far too distant to approach and the ghosts of negativity sends chills down your spine on your lonely walk towards that light, they want you to give up and surrender to the darkness.
But we are more powerful than that! Because humans were created in the image of God and he resides within us giving us the energy to recalibrate ourselves and row through the sea of agony towards calm waters.
Love is beautiful and ballistic. It transforms us, heals us and empowers us. Pain is just as beautiful if we choose to see it that way. Pain is a great teacher of patience and forgiveness. We need to accept both these emotions as mentors.
Many times in life we will be put inside tunnels. Some short and some very long. Sometimes its pitch dark and lonely, but one thing is certain; Life never puts you into a maze that has no exit. We are always given the key; we just need to find the door that takes us out of darkness.
Everyday we let go of the sun with the hope that it will rise from the skyline in a few hours after it’s descend. Our happiness is also the same; we have to let it set down at the horizon in the hope of a brighter sun rise, which will give enough warmth to our frozen lives and ignite the fire within us to brighten ourselves and make us sparkle amidst the enemies of sorrow and pain.
So it is a vital habit to learn to let go throughout our circle of life, because only when you let go, you start to see the silver line.
GG
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A toast to my best friend and her brand new husband
Good evening dear ladies and gentleman. Welcome you all to this beautiful celebration of my best friend sumaya and her brand new husband Ravin. My name is Ludmila and I am honored to be standing here before you to raise a toast to these two wonderful people.
They say a person has to be lucky to find their soul mate. A soul mate is a person who you can trust, who you can rely on and who believes in yourself even when you don’t. They accept you for who you are, they forgive you for your mistakes and empowers you to become the best you can be. And I found my soul mate in Sumaya 16 years ago and 16 years later she became twice as lucky as me to find another soul mate in Ravin whom she married today.
Most of us women have a checklist of things before we rate a guy, and I can be worse while sumi is always more forgiving and acceptable but Ravin, the very first day I met you and spoke to you, I threw away the checklist because I knew she had found the one. Believe me, I have never liked any other person so instantly in my life. You are one of the most humble and pleasant people I have ever met, and knowing that sumi is going to live the rest of her life with you gives me great joy.
I believe that god has his fingerprint in all areas of life, and when it comes the union of the both of you; not only his fingerprints, he has put his whole heart into making this combination. I will not be harping on both of your worldly achievements on this glorious day because to become a complete human being; all you need is a kind heart, generosity and lots of love. And you two are blessed with all, and that makes you two more successful than a lot of people in this world.
Sumi, I don’t have to tell you how much you mean to me. You have been the strongest pillar in my life right next to my family and I am certain that you’ll be the same strong pillar to your husband and to your new family and Ravin, there’s no doubt that you’ll be a remarkable husband to this girl. People say Best things take time, and the wait was absolutely worth it!
My dad always says that marriages are made in heaven. Whether it is a proposal or a love affair, everything is strategically planned ahead from the one above. And you two have proved that to us very clearly. So ladies and gentleman lets please stand and raise our glasses to this brand new husband and wife, whose marriage was surely made in heaven and to wish them a lifetime of success and blessings!
Cheers!
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Wake up your Picasso! (CC3)
“What is your hobby?” this is one of the most commonly asked questions from children. And a question we never ask each other as adults. Why? Because Hobbies and crafts are considered childish once you reach a certain age, and they are long forgotten and packed away in the attics of our memories.
But these crafts and activities were the reasons for our beautiful childhood. They were the reason that some of us chose our career paths. These hobbies completed our childhood and nurtured our creativity, but why have we forgotten them? This I believe is the question that will bring us answers to overcome the commonly faced challenges like, stress, depression, loneliness and zero confidence in ourselves.
The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul but sadly we have managed to kill that desire by the millions of excuses we give ourselves not to commit to a craft, as well as the endless hours we waste on technology based distractions.
Current Situation
Today Babies are given tabs instead of toys, Children are playing video games instead of drawing, teenagers are given more private tuition than time to explore their creativity and us; the adults have managed to fill our hours with endless lists of things that will allow us no space for a craft.
Jim Rohn once made a statement which says, there are three things to leave behind: your photographs, your library, and your personal journals. These things are certainly going to be more valuable than your furniture.
But today we hardly print any photographs; instead we post them on social media and they get lost forever in history, we don’t spend time reading because we are busy skipping from one app to the other looking at other people’s lives, and we are definitely not committing to writing a journal because that addictive screen keeps tempting us. People don’t have books or journals on their night stands anymore, in fact they sometimes even forget that their partner is next to them because that shiny screen keeps them occupied.
This my friends is not evolution. We are digressing; because evolution happens through improved creativity and improved sense of fulfillment and not with improved distractions.
What is a hobby?
A hobby is something that a person can do: not only as a fruitful past time but it is also a source of pleasure,relaxation as well as knowledge. Hobbies makes us feel fulfilled, they help us to become confident and have pride in whatever the skills that we acquire through them, and sometimes hobbies finds us alternative paths to make a passionate living by doing something that we love.
People are progressing into be more aware about the prejudices of life from animal cruelty to global warming and I believe encouraging artistry should also be a priority otherwise we will be raising a new generation of humans that are addicted to technology and screens but will never smell or feel the warmth of creativity.
Some people even claim that facebook is their hobby! I have nothing against any social media networks and to date I am an active user. But I use it for its purpose. To stay connected. It is not a hobby. It does not enhance any of your skills and it sure does not add any value to your life. It’s simply a form of communication.
A hobby on the other hand, gives you much pleasure and satisfaction through Mind-Hand-Eye coordination. Hobbies will free your mind from stress. They create a recreational world where you find solace after a hard day of work.
Finding a hobby
We all have different ideas of what hobbies are. They don’t have to be the classic list of things that we have heard growing up, but it certainly must add value to your life and improve your skills and helps you build a deeper and more fulfilling life.
How do you find a good hobby? Well it’s quite easy! I believe that we all have a Picasso, or a Shakespeare or even an Arnorld Shwazeneeger snoozing in our subconscious. We just have to nudge them, wake them up and listen to what they want. Being mindful is the key. People say they are not creative, they can’t draw, they can’t sew and they don’t have patience and so on and so forth.
Excuses are the cause of all our failure and the roots of our depression and stress. We are all gifted with colorful minds, and we need to believe that and remind ourselves everyday and simply take the paint brush or the pen or the needle or whatever that our heart yearns and I promise you the rest will be taken care of.
Passion, creativity and fulfillment are the key elements of human growth. We need all three to become wholesome individuals and the best way to reach this state is through having a hobby Hobbies have no limits. And we cannot master them right away; it’s an ongoing process of trial and error, year after, but soon you’ll experience a great sense of personal satisfaction as you become more and more accomplished in the field you have chosen.
And as you grow in your hobby, you’ll feel more content as a person and less vulnerable to the stress of daily life. The most wonderful thing about choosing a hobby, whether it is exercising, collecting something, or reading; is that it doesn’t require any previous experience; you just have to supply the interest and time along with some hard work and perseverance and eventually you will reap the benefits.
I believe and I want you to believe that each of us are born to be significant and a skill or a passion is what will make us stand out from the crowd. A hobby distinguishes an individual from the majority and gives that person superiority amongst the ordinary. So go home, relax and wake up your inner Picasso, because he is going to take you to the zenith of your life!
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Toast to Thilini & Kevin
Good evening ladies and gentleman, welcome you all for this beautiful ceremony of love between Thilini & Kevin.
Our lives are extremely unpredictable, and sometimes in this uncertain life, God sends us a friend, a companion and someone to hold your hand through the ups and downs we all have to face as human.
Thilini, we are so happy that you have found that person in Kevin. Although we didn’t have the time to get to know him thoroughly, we see that his intentions are better than anyone else you know. Time means nothing. Character does. And Kevin you have changed the life of our friend only for the best.
I have known Thilini, for a long time, and she continues to be the brightest girl we know. She brightens up anyone’s mood by just laughing her famous laugh, and talking nonstop nonsense. She is a person who makes life feel good, and Kevin I believe she will make your life bright and cheery for many years to come.
I hear that marriage is hard work, for so many reasons, but Kevin, im sure when you wake up next to this beautiful girl for the rest of your life, it isn’t going to be so bad. There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved, and you two are blessed to have found each other and continue this journey as husband and wife.
Wishing you a lifetime of success, happiness and lots of fun!
Cheers.
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Love Your Body (CC2)
How many of you go in front of the mirror after a shower and look at yourself and say, Daymn I look hot? Look at those thighs? Look at those arms? Anyone?
Well I do. Some people think it’s being self-obsessed, I think it’s just the starting step of a lifelong relationship that you have with your changing body.
I meet a lot of young women, who hate the way they look; even I am guilty in some instances for demeaning myself for the way I look. It takes courage to accept the color of your skin, your size, your hair and everything else that comes in this package. Sadly we love only a few things about ourselves and hate most of it.
There are three key steps in loving your body. The first step is accepting it. We have to love ourselves in order to love others. And in my definition loving ourselves mean, we have to accept who we are and how we look, and improve what we can and change what damages us. We need to start respecting and loving the current self in order to improve it into a better and a stronger version. We need to accept these love handles, and the double chins, and all the excess fat that we are responsible for, before we look towards improvement.
Body positivity is a subject widely discussed in the fashion and entertainment industry but I know that still many people, especially women are struggling with self-confidence and self-acceptance. Songs like, taste like cola, and all about that bass, just boost our confidence for a little while and then we are back to staring at Kim Kardashian and feeling like pigs.
This is where the problem is. We look outside for confidence, when in fact we have to look within and find that strong, determined person who’s hidden under layers of junk food, failed diets and forgotten gym memberships.
Some people think that Body positivity means that you accept you’re over weight self and those cellulites and beer bellies. No, It’s not! It means you are responsible for the way you look and feel in the future, and you are aware that there are improvements to be done.
So the first step in your relationship with your body starts by accepting it and loving it.
Our body is our temple. And nobody takes a chicken burger or French fries as offerings to the temple. Right? The same applies here. People say that life is short and we need to enjoy it, which by they mean, forget the body eat the crap. But this is where we have to live that short life. This is what will make us walk from one place to another. This is what will assist us in reaching our goals. So it is our choice to feed this beautiful machine of ours with the correct fuels. Because we are what we eat. We cannot blame the world for their new inventions of fast food. We are a generation that is prone to cancer with all these unhealthy diets, what we can only do is being mindful about the food we consume. This is the second and the most important step in improving our body.
Then comes the hard part, which is activating your idle rear - in simple terms moving your lazy bum and working out! Exercise is the other single most important activity in improving your body, and the activity that has the most amounts of excuses in this world.
Many say that going to the gym is not effective only dieting is, and lifting weights can make women look manly, and the men who lift weights have identity crisis and they try to earn it through muscles. These are all negative energies of the naysayers. They don’t have the guts to do it, and they condemn the ones who try to do it.
There’s a famous quote being shared on facebook, that says; “never date a guy with abs, because no one develops a six pack just to date only one girl” and most of the people who share it are either guys who are over-weight or the women who dates them. For me a pack of abs or a toned body only proves the determination, the perseverance and the commitment one has towards his body. If that results in getting more attention from the opposite sex, well I think that’s a fantastic side effect. I personally like chocolates. And chocolates come in bars, so does abs! Since chocolates make me fat, I prefer abs as a substitute.
Exercise is important to have a healthy balance in a world of junk food and cubicle lifestyles. It helps us to fight stress, depression and gives us energy and confidence to face new challenges. If you don’t challenge yourself, that itself is the start of your descend as a human being.
The highest number of gym memberships are recorded in the month of January. Many people sign up in the hope of becoming fit, but only a handful will remain until December. And that’s why many Gym owners ride fancy cars. Why do we keep making them rich when we can push a little bit further from our comfort zone and be rich with a fit and a healthy body? We can wear that sexy body hugging dress and make the boys go gaga, and for the boys to take off your shirt and not look like kung fu panda! We can do it. It’s just three steps away.
We don’t need a new year to make a change. All we need is a new day and a new paradigm shift about our body. Our body is the greatest instrument that we have received, and taking care of it and improving it is your duty to yourself as a healthy human being. And if you make the change, then the reflection of the mirror when you stand in front of it is definitely going to be drop dead hot!
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LIVE YOUR LEGEND
Thirteenth of September was a day that the world lost one of its brightest souls. The demise of the man who founded “Live your Legend”, a community that empowers and guide the risk takers and the dreamers will be missed sourly in the years to come. Scott Dinsmore was a dreamer himself, he was a motivational speaker, a life coach and his TEDex speech has more than four million views. He chose to give up his fancy job at a fortune 500 company to follow his passion a decade ago and along the way created the live your legend platform to share his knowledge about a life that is fulfilling and adventurous. He passed away after a tragic accident while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with his wife during their world tour that started in January. Asia will never get to experience the bright spirit of this man who helped thousands of people to divert their paths to the road less traveled and ultimately living a more fulfilling life and defining success on their own terms.
Grieving will pass but his memory shall last, and the work he started should continue to inspire more people to believe in work that matters. Today most of us are trapped in a massive rat race that has sucked our energy, positivity and happiness. Only a handful of people will say that they love what they do or that their boss is someone they look forward to work with every day. Mark Twain once said that whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. This is our time to reflect. The passing of Scott in his prime is a great reminder for all of us that life is very short. We don’t have the luxury to postpone our dreams because tomorrow it will be too late. Scott died while living his dream and in the end it is all that matters.
Living your legend is not a destination, it is a journey. We can choose to be in our workplaces but can find other ways to fulfill and get closer to living our dreams. Life offers us endless opportunities, but most of us don’t see them because we feel secure and comfortable in the maze that the society has built for us. We are busy running around it, without noticing the stars that gaze at us and the exit that oh so brightly awaits us on the side of our ordinary life.
There are enough examples in the world that proves us that there’s a life beyond our mundane activities, but we fail to identify our strengths and skills because they are under layers and years of normality. We are also surrounded by likeminded people who are equally afraid to step out of their comfort zone so most of us are not exposed to communicate in reality with the risk takers.
Live your legend community teaches us to explore the three pillars that resides within us and which are in 100% control of us before attempting to explore the unknown territories of finding work you love. Pillar #1 is becoming a self-expert, which means prioritizing your values, identifying your strengths and defining your own success. Pillar #2 is doing what you think is impossible and Pillar #3 is surrounding yourself with passionate people. You are only going to be good as the people you surround yourself with so be brave enough to let go of those who keep weighing you down.
Scott Dinsemore believed that the world would be an altogether different place if we all did work that actually mattered to us. Because when we focus our time and talent on the work that means something to us, it starts to matter to those around as well. The ripples we make travel further than we think and that’s what starts to change the world.
Finding and doing work that matters will sound like a daunting task for many out there who are committed to various responsibilities life throws at us, but if we dwell more into the subject and spend time analyzing what life truly is, what matters most and what would you do if it was the last week of your life on this earth, our priorities will start to align in a way that we never expected. Steve Jobs was also a regular human being who had the capability to see his potential beyond the ordinary, as well as all the others that are shining brightly as examples in this world. They live their legend day in and day out and why can’t we? Beautiful things are meant to happen when your passion exceeds your fear, but don’t be mistaken, it takes massive effort and perseverance to make the transition from an ordinary life to living your legend. But is there anything more worth than breaking free – to know on your last breath that you lived a life of meaning? I believe most of us choose not to be in the category of humans that Benjamin Franklin once said were the ones who dies at 25 but are not buried until they are 75. We all need to awaken from our hibernating state and be the dormant forces in our families, communities, country and the world.
The Brazilian novelist, Paulo Coelho once saw a pianist playing the piano and enjoying every note of his symphony in a crowded lobby where everyone was too busy to notice the beautiful music that surrounded them, but the pianist continued to enjoy playing the piano for that was his passion. The author then realized that we each of us have our personal legend to fulfill and that is all. It doesn’t matter if other people support us or ignore us or put up with us. We are doing it because that is our destiny on this earth and the fount of all joy.
Scott, in his very short life became successful doing what he loved and showed thousands of us the path and the joys that we can come across if we choose to walk on the road less travelled but if you are not willing to risk the unusual prepare to settle for the ordinary. Ignoring passion is slow suicide, never ignore what you’re heart pumps for because the two most important days of your life is the day you were born and the day you find out why. So keep looking. Don’t settle.
Rest in Peace Scott...you will be missed!
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LUDMILA (CC1)
Close to three decades ago a young couple was expecting their first born and the man who in a short while will become a father was reading a poem by Russian Poet Alexander Pushkin. He had no clue what was in store for him, or how his life was going to change, and finally when the package arrived, he saw me, and he named me Ludmila and I changed their lives!
Ludmila was the name of the Poem he was reading which means “favor of the people”. It is also a name of a Roman Catholic saint of the medieval times, but sadly I am far from being a saint. Preparing for this speech was one of the best experiences I had because it made me analyze myself from within. It took me a week, two mind maps, one SWOT analysis and six hours of writing to compile, edit and present to you Ludmila Bopitiya in less than 6 minutes and this is my story.
I was born many moons ago under the star sign of Gemini and I share my birthday with the man who once said that the only reason to give a speech is to change the world. He was John F Kennedy, and although I might not change the world today, I hope this will be the stepping stone of that Goal I will accomplish in the years to come
There are a few things that are very important to me which makes my life what it is.
My faith in God and being a Roman Catholic – It has given me enough strength to face a lot of challenges
The love for my family and my dogs – they take top priority over anything else, especially my dogs, whom I fondly refer to as my boys.
My job – which is basically making beautiful, dresses for beautiful women of all sizes and not just the skinny ones
And my devotion to reading, writing and Personal Development.
Let me speak about a few things that I believe in which makes me who I am. This way I think it will be easy for you’ll to decide whether to be my friend or to stay away from me.
First of all, I believe in Books. For me books have become my constant companion and are more significant than anything else in the world. I am obsessively over protective about my collection and find it very uncomfortable when someone wants to burrow. I know it is a flaw and I’m working on it to and to be less selfish. There was a time when we used to live near the sea and when the Tsunami warning came in April 2012, we had to leave immediately and take a few essential things. I myself am a self proclaimed material girl and I really love my stuff, but that day in a whim I packed two suit cases full of books instead of clothes or shoes. And that day I realized what’s more important to me amongst all my materialistic possessions. I believe in books. I believe in reading and writing. I believe in learning. And I want to make reading infectious amongst my networks and one day for all of us to take a book to bed rather than our smart phones.
I also believe in creativity and the continuity of hobbies in our lives. In life you need to find three hobbies you love. One to make money; one to keep you in shape and one to be creative! I am lucky to have a hobby that makes me money, lets me be creative and demands me to be in shape. We live in an era where our days are spent looking at screens and people saying their hobby is Facebook, and I am on a one woman mission to bring back the hobbies that we grew up with and bring them back in to trend.
What we choose to stand up for in life defines and differs us from the rest. Some of the things I choose to believe can be controversial and against my religion but somehow I strive to balance it out. Being a part of the fashion industry has exposed me, to work with various kinds of people and people from all sexual orientations. Sexual orientation is something that most of us use to judge others. I believe we have no right to judge any man for their choices; we should accept them and respect them for the human beings they are. Although most of the religions are against anything other than heterosexuals I choose to treat people for the humans they are. We are all a part of god’s creation or a part of evolution depending on what you believe in and I think we all need to accept that.
Leaving aside my controversial beliefs let me tell you a prominent characteristic of mine, so that you get to know me better. I am very complicated at times. I have a dual nature and have contradictory extremes; which means Instead of being an individual I am a multitude.
For example, there are days that I want to disconnect with the whole world and lead a simple life, meditate, have my own garden etc, but in the next minute I am also thinking about buying my next pair of Shoes or go on vacation to Europe. Likewise I have many contradictory aspirations, from adopting a child, to opening a dog shelter to spending all my money on a walk in closet or buy a BMW. It’s like Mother Teresa and Paris Hilton both lives inside me and I need to keep them both happy for me to function properly! So simply put I am one spontaneous package full of constantly conflicting emotions.
Being Ludmila Bopitiya is Exciting, Energetic and imaginative, it can also be restless sometimes; but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I am my biggest fan and my biggest critique and I hope and wish to remain a favorite amongst my people.
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Toast to Awyaja & Ranil
January 17, 2015
Good evening Ladies and Gentleman, thank you for being here tonight to celebrate the love between Awayja and Ranil.
My name is Ludmila and I am so glad to be here and witness my dear friend starting the next chapter of her life.
I’ve known her since 1993 when we were all tiny little Bridgetines! She and twin sister Wasana has always been famous as well as confusing, because they were the only two girls who looked exactly the same.
We belong to a group of 9 girls and we have shared together some of the best times that life could offer us, and today all of us are extremely proud of you and are thrilled to be here.
Although I will not have the time to go through all the beautiful memories we share, I will say a few things that Ranil, you will cherish for a lifetime.
This bride has been the most dedicated woman I have met in my life. She spent most of her school time running after a ball but that didn’t stop her from balancing her studies and everything else. Her dedication to God, her family, her sport, her studies and her career has in return given her many blessings. And I’m sure her dedication as a wife will make both your lives happier and successful in the years to come.
Awyaja your name itself brings out the definition of your life. Being Real! It’s quite hard to find genuine people in this world but we have been lucky to have found a friend in you. They say that genuine people don’t come around too often and if you do find someone real keep them close, and Ranil, you are very smart, You married one!
You have been a great friend for all these years, and I’m sure you will continue to be one; you have a true personality, a kind heart, a helpful hand, and most of all pure thoughts. All these qualities of yours will not only make you a fantastic wife, it will also inspire others around you to become better people.
I prefer not to keep this too long, so here is my wish to the both of you…
May god bless you abundantly in your marriage, and give you the courage to face new challenges as husband and wife and to cherish every moment on this earth with happiness filled in your hearts!
So cheers to these two souls that from today onward will think as one and to the two hearts that will beat as one!
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Toast to Thimani & Heshan
January 30, 2015
Good Evening ladies Gentleman, thank you all again for being here today to celebrate the love of Heshan and Thimani. My name is Ludmila, and it’s my pleasure to be a part of their special day as their maid of honor.
First of all, I have a question. Why do people come for weddings? Because they like the good food & the music? Obviously yes! But also we all want to believe that we are in the presence of true love and today I assure you we are seeing true love between this newly married couple.
They say that True love is your soul’s recognition of its counter point in another. It is a very rare thing in the world, And I am so happy that my two friends have found their counterpoints in each other and have decided to spend the rest of their lives together!
I also want to mention that we are in a world where religion and beliefs are dividing people instead of uniting them. But Heshan & Thimani, you two have proved that unity is in the bond and not in the place where we worship. So May Lord Jesus and the teachings of Lord Buddha will protect you from all evil and strengthen your bond for as long as you live on this earth.
Ok so let me try and not keep this too long, and finish it off by sharing something that Will Smith once told me!
Heshan and Thimani,
Never lie, steal, cheat, or drink.
But if you must lie, lie in the arms of the one you love.
If you must steal, steal away your sorrows.
If you must cheat, cheat death.
And if you must drink, drink in the moments that take your breath away.
Ladies and gentleman this is one such breath taking moment, so please stand and raise your glasses for the brand new Mr & Mrs Rodrigo. Cheers!
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