adios 2011! welcome 2012!

On the penultimate day of 2011 we sit back and look at how did the year 2011 treated us, good or bad, positive or negative, successful or unsuccessful, exciting or non-exciting, expected or unexpected.
Every adjective mentioned above for the year 2011 is totally dependent on the person being referred or the person reading this post. It just goes with the main heading the blog, Life is interesting-it depends on how you take it! I've tried to pick 10 events that shaped the year 2011:

1. Japan 'moved and shook': A horrifying and a devastating earthquake shook Japan, and adding to this tsunami rocked Japan taking countless lives and rendered thousands homeless. A total unexpected catastrophe pushed one of the world's better economies behind. Furthermore, the news of the nuclear reactors' damage raised questions about the radiation hazards.
2. African 'Turmoil': African nations of Egypt, Sudan and Libya saw great changes in the governance. With a new country liberated from Sudan, the rulers of Egypt and Libya had to step down, the latter being killed.
3. 'Royal' Wedding: Prince Charles and Kate Middleton got married in the year 2011, said to be the wedding of the century.
4. World Cup 2011 'Cricket': The saying, "Cricket is our religion and Sachin is our god", went all over the country as a slogan for this year's most coveted trophy in cricket. A last feather in his cap was to be fit in, and who knew that it would come in his home ground, Mumbai. India defeated the island neighbor, Sri Lanka in a thrilling one-day final in Mumbai to win the World Cup 2011 after 28 years. A stellar performance by the team in the knockout stages defeating the trophy holders Australia in the quarter finals, arch-rivals and neighbor Pakistan in the semi-finals, and the island country Sri Lanka in the finals, made it clear that India's not only the best team on paper but, on field also. (The author is a cricket fanatic!!)
5. Launch of 'Iphone 4s' and death of its father: This year saw another big story in launching of the next generation Iphone 4s, but, along with this, it also saw the demise of the father who nurtured and grew an empire called Apple. Steve Jobs, the driving force behind Apple's success, lost the war against cancer.
6. The Dead Terrorist: In a very secured and a secret operation, the US killed the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in 2011. This became one of the most important and the most unexpected stories of 2011.
7. Google +: 2011 saw the launch of 'another' social networking website, Google +. This saw Google entering in the league of making man a sociable animal, which he was already since orkut was launched!
8. hype over 11/11/11: This story did make in my list as was one of the most discussed story on FaceBook on a specific day. It, being just an ordinary day was hyped so much that people got their marriages, divorces, pregnant ladies got deliveries on this day!! What!! Height of craziness!
9. and 10. shall be added depending on the most number of events posted in the comments. Your views and comments are welcomed. And, do not forget to write about the events that you expect and do not expect on the year 2012 (do not mention about the end of the world!!!). Thank you

Interestingly, a lot of the events (personal and world) that happened in the last year can't be termed as 'cheerful', but, still we've to make sure that these do not affect us. That's what it says, try to get cheerful and get the best out of what we got and what we have!

Happy New Year and will see you here, same place in the year 2012.

The Common Man!!

R.K. Laxman, an illustrator, a cartoonist and a humorist is widely remembered in India by his creation of "The Common Man". As soon as we hear the name, a picture of an old man who is half-bald, a checked coat, a dhoti, round glasses, a simple smile and a stick on his shoulder comes in our mind. The reason of depicting the common man was to show the action that takes place in offices or around us. The common man witnesses these silently. The best part in the English daily published in India, The Times Of India, The Common Man became a mirror of the happenings around us. A comic strip which gave importance to the sufferings of a middle class man was executed with perfection.
Continuing the tradition, a situational comedy series has been on air on an Indian channel (SAB TV). Though the cast remains very simple, but, who cares, until the show delivers what it is supposed to. The show has the common man as the father along with his middle-class son who runs a family of 7-8 with a salary of a middle class. He wakes up in the morning to see that the milkman gives him 500ml milk more than everyday, charges him 2rs. less from the next day, the auto-rickshaw driver's meter slowing, a pay hike from his boss, and many more surprising events. But, as we all know these happenings remains a dream for a middle class man, it was a dream for Bhavesh Vasavada (son of the common man). To his surprise, the milkman adds more water in milk as his buffalo has given less milk, a price hike in milk/ltr., a price hike in auto fares because of petrol hike in the country, etc. makes his day start miserably. But, what can he do other than cursing them?!! Nothing! absolutely nothing!!

The point here is not about advertising about the series or the comic strip by R.K. Laxman, it's about when will this misery stop? We always complain about the inflation, the petrol hike, hike in groceries, hike in day to day used articles, etc. Why doesn't the rich complain? These are open-ended questions asked by a majority of people around us. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer. The ratio is becoming more and more uneven!! No wonder our usage in increasing but, is it the right answer? I do not know. We all have to figure it out!
Right now I am watching the GOP presidential candidate debate on a couple of news channels. These candidates are of the Republican Party, out of which only one will contest elections for the President of USA.
7 members of the party are made to stand in front of anchors and news-readers in a hall of more than 500 members (all of them are distinguished personality in their own field). The candidates are thrown questions regarding the running issues, future developments, their analysis of the reforms, their policies to stop the economic turmoil, and various other aspects. They should be very firm in their decisions and must have supportive evidence or reasons of their support. Even a small umm makes them pee in their pants! Words spoken must be specially carved out. A small mistake can ruin the campaign, just like the ended campaign of Herbert Cain, who was accused of sexual harassment, and having an affair with a lady despite being still married.
During this, I realized the importance of this type of interview for our politicians also, who are contesting elections. This proves to be a model stage for them to contest for elections. But, it would become very difficult for them to withstand the questions and the pressure before the start of the debate, that they would start blaming the ruling party (if its the opposition) or the opposition (if its the ruling party) for staging such "irrelevant" debates (ye opposition or ruling party ki koshish hai humein neecha dikhane ki). We ask you, If you are right, you have a platform to accuse the party of mis-behavior. This may not start a revolution, but, it will just make us realize the fact of choosing the correct ones to lead our country rather than going after the names!