BLOGBUSTER

The doors of our great hall were open once more to the most awaited ceremony for all members at the Rotaract family of University of Colombo, Faculty of Management and Finance. “FMF nam blog thamai, Blog nam FMF thamai” has become a popular catchphrase in the Rotaract community for this reason. “Blogbuster” was one of those times when we got together to applaud the roaring of raw souls, to applaud the poet hearts of the club, the blog team of RACUOCFMF for yet another milestone in its penmanship, in reaching 1M+ views for our official blog.

The blog of RACUOCFMF has always been an integral part of our club. I feel as though they have lived many lives, experienced the heights and depths of each and like the waves of the ocean, never known rest. Throughout the years, they always looked for the unusual, for the wonderful, for the mysteries at the heart of blogging. At Blogbuster, we had the Past, Present and the future of our blog, to celebrate and reminisce the start, the journey and the path that lies ahead. The glorious event happened at the New Arts Theater of University of Colombo, on the 31^st of May from 5.00pm onwards with the participation of all past and present Rotaractors who contributed in uncovering the glory of our blog.

The hall was lit up with the pride and smiles of all enthusiastic Rotaractors who gathered up for the once in a lifetime celebration. The event commenced with the lighting of the oil lamp in line with the traditions which was then followed by the speech of our president of the club and the true inspiration behind the success of the blog, Rtr. Arshad Ismail welcoming all the guests and participants.

In reaching all the success that the club has reached, there were amazing souls, our champions, regardless of if we have messed up or not, they were there to guard and fend off the scavengers, set us back on our feet to face the right direction with a nap sack and good footwear. That’s what we are for one another, and so, they are always appreciated more than words can express. Therefore, let us walk through the past footprints that led to the success of our blog.

12^th July 2015 was the day that made history with the commencement of the official blog of RACUOCFMF by Ruzni Faik along with Bhashini Gamage with 100 blog posts and bringing home the first ever gold award for the most outstanding club blog. Thereafter, Isuru Alahakoon and Rtr. Dilini Perera at the wheel of the ship in 2016-17, Sarala Gunawardena and Pramodhya Abesekara continuing the legacy in 2017-18, Shafeeka Hafeez and Achini Dayarathne leading the sail in 2018-19, Rtn. Rtr. Aamina Ismail and Aloka Weerawardane planting the flag of 500 000 blog views in 2019-20, Rtr. Arshad Ismail and Rtr. Vineli Hadapangoda in 2020-21 and finally Rtr. Afkar Saleem and Rtr. Thirandi Dharmawardhana reaching historic milestones and dreaming of more in 2021-2022 featuring the blog with 170 posts took the ship from 740k blog views to the once in a lifetime 1 000 000 blog views. Since the commencement of the blog, all our talented bloggers didn’t miss to bring home what was ours, The gold award for the most outstanding club blog for the year.

All these contributors of the success of the blog were appreciated and awarded during “Blogbuster”. The stars of our nights and days, came full shine at our celebration of “Blogbuster”. For these awards go to those who held the flashlights of the blog, to those who have lit a path with straight-fire. We congratulate and celebrate the victories because in this joy we gain the fuel we need to keep fighting the good fight.

In our club each year, two individuals are meticulously picked for a special position. They’re guaranteed to be the best of the best as the responsibility that is handed to them is just as daunting as it is gratifying. These Talented individuals are the Editors of our Blog, a position that weighs heavy with duty. The blog team for the year 2021-22 made their surprise speech for the Superhero Duo of Creativity, which they called the ‘Yin and Yang of RACUOCFMF Blog’, Rtr. Afkar Saleem and Rtr. Thirandi Dharmawardana and their gratitude and happiness was shared with a bunch of flowers and a small gift. Let us take a glimpse at the two souls according to the bloggers in their surprise appreciation speech.

“Mr. Editor Afkar Saleem who was often seen in the serious work mood is a multi-tasking genius they said, which Rtr Gihni described as a google chrome with 20+ opened tabs; and the Best example is the blog outing, they could be swimming in the pool, playing on the ground, or literally on the footboard of the train, all of a sudden Afkar would be like, “Guys, what’s the update on round up? Are there any pending articles? Will the blog reach 1mn?” And there goes the trip mood down the drain. “Peerrrfect Machan” and “Exactly machan” are the two iconic phrases of Rtr. Afkar that has now become a part of the vocabulary of the all the blog members. And towards the end of this Rotaract year, it is not a lie to say that we started hearing these in our dreams as well. He would always say “small call machan” would probably end up talking for at least three hours about the blog. So if there a message from Afkar around 10 o’clock at night asking for a small call, that’s a trap guys! Prepare yourself for a whole podcast on the blog starting from its history towards its future plans as well”.

“Andd…. Then there’s our Ms. Editor, Thirandi Dharmawardhana. Who is super caring and easy going, but most of the time “a bit out of track” and always into fun and joy. Our mama bear Thira will be like, having fun to the highest level and suddenly be “OMG! I’m one of the editor noh…. And that is also only if someone reminds her. She is indeed a very responsible person it’s just that she doesn’t show it. She is very caring for her blog members giving work plus emotional support. Let’s say we have to go somewhere on the next day, she will probably tell you at what time you should wake up, what bus route you should take, the bus fair, where you should get down, whether you need to get a tuk or not and even the tuk price. That’s how caring she is”.

– Rtr. Venuka Batagoda and Rtr. Gihini Gunawardana –

Just as the year 2021-22, the year 2019-2020, was a special year for the blog of RACUOCFMF. We stepped up from a great blog to a mind boggling, OMG-this-blog-is-next-level kind of blog. This was all the work of two extraordinary individuals. In FMF terms, the FAMOUS DUO. They added color to our blog accentuating graphics and highlighted content. Frankly, they gave the blog a full makeover. These two are none other than Rtn. Rtr. IPP Aamina Ismail and Aloka Weerawardena. Aloka Weerawardena uncovered the secrets of the successful blogging of FMFers with everyone at blogbuster. She described the first secret as a “A mug of Passion Juice that never gets emptied”. Every single time, a blog article was written, apart from the words, grammar and punctuation that was included in the recipe by the FMFers, there was a generous amount of passion added. The second secret was described as a “School”. So, our blog is a platform that compels everyone to learn a lot of new things, to promise the reader a great reading experience. And the final secret was described as a “Friendship-Charm”, here it attracts different people who relate to the different content on it.

After all the awardings and appreciations, another most awaited time by all participants of the event was the ready-to-eat slice of heaven moment. What’s a celebration without a cake, especially when its 1m views? So, Rtr. Afkar Saleem, Rtr. Thirandi Dharmawardhana, The blog team of 2021-2022, District Rotaract Representative, Rtn. Rtr. PP. Akhila Wijethunga , Rtr. Arshad Ismail, Rtr. Oshadi Dias and all Past Editors of the club participated in cutting the 1 Million cake. After the official cake cutting, a simple butter knife rendered the fluffy, spongy and the colorful cake into as many fair portions as there were folks to eat it.

As the end of this event draws near Rtr. Thirandi Dharmawardhana, another key figure behind the success of today’s Blog which her perseverance, involvement and constant effort added harmoniously together to bring about all forms of success for the club blog, was on stage to present the Vote of thanks.

The event officially ended after a few hours, but not for the most enthusiastic Rotaractors of the club until everyone joined the dancefloor. All members celebrated the very last club event for the Rotaract year 2021-22, moving and blowing with the music that filled the auditorium. The sight of the dancefloor brought a frisson of joy.

These thankful days of the Rotaract diary are not mere celebrations, but memories that will invert the shadows, so that our forms imprint a growing lightness into the dark. Under the spotlights, upon that stage, is where we spotted the light within our souls, finding its way through all highs and lows. We would like to extend our gratitude to each and every individual who helped in making the event a success including Rtr. Melisha and Rtr. Vishvi for hosting the day, who was more than stressed out to finish off the full of a water bottle with the last-minute changes of the agenda, well as to all contributors and the readers of our blog who helped us achieve greater heights. 

Hold on!! We are not done here yettt!

[smartslider3 slider=”323″]

And with utmost honour and pride, we welcome home the symbols of our mission completion, our passion towards success, the positive energy for all our hard work, the Gold Award for the Most Outstanding Club Blog and the Gold Award for the Most Outstanding Newsletter for the Year 2021-22.  These awards that stand proudly in our hands today are the memories that will bring both new fuel and fire, igniting an everlasting flame that speaks of magic and legend.

Past Editors’ Note (Afkar & Thirandi): Best of Luck to our Successors Hasara & Zahra! ( And we are officially done :’) )