2017: The Year Gone By

How do you remember the year gone by? Especially a year like 2017 which was an amalgamation of events with “fake news” and “alternate facts”! So as we step into 2018, why not take a look back at some of the happenings & non-happenings to remember the year gone by

1. News Grabber-in-Chief of the Year 

The one and only Donald Trump who declared war on basically everyone (except his trusted friend Vladimir Putin). He was always in headlines, as befits his position as POTUS, but almost always for the wrong reasons – began by quoting Bane in his inaugural speech, calling Meryl Streep (an 18 time Oscar nominee) an over-rated actor, fighting with the news broadcasters, having skirmishes with nearly all government agencies, engaging in Twitter battles, and a war of words with Kim Jong Un (where barbs included “madman”, “dotage”, responding with “fire & fury” etc.). There was no way, you could keep him out of the news.

2. New Arrival of the Year

Zealandia - the 8th Continent: We always thought New Zealand was a bit different, with more sheep than humans. Also probably why Peter Jackson, chose that country as the setting for Middle Earth. Now we got confirmation that it is indeed a separate continent altogether. Well, schoolkids will now have to remember one more name in their geography classes.

3. The Comeback Kids

Both maybe on the wrong side of 30 and recovering from multiple aches and pains but Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal shared all the 4 Grand Slams in the year, while their rivals lost their way. No one seemed a bit unhappy about it though (maybe except the male singles Tennis players). And if the average fan was happy seeing them together on the court facing each other, Imagine the happiness when they played doubles together! (video). May they take the rivalry to new heights in 2018 as well. And just for fun, a video of them reciting Kipling’s If.

4. Word of the Year 

We have two contenders: Covfefe - an accident by Trump and Farrago – a rant from an irate Shashi Tharoor. Both trended and generated lots of memes. Personally I prefer farrago as it is a very good example of a rodomontade. 

5. Self-goal of the Year

There was an epic secrecy exercise carried by HBO to prevent spoilers and leakages of its “piece de resistance” – Game of Thrones. But hackers still managed to get some access and threatened to leak scripts and scenes of unreleased episodes. Till.... HBO accidentally leaked one of the episodes prior to telecast! 

6. The Indestructible

To the list of indestructible items we have a new addition - Salvador Dali’s moustache. The artist’s body was exhumed for a DNA test and after 28 years of being buried, the famous Dali moustache was still intact!

7. A New Citizenship Category

Saudi Arabia now has a robot citizen – by the name Sophia. It was a year in which Saudis were in the news for unusual reasons – the Vision 2030 document, women being allowed to drive, permitted to enter stadiums, reopening of theaters etc. But giving citizenship to a robot certainly takes the cake.

8. Whats in a Name?

Ask the World Taekwondo Federation who changed their name to World Taekwondo. Reason to ensure that there are no negative connotations with its initials which matched with one of the most popular slang expressions of modern times!

9. Battle of the Year

Soldiers of two most populous countries of the world locked in a standoff in a cold terrain, both countries loaded with nuclear weapons. And the soldiers engage in a fistfight and throwing stones at each other! We might be in the 21st century A.D., but thankfully the armies brawled like they were in 21st century B.C.!

10.Viral Song of the Year

Despacito – which took over as the most played video on YouTube. Have no clue of the lyrics (remember Gangnam Style), but the music is fun

So that was 2017. Wishing all readers a very Happy 2018!