Inaugural Dinner Dance Of Old

Royalists & Thomians
 

DATE:  30th Sep 2004

EVENT: Inaugural Dinner Dance Of Old Royalists & Thomians

A right royal dream finally reached its ultimate flowering on the 30th of September 2004. The first ever royal Thomian dinner dance in the UAE became a living, breathing reality in grand scale on that historical night.

The ORUAE general committee started giving serious thought about the matter when the proposal regarding the need of such an event was highlighted by our acting president, Roshan Kariyawasam during one of it’s regular meetings, which was eventuated by the nomination of Keerthi de Silva and Ajith Senaratne to pursue the matter. The budding idea was put across to the Thomian by Keerthi to seek their consensus for a possible partnership in the project. The idea seemed to perfectly suit their book.

In view of the great schemes on the horizon, Keerthi proposed Roshan, and Sujith Jayawardhana to square the accounts.

the team was expected to shoulder the Herculean task of adding a new dimension to the ORUAE repertoire.

Except for the well-known Lanka Lions annual dinner dance that boasts of a proud history of 25 years under their belt, there was a dearth of such events to entertain our relatively small Sri Lankan community in the UAE. Being the pioneers and the authority, obviously Lanka Lions stipulated high standards, which increased the magnitude of the task for our Boys.

With all that on their minds, our dance committee set about in their apparently formidable business in the month of August 2004; joining hands with their counterparts Thomians, Lashan Egalahewa leading their fort.

30 Th of September 2004 (A Thursday- our 1 st weekend according to the M.E calendar) was finalized as the auspicious date. Ajith of Royal brought the joint committee of an `attractive’ offer from the management of the newest 5 Star hotel in Dubai, Movenpick. We knew that the inaugural dinner dance would make waves among the S’lankan community yet our FIRST PRIORITY was to consolidate our membership & their spouses to enjoy this fantastic offer.

The next important factor was to select & get down a classy band from S’lanka who can keep the dance floor alive all night. Both schools agreed that `Rajiv & the clan’ would be very fitting to this occasion. The deal was yet again struck by Old Royalist; Keerthi. It was noted that the band would be incomplete with a female vocalist as Rajiv’s band was an all male band. Keerthi, again rising for the occasion successfully arranged a sponsorship to get down a top female Vocalist (Judy) from S’Lanka.

The major criteria’ were eventually negotiated and now it was the second phase, which was the most difficult one, to attract the participation from the membership. As it had to be a fair price for the membership & also to abide by the legal aspects of the country’s; the committee’s agreed to have dance on invitation basis as a private function.

Each general committee member from both schools tried their absolute best to spread the word around the membership groups and secondly among the keen outsiders. All of the general committee members did their part to generate additional funds, which were required to support the Air passages, transport, Souvenir, Visas, accommodation for the band, gifts, spot prizes, decorations, compliments and various other expenditure involved. The work schedule accelerated to the `top gear’ during this brief period. At the onset the demand for the invitations was going at a slow pace, then slowly but surely, picked up the momentum and by the final two days, it was practically a struggle for both committees’ to meet the demand.

The joint dance committee had many sessions among them discussing & breaking their heads looking into and analyzing every aspect of the dinner dance not to leave room for any mishaps which would pay off heavily on the reputation of the both Old boy societies. Their decisions were intimated to the General committee’s of their respective schools for further review.

Finally, the 30th of Sept dawned and almost every thing was neatly in place. The band had arrived on the previous day giving a `scare’ to the joint committee; that the bandleader Rajiv had arrived minus his luggage! A minor hiccup! However the matter was sorted out later. In the meantime other committee members were busy packing the goody bags, hunting for gifts & banners and attending to numerous other last minute preparations.

The guests were amazed & fascinated by the way the event was organized!

Each lady was welcomed with a `red rose’ & a bagful of compliments (specially made for the occasion) at the foyer. On each chair was the programme cum souvenir and the backrest of the chairs were tied with bows of blue, black & gold fabric. The tables were decorated with a simple but an elegant single flower arrangement accompanied by a specially made small size college flags of both schools. The banquet hall had the unique platform, which was risen to a higher elevation from the dance floor.

With a rousing welcome given by the compere Mohan Morais, `Rajiv & the clan ‘ with Judy rose up on the platform with a toe tapping beat for a start, which made few couples rushing to the dance floor to give the jump start to this much awaited occasion!

What a night it turned out to be? The couples multiplied on the dance floor; hardly stopping for a breather; gents with a quick swift gulp of `beverages’ and back to dancing floor as Rajiv & his band produced some magical & unforgettable music of Sri Lankan favorites & western rock & roll!! Later, the team leaders of the two schools, Keerthi and Lashan, cut a specially made cake to mark the auspicious launch of this annual event.

The menu for dinner was pure S’Lankan and was great and sumptuous specially selected by Ajith, Roshan & Lashan (STC). While the band took a short break, it was the turn of DJ LEON of Little Hut; Mt. Lavinia fame to take over briefly to continue. Baila dancing competition was one of the highlights of the occasion that night, where some of our leading Royal cricketers got the perfect opportunity to show off more than their cricketing talents.

It went on in full swing punctuated by presentations until, as per the Country’s law; Compere Morais, announced the audience that it’s the cut-over time to stop the music, and the time was 3.30 a.m., much to the disappointment of those who were still high in their spirits, and so much energy left to spare. !! The breakfast was served in true Sri Lankan style, `Kiribath & Lunu Miris ‘ and every one was so anxious to have a bite before leaving to their homes to get a well-earned rest after a hard days work ‘on the dance floor’!

By the virtue of the fact of launching this event, we are now entitled for a yet another delicious slice of history on our Royal and Thomian platter! We were the first two schools to introduce the big match culture in the UAE and now we have been able to break the long- standing monopoly and enter into entertainment arena too as a team. Who made this possible?

We CAN NOT THANK ENOUGH, for the greatest of efforts; the commitment & positive approach (against many odds stacked against them) put in by our dance committee Coordinator-in-chief Keerthi (De Silva), Roshan (Kariyawasam) & Ajith (Senaratne). Not forgetting Sujith (Jayawardhana) who ably supported the committee on the Accounts front.

Well, it would have been `IMPOSSIBLE’ without the support from our ORUAE general membership who gave the `Thumbs-up’ to make the INAUGURAL DINNER DANCE of Old Royalists & the Thomians a huge success.

Looking forward for year 2005; when Old Royalists & the Thomians set to meet once again on the dance floor!!