I think I should let you know that my Lyon plans have fully tanked. Substitute plans have been made, and you shall find out where I go over the weekend once I get around to uploading the blogs I have pending. I’m really hoping I actually upload everyday rather than writing summaries and uploading them all on one day. I’d like that to change after I cross the 200 number for the year, perhaps.
Today was remarkable. I have no words to explain how much access being in Geneva can give you. First, my friends got to the finals of their moot court competition, which is reason to celebrate. But second, I got to attend the first edition of the Annual Nelson Mandela Human Rights Lecture, which has been established on Nelson Mandela Day. I got to do that only because I was in Geneva. We were privileged, honestly, to listen to the former Judge, Albie Sachs – who was Mandela’s friend and one of the drafters of South Africa’s Bill of Rights, and the present UN High Commissioner on Human Rights – Michelle Bachelet, who is a two time former President of Chile.
The lecture itself was phenomenal. A couple of takeaways I had were:
- To always fight for causes and work toward causes you believe are likely to impact communities in positive ways.
- To always have a sense of humour about you.
- To be grateful and cognizant of your privilege.
You also realize how small the world actually is when you see people like this speaking to you, and how united all post-colonial countries are in their struggle for freedom from colonial powers and their screw-ups. South Africa and India have far too much in common from the British experience. If nothing, I am certain that this explains the love affair Indians have with A B De Villiers.
After the lecture, we had a lovely Indian dinner in Geneva, before returning back to Cessy only around 11. Given that tomorrow is the end of the week and I am flying to my<undisclosed location>, I had to pack and such as well. Which was quite tiring. But worth it. Fully.
Tejas Rao 