India @ 63

Tomorrow is Independence Day. This time August 15th being a Sunday it does not give the usual holiday feeling also. And continuing with a tradition which I started in 2007, its time for my annual review of all things India. Or rather what happened in India as I saw and remember it. (Previous editions are here: 2007, 2008, 2009)

The last year was bad. Thats the easiest way to describe it. From the Naxal/Maoist problem, Telengana issue, Inflation, Foreign policy fiascos specially with reagrds to Pakistan. Railway accidents, Monsoons, to the Commonwealth Games fiasco, nothing went really right. Somehow get the feeling that the country is getting increasingly misgoverned. I had more hopes from UPA-2, given that it was free of some of its allies. But the government has been disappointing. And worse than the government is the opposition. And with no elections around the corner, this has led to a scenario where the government is highly stable and still not doing anything.

The worst memory of the year would be the massacre of the CRPF forces in Dantewada. The country is effectively at civil war which somehow people refuse to acknowledge, and most dont care about. And the less said about the intellectuals supporting the Naxal cause, the better.

The business scenario is doing fine irrespective of all this. We got a new national symbol. The rupee symbol does look good.

On the sports front, cricket rules. The team is now no. 1 in Tests. IPL had its big scandal. Other sports are messed up as usual. Hockey India elected an 83 year old lady as its head, before sports ministry derecognised it. There was an incresed awareness about hockey with India hosting the World Cup. But havent heard anything about the team since then. In football, our loyalties are divided between Argentina & Brazil in the World Cup with India no where in the picture. Individual sportspersons provided some joy. Saina Nehwal without doubt is the sports person of the year. Vijender was ranked no. 1 in boxing. While Leander Paes is still going strong in doubles tennis. Rohan Bopanna's partnership with Aisam Qureishi has also been noticed. Tejaswani Sawant won a Shooting World Championship.

As for movies, it was the year of 3 Idiots. Music front was ok but nothing really memorable.

Television continued to scare. News channels seem to have gone worse. Reality shows are becoming increasingly unreal. Movies & Sports (when they dont show WWE) are the only channels worth watching left.

On the social networking front, Twitter ruled. With more and more celebs joining twitter, there were a few controversies (led to the resignation of a union minister), fake ids etc. There were some dedicated reporters whose job description seemed to be noting what celebs said on twitter.

So this in short was the year that went by for the country.In fact I am myself surprised that I could not put in positive thoughts in this post. (maybe i should be thankful that there was no repeat of the 26/11 incidents).

Praying for a much better & positive post next year.

P.S. read somewhere that I should be thankful that I am free enough to be able to post this unlike some other nations.