India, Sept. 21 -- There are years, sometimes decades, when life moves in a rhythm so slow and so familiar that we barely notice it. There are ordinary days, ordinary disappointments and ordinary joys. And then, every once in a while, something out of the ordinary happens. A day arrives when something you have imagined, hoped for and worked towards for decades suddenly becomes a reality within days.

I have been feeling that these past few days. Something that was once only a call, an idea spoken aloud in a room in New Delhi, has now become a reality. It feels surreal. The United Nations has established the International Day for the Elimination of Child, Early and Forced Marriage, to be observed every year on November 27.

In March this y...