The Popular PUMA!

Few weeks ago, the online voting competition for the Most Popular University Sportsman and Sportswoman, organized by “Mora Spirit” kick started and this was when our beloved Secretary Rtr. Piyumi Abeywardhana took all forms of social media by storm! It was a killer picture of her jumping over a hurdle which was circulated among most of our WhatsApp groups along with the link to make her the most Popular University Sportswoman.

To begin with, she was well ahead of the rest from the start itself. However, that wasn’t the right time for celebrations.

On the 25. 11. 2019, with just a month away from Christmas, victory was sealed!

Sings: “JOYYY TO UoC, coz Pumaaaaaa won!”
(Now if you didn’t sing that, what are you? But if you happen to be PUMA, you’re excused!)

*No matter how hard she tries, when singing, her tune vanishes in to thin air and she ends up just reading out the words. (Her facial expressions would hilariously explain the struggle.)

Rtr. Piyumi Abeywardhana fondly known as Puma, is literally a PUMA simply because she’s one of the best athletes within the university arena and has made both the University of Colombo and RACUOCFMF proud in many instances. No wonder she became the Women’s Captain for Athletics in our University.

However her athletic soul is just one aspect of her personality that is one pretty interesting cocktail. A suitable opening sentence to the rest of the article would be this;

Great on the track yet පොඩ්ඩක් crack and loves Rotaract.
(Now if you didn’t notice the Rhyme what are you?)

She’s a strong supporter of the “Tea is life” movement

Generally for us Sri Lankans, it’s “EGB නැතුව කෑම එපා.” But for Puma, it’s “තේක නැතුව දවස එපා” and would turn out to be a grumpy Puma without her morning cup of tea.

පයිප්ප නං S-Lon , පාරවල් නං Puma!

At times you might see her walking aimlessly or floating in a world of her own which does make her look a bit lost. Yet surprisingly, she’s a “Walking Google Map!”

(Note: Hi Puma! If it’s you reading this, at this point we’d like to say Congratulations to you! Coz victory seems to be the most frequently traveled destination in your life map! and let us give you a virtual hug?…..But hold on. This reminds us of something else. )

Sadly, Puma is an awkward hugger!

Even with the people she knows well, she finds it a real challenge to hug them in a normal way like there’s some complicated science behind hugging. So just in case you have not hugged Puma and if you do it in future and feel like you hugged a Lego figure with its arms stretched forward, just let it go. That’s something she’ll never figure out.

Puma is a “Suduu” person

Nope. We aren’t talking about her skin complexion.

She’s more of a “Thankyou Sudu” person unlike our President who’s more of a “Thankyou Dala/Darling” person. A comparison of this with her skin complexion ends up in quite a satisfying sync though.

Puma loves cake. Puma loves to bake.

So this reminds us of a phrase attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette who is believed to have told starving peasants to eat cake if there was no bread. “පාන් නැත්තන් cake කාපන්”. Had Puma been one of those peasants, she would have been more than happy. That’s how much she loves cake. Also we hear from our President that Puma loves a certain type of cake she was forbidden to eat as a kid. It turns out to be the “රවුම් රවුම් පාට පාට cake. The swiss roll-ish ones” according to our President. (Our President clearly skipped the picture description lesson in English in grade 1. She was actually referring to Swiss Roll slices available in our Faculty canteen.)

Puma loves Hazelnuts and loves gravy!

She loves hazelnuts with anything! and is a typical Sri Lankan when it comes to the preferred amount of gravy in a meal. (හොදි එක්ක බත් කමු)

Puma suffers from OCD!

If people were admitted to hospital for OCD, Puma would have been in the Intensive Care Unit on life support.

Puma emphasises her point by repeating letters in the word.

Normal Person: I am so bad at writing!!! / Leo is a very special person.

Puma: I am sooooooooooooooooo bad at writing! / Leo is a veryyyyyy special person.

Good advisor on relationships, the good, bad and “everything else” too. Ahem.

Puma knows all about the hurdles on the track and the hurdles in relationships too! In short she’s a love guru. (Ahem, a dirty minded one too.) Besides, her love for her better half is just plain cute!

(Note: If you are the better half reading this now, you should have seen her face during the general meeting held a few days before you left the country. Even we started feeling sad about your departure.)

Puma talks and also KICKS in her sleep!

So we learnt that, once during a sleepover, Puma had asked “Baton Pass එක හොඳද?”
So we are assuming that the kicks in her sleep must be her jumps over hurdles, in her dreams.

Puma yawns at odd times!

She may yawn even while dancing at a Baila Party. In fact, she did! However she’s an amazing dancer too!

Puma’s brains are Popular too!

Puma’s also the one to go, if it’s anything related to numbers and Finance! She’s a genius!

In a way, she’s a magician

Yes. She would stay till the very last minute to do something and yet finish it off in style on time. #DamnPuma

AND LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST,

THIS PUMA IS ONE BEAUTIFUL PUMA!

She’s a humble and real beauty both in and out and is the best example for “Simplicity is elegance.”

Aaaand, PUMA LOVES ROTARACT!

She is an adorable, charming and carefree individual who puts all her heart and soul in to anything when needed, especially Rotaract. Moreover she’s an amazing secretary (who genuinely loves our President) and knows to strike a balance between all the responsibilities! Thank you for bringing glory and honour to our club and our university! We couldn’t have been more proud of you and we wish you all the best!