2011: A Year in Review

2011 has come to an end. So, how good was it?

The year was filled with many memorable moments. Lot of marriages and happy family gatherings. Got more closer to the few who mattered, and more distanced from the rest. Plans and experiments falling in place. And giving rise to newer ideas and focus items.

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In the political arena, 2011 was the year of Anna. Lokpal, Jan Lokpal, Team Anna, I am Anna, India against corruption, Swami Agnivesh, Baba Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Ghoongat, Kashmir, Travel claims, and so many other things that, half way through, I totally lost track of what was happening. And in many sense, it really doesn’t matter much to me now.

2011 was also the year of scams. CWG, 2G, Cash for Votes, Mining, CVC appointment, and more. Tihar hosted some high-profile visitors. FIRs, charge-sheets, and bails competed with inflation for newspaper headlines. And government strayed from one crisis to another, leaving it with little time, resource or inclination for policy issues.

In the states, the Telengana confusion continued. It’s now a year since the Sri Krishna Committee report was submitted. The 40-odd day general strike in the region was near total. And just for the record, Amma and Didi were voted to power, Yeddy was asked to vacate, and Rahul continued his lunch and dinner at dalit homes.

2011 will also be remembered as Steve Job’s last year on this planet. Cyrus Mistry was announced as the successor to Ratan Tata. google launched google+. And if you too, are ignorant about economics like me, then you can just refer to ‘that Eurozone debt crisis’ and leave it there.

2011 was a bit unkind to the art world. Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, MF Hussain, Shammi Kapoor, Jagjith Singh, Bhupen Hazarika, Mario Miranda, were all called to discharge their duties in heaven, along with Sathya Sai Baba and Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi. 2011 also exposed that Dev saab was not immortal. And that Osama was not invincible. And that Gaddafi cannot be always victorious.

The year saw some big movies hitting the screens – Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Bodyguard, Don 2, Ra.One, Dhobi Ghat, Delhi Belly, Rockstar, Dirty Picture, Aarakshan, to name a few. It will also be recorded that 7 Khoon Maaf and Mausam too, hit the theatres this year.  But for many, 2011 will exclusively be the year of Mangatha. And one thing that all these movies share in common – I didn’t get a chance to watch any of them! At least, not yet.

Along with Lokpal, 2011 also introduced many new terms to pan-India public – Beti B, Dhanush, Kolaveri, Soup Boys, and more. No doubt we will be hearing more of these terms in the years to come.

2011 placed India on the F-1 map. The much awaited Cricket World Cup was here, and it didn’t disappoint – at least result wise. The year also saw the ‘imposter’ following the legend in notching a double-century in ODIs. And on the other side, 2011 also saw the sentencing of Pakistan cricketers on match-fixing allegations, the Peter Roebuck tragedy, and the thrashing we received in England. Scales appear even!

2011 was also the year of the Joker. He scored 3 out of the 4 Grand Slams leaving just one for Rafa, and none for Fedex. On the women’s end, though, there were 4 different Grand Slam winners, with all, except the super mom, doing it for the first time.

All in all a very eventful year. A year full of activity, noise and engagement. Now, was it also a year of progress? That, my friends, only time will tell.