When we hear the word Harvard University , we think of America’s beautiful , oldest Ivy league college with the wonderful gardens and orchards. But little,do many know that every year , Harvard conducts national and foreign Harvard Model United Nations Competitions – in places such as Boston (USA) , Beiing(China), and ofcourse our own HMUN India , that is held mostly in Hyderabad, India. Being an MUNer for the past 3 years , It has been a dazzling experience for me to take part in HMUN INDIA 2019 and HMUN INDIA 2020 , which was the first ever online edition of the same , it was online due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.
HMUN INDIA 2019
Being in the school MUN team , I was proud of my past MUN experiences and held my head up high on arriving at our destination that is Novotel , which is a residential hotel that hosted HMUN last year . Our school team had been assigned to rooms with a roommate each. All of us though were surprisingly very coolheaded the day before the competition started . But we never expected that a tsunami of nervousness would wash us over especially when I and my double delegate partner entered our conference room, the conference room of UNSC- which is United Nations Security Council. Day 1 was indeed anail biting experience , as all the other delegates were prepared to new heights , as we kept on receiving more and more crisises , the more were the beads of sweat on my forehead . On Day 2 we had better luck at implementing our views and stances in front of the committee. On day 3 , we debated on the 2resolutions that were brought to the Executive Board, and finally on Day 4 , we further made friendly amendments to the final resolution and voted upon , resulting in the passing of the resolution ! That was indeed a proud moment as our committee had passed , considering the fact that UNSC committees are known for not bringing up proper solutions to the given crisis. Though , I didn’t win any prize , I must say that it was one of the best organised MUNs I had ever attended . But wait , that’s not the end , HMUN INDIA 2020 was held online , from August 13 th to August 16 th , and was by far one of the mist efficiently organised MUNs via ZOOM.
HMUN INDIA 2020
Determined to win at HMUN , I applied for the committee named ECOFIN – Economic and Financial Affairs Council , as the topic was regarding the rights of the community that is least spoken about in the world- the Economic Rights of Mothers. This time I was prepared for any and every situation as I had understood and learnt from my flaws and hence the experience was much better. On Day1 itself , I was able to form a bloc and interact with many people including the dias. On Day 2 , our bloc made excellent progress as we consisted of 2/3rds of the committee , which was the perfect amount of delegates we needed for the committee to pass our Draft Resolution. But on Day 3 , I faced a few crisises and I felt that everything was out of hands , but my father backed me up and gave me an advice that one day I might give to my children-“ Don’t give up now , Arathi . If you do so now , you will never be able to get back up in your life “. And suddenly I felt rejuvenated , and fought my way back to the committee with a rage of energy. This was the first time ever in my life that I had spent 4 days without eating and sleeping . And finally Day 4 came along, the results day – and i had won a prize ! I received the Diplomatic Commendation of the ECOFIN. Indeed grateful to God Almighty , and most importantly my family , who stood by me through thick and thin .
Thus , my HMUN experiences are some of the childhood memories that I will never be able to forget , and the ones that I will cherish for the rest of my life.