2022 – Yearly round up
As the curtain descended on the year 2021, it became certain that we live in uncertain times. The year 2022 began with the ominous signs of Omicron raising the sceptre of COVID 19 all over again. No sooner did we settle down to live with the virus, the world was jostled by the brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. But, we survived yet another tumultuous year ravaged by conflicts and climate change. Here is the rundown on the highlights of the year. The top 7 items is a reflection of the happenings in Chennai, India and the World in the year 2022.
7. IPL 2022
It’s a disappointing outing for the men in yellow, the defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as they failed to gain any sort of momentum in the group games and finished at the bottom of the table. Only consolation perhaps was Mumbai Indians (MI) too had a miserable run. The restrictions of venues imposed by COVID protocols, robbed CSK of the opportunity from playing in Chennai’s M.A.Chidambaram stadium that is considered their ‘Fortress’. But fans are unfazed and are looking forward to Thala Dhoni creating his magic and out-witting the best in the game with his astute captaincy and audacious batting in the 2023 edition.
6. Qatar 2022
Messi signed off from the World’s biggest stage by winning the World cup for his beloved Argentina and banished all ghosts from the past as he added that one elusive trophy to his massive collection. Messi and Maradona before him have such huge fan following in India even overshadowing the craze and adoration usually reserved for Cricket Gods. Large cut-outs from Kerala and West Bengal dotting the urban and rural areas leading up to the finals made world news with global news agencies covering the celebrations.
The fans from Kolkatta to Kochi rejoiced and celebrated as if India had won the football world cup! The fans also mourned when the Pele the King of Brazilian football left us in tears and a vacuum in the minds of hearts of global football fans that may never be filled.
5. Chennai Rains
Heavy rains lashed Chennai and Tamilnadu in December 2022, evoking fearful memories of the 2015 Chennai floods. The rains complete with cyclone Mandous made landfall near Mamallapuram and spared the city much of its wrath. To the credit of the state government, many flood prone areas of Chennai were relatively free from flooding -giving us hope of some clean roads and unclogged drains in the years to come.
4. Thambi Checks in -
The Mascot Thambi - the cute, muscular brown Chess Knight, clad in pure white dhoti was seen all over the city in many avatars ushering in the 44th Chess Olympiad -the first to be held in India. Chennai pulled out all stops to stage a wonderful show of enterprise and organisation by rapidly yet efficiently putting together a much loved sporting event that brought over 170 nations to the East Coast’s historic Mamallapuram. The event enjoyed good patronage and the players soaked in the traditional Tamil Hospitality and culture. Chennai once again put Tamilnadu on the world stage with an impeccable display and check-mated the other much fancied Indian cities by hosting the Chess Olympiad in record time.
3. Rise of the South in Cinema
Pan-Indian cinema as it is being touted is primarily cinema ‘made in southern India’. The year saw dubbed regional language movies like RRR, Pushpa, KGF, Kantara and the long-awaited epic Ponniyin Selvan -Part I living up to the hype that was created by Bahubali -Part I and II and stamped their authority at the box office and broke all commercial records with block-bluster collections. With their superior production values, mounted on a large scale, and rooted in Indian epics and traditions, these movies brought the people deprived of wholesome entertainment and barricaded indoors due to covid lock-downs - back into the theatres. Going by the success these regional films are garnering even in the Hindi heart-lands, it is time to look beyond Bollywood and take South Indian cinema seriously.
2. Russian invasion of Ukraine
Defying all common sense and collective outrage of civil society, Russia invaded Ukraine in mid-February ostensibly to ‘demilitarise and de-Nazify’ the country. This had a ripple effect across the World. As I write this piece, there’s no sign of any meaningful end to the conflict. Coming as it did in the wake of 2 years of the pandemic, the war exacerbated the consequences of the already battered global economy. It fuelled an un-paralleled energy crisis across Europe and disrupted the global food supply chain – primarily of wheat. With images of ravaged cities and the cries of innocent women and children rising into the air..is anybody listening?
1. IndiaAAH!
India’s rise in economic terms continue to astonish the world. Touted to be the fastest growing economy among G20 Nations, India’s relentless march in the economic sector continues. As per IMF projections, India surpassed the UK to become the fifth largest economy and Gujarat industrialist Gautam Adani became the third richest man in the world. His meteoric rise from a net worth of $2.8bn in 2014 to over $130bn by 2022 has been phenomenal to say the least.
However, in the quality of life, political, social and cultural indicators, it has been a consistent slide to the bottom. India now ranks 132 out of 191 countries in the 2021/22 Human Development Index -slipping down from 129 in 2018. In another setback, India’s performance in the Liberal Democratic Index (LDI) is ranked as 93rd placing it among the bottom 50% of countries. India’s rank places it as one of the top ten ‘autocracy’ in the world.
While these rankings could be brushed aside in India’a pursuit of aggressive policies, for the common man, these statistics have a palpable reality. We read in the newspapers almost on a daily basis how democratic values, human rights are brazenly violated with the people in power.
Let’s hope that as 2023 dawns, the people of India collectively dismiss all attempts at divisions and preserve the secular and democratic core of our beloved Country.
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