BORN TWO DECADES AGO IN COLOMBO, SRI LANKA, MY JOURNEY BEGAN AT MY FIRST SCHOOL, LOUVRE COLLEGE. ELEVEN LONG YEARS OF EDUCATION AT LOUVRE ENDED WITH ME MANAGING TO SCRAPE TOGETHER NINE DISTINCTION PASSES AT THE O/L EXAMINATIONS MOSTLY THROUGHT PANIC INDUCED STUDYING AND QUESTIONABLE TIME MANAGEMENT.

It was during this time, that a glimpse of my passion for technology started showing. If asked about when exactly this obsession began, I would point, as embarassing as it is, to the digital monstrosity that was my first website, a digital monstrosity that would make any modern developer weep. The COVID-19 pandemic, despite its global devastation, gave me and my friends Omindu and Chanith an excuse to dive deeper into coding. We transformed lockdown boredom into lines of code, video editing and debugging our way through quarantine.

I then found myself at Ananda College Colombo, where my studies began in the physcial science stream. As gruesome of a time as it was to tackle the curriculum, it was made infitely more pleasant and memorable owing thanks to one Encounter, details of whom I shall save for later. After almost three long years, I managed to get through AL examinations with 3 A passes . This landed me a spot at the University of Moratuwa to study Engineering.

And that is how twenty year old Thisal, has settled in to call this place home for the next four years. I am hoping, as hopeless as though it might seem, that atleast a fraction of the college life depicted in movied would now somehow come into reality. This bring me to another passion i use to thoroughyl enjoy myself with. The journey of western entertainment binging that began with the Big bang theory, still srufaces on and off. Same could be said for my time as an avid reader. These are practices i hope to rekindle in the years to come.

AS FOR NEW PASSIONS I’VE GATHERED ALONG THE WAY, MUCH OF IT HAS TO DO WITH PURE MECHANICS. TO BE MORE SPECIFIC, THE BEAUTIFUL CHAOS OF AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE, THE EVOLUTION OF THE JET ENGINE AND SIMPLY ANYTHING WITH A V6 UNDER IT’S HOOD AND a The Porsche 911 BADGE WOULD SUFFICE TO GIVE ME GOOSEBUMPS.

YET, ALL THESE THINGS SEEM SO INCONSEQUENTIAL WHEN NEXT TO THE BIGGEST HIGHLIGHT OF MY STORY. ONE THAT REMINDS ME EVERYDAY THE LIFE I HAVE IS WORTH LIVING FOR. I OWE IT ALL TO her.