"Most of the important writing of the second half of our century, maybe even before, touches in one way or another the experience of emigration or exile.

"If there is an explanation for that it is perhaps exactly that experience of migration is the most common experience of our time, not only for writers but for people."

I was reminded of this when it was announced last week that Yiech Pur Biel, a refugee who was driven out of what is now South Sudan at the age of 10, had been made an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member.

In short, it is probably high time that a refugee joined this prestigious grouping.

It is just a shame that his arrival has coincided with a period when the body, which not so long ago was a relatively serious debating forum, has allowed most of its power to be stripped away by its own leadership.

This has left it as a glorified rubber-stamping, virtue-signalling and ego-polishing chamber, with members presumably also supplementing their National Olympic Committees in conveying Olympic messaging to national Governments as and when necessary.

All of which leads me to wonder whether Biel’s election is really going to change anything in any significant way.

I do not want to overdo the scepticism: I have yet to meet Biel, yet it is obvious that to have come from where he started his life to where he stands today, he must have truly outstanding personal qualities.

However, it would be a mistake to sentimentalise the IOC’s recent espousal of the refugee cause.

For one thing, refugees from important Olympic countries - such as, oh I don’t know, China - may find that they are somehow excluded from the embrace.

Moreover, it is my distinct impression that the IOC’s championing of refugee athletes benefits it and the wider Olympic Movement at least as much as it does the actual downtrodden of the world.

How? As with so much about the IOC nowadays, it boils down to money.

The refugee project burnishes the already very valuable Olympic brand with a philanthropic sheen.

And, if you read IOC President Thomas Bach’s Agenda 2020+5 strategy blueprint, it explains very clearly how the positive values that many still attach to Olympicland can be monetised.

I have cited this passage before, but it so key to understanding the modern IOC that I make no apology for doing so again.

"The IOC continues to provide a very attractive proposition to commercial partners thanks to the Olympic values on which the Olympic Movement is based," the document asserts.

It goes on: "We know this brand association continues to be a valuable component and a driving element behind leading global companies’ desire to be associated with us.

"We want to make sure that our partners are able to tap into this and leverage their association with these values.

"Purpose-led marketing has become one of the most impactful tools for companies, institutions and rights-holders to position themselves to target audiences, with a focus on the ambitions, purpose and values of the company, rather than solely putting their products or services at the heart of their marketing strategy.

"In the Olympic context, this means developing mutually beneficial projects and programmes with partners that support the role of sport as an important enabler for sustainable development goals.

"As a values-based organisation, this is what we offer to our partners."

Biel is only 27. He is an individual member. He could serve more than four decades in the IOC.

He should have plenty of time to make his mark, but let’s just say that with the IOC in its present state of subservience to the great leader, it may take a while.

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It was also announced last week that Mumbai in India will host next year’s IOC Session.

This may well be a prelude to an eventual Summer Games in the South Asian giant.

Next year’s event will be doing well, however, if it has as much impact on the future of the Olympic Movement as the only other Session to be staged in India - the 1983 event in New Delhi.

This was where the Adidas master-strategist Horst Dassler outlined his vision for what quickly became The Olympic Partner (TOP) worldwide sponsorship programme in a brief video.

As stated by Michael Payne, former IOC marketing director, in his 2005 book Olympic Turnaround, "the presentation delivered a stark message."

This was that: "You, the International Olympic Committee, own the most valuable and sought-after property in the world. Yet the Olympic Rings are the most unexploited trademark in existence. No major corporation in the world would tolerate such a situation."

The IOC’s sponsorship income at that time was zero, give or take.

In the Pyeongchang 2018-Tokyo 2020 cycle, it was not far off $2.2 billion (£1.6 billion/€1.9 billion).

If you add in local sponsorship generated by successive Games hosts, sponsorship is in the process of overtaking broadcasting rights as the Olympic world’s top revenue source.

While you may not altogether approve of this, while you may feel, indeed, that the sponsorship tail is now wagging the Olympic sports dog to an unhealthy extent, it is a fact that this all stemmed from that lightbulb moment nearly 39 years ago in the Indian capital.

Over to you, Mumbai.