GOODBYE 2009

As the time flies by, a new chapter opens and the previous chapter dies down, though the effects of the previous chapters will affect the following chapters. It is time to say goodbye to 2009 and to welcome the year 2010 with warm hugs and a broad smile. 365 days is good enough to bring in new changes and to throw surprises and shocks among the people and the year 2009 is of no exception to this.

This year saw the unprecedented event of a black taking over as the president of the most developed country in the world. Yet another surprise, rather a shock was the conferring of the Noble Peace Prize to the same person. Well, it might have been an incentive to establish peace in the world or may be the prize was given to him for his wonderful oratorical skills which could bring peace someday to the world. New health care reforms introduced in US hit the headlines several times the year and the US government came out finally with the plans to save the ailing auto industries through its whooping bailout amount in billions.

Middle East, which remained unchanged for decades, continued its tradition. The world silently watched the Israeli’s indiscriminate hunting of Hamas in the beginning of the year. Regime change in Israel and electing the hawk, Benjamin Netanyahu, as the prime minister halted any steps to bring in talks to establish a long lasting peace. Iran’s attitude and the western countries threatening Iran remained intact. The West failed to capture the wide spread protests against the re-elected president Ahmadinejad for rigging of polls. The end of war in Iraq and Afghan seems to be not in the near future and Pakistan had its heaviest blow this year with several terrorist attacks at the heart of several cities. Srilanka saw the rooting out of LTTE with the death of its chief which resulted in the end of the bloody civil war. China’s mighty growth and its taunting of India continued.

Back home, India had its general elections with the UPA getting the huge majority. Youth icon played a major role in the elections with Rahul Gandhi and Varun Gandhi flashing in news repeatedly. The Left was shown the early exit door and Advani was given a much needed defeat. There was a major change in the top posts in BJP and Nitin Gadkari became its youngest president. The centre made a grave mistake in dealing with the Telangana issue leading to major disturbances in Andhra Pradesh. Maoists were at all time peaks and there were many destructive activities done by the Naxalites this year.

Swine flu scared the world commuinty and spreaded panics across the countries. Jobless and the economic stimulus provided by the governments in the various countries became a norm in 2009. Sudden demise of the pop king Michael Jackson brought in deep sadness among his fans. The dark side of the legend Tiger Woods shocked the entire world. The revealing of the inflated numbers by Ramalinga Raju, founder of erstwhile Satyam, brought him disgrace across the country leading to its takeover by Tech Mahindra.

It was a proud moment when Chandrayaan detected water in the moon’s surface. AR Rehman brought laurels to our country by winning Oscar awards. There was a good Bull Run in the stock market in India in 2009. In Cricket, India became the number one country in Test Ranking. Tendulkar became the highest run scorer in test matches and completed his 20 years in International cricket. Federer surpassed Pete Sampras by winning his 15th grand slam finals and retained his number one ranking again.

The life in the earth goes on, no matter what changes and what miseries and happiness has been brought in a year. Let us put the past behind and move on with yet another beginning. Let us welcome 2010 once again.