TOXIC 2018

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TOXIC 2018

Sunday, 30 December 2018 | Team Foray

TOXIC 2018

The year 2018. How would you define it? Character dheela? Yes with #MeToo raging, definitely so. Menopausal? What with mood-swings, highs peaking and lows drowning you summarily. Paisa vasool? If space odyssey announcements of its Gaganauts were anything to go by, yes again. Or just entirely fake with all kinds of news fooling you as never before? Entirely fraudulent? Indeed so, with bank defaulters walking away with scams as vertical as vertical can be and the taxpayers watching helplessly.

Or, all this and yet insipid enough to not record a single dizzying moment all its life? Yes, 2018 was entirely dichotomous and yet largely ripple free, but for path-breaking judgements changing the way India thinks.

All this when the Oxford dictionary announced that “Toxic” was the word of the year. Meanwhile, as you choose your tag, let’s go down the year with a tooth comb.

Petrol breached Rs 90 a litre. High or low? RBI governor Urjit Patel quit amid reports of the Government trying to ensnare the trillion reserve fund. Low or alarmingly low? Pulses sold at Rs 100 plus a kg. High or low? Mukesh Ambani’s daughter wore a Rs 11-crore choli for her wedding. High or low? Prime Minister Narendra Modi guided BJP to a 21 out of 29 States grab and then lost three major ones in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. A classic example of high and low tide, isn’t it. A Pune-based engineer got an Oscar for his technique to aid mid-air filming as never before. High or very high?

Yes, there were moments but few and far between, nothing mind-blowing if you took away the historic judgement on gaydom and the Government banning commercial surrogacy, of course much after Abram and Karan Johar’s twins populated the Indian landscape as inspirational examples.

January started off the proceedings with a Modivian splash of making an international statement, having 10 international Heads of State as chief guests at the Republic Day Parade for the first time ever. But while on Modi, it was the Year of the Big Dent for him as this people’s Prime Minister lost much of his sheen with voters questioning his leadership for the first time in five years. The loss of the three big states of MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, in a year preceding the big election gala, had people talking about an alternate leader if at all the BJP succeeds in renewing its power membership at the Centre. With names like Nitin Gadkari doing the grapevine rounds, in 2018 Modisms have indeed started fading.

 

 

Modi apart, it was quite an August start for India at another level with the nation announcing its first ever women’s SWAT team, a squad of highly trained women combat officers adept at high grade weapons usage. February soared too as 24-year-old Avani Chaturvedi became the first woman in India to fly a fighter jet alone. She flew the MiG-21 Bison, which possesses the highest take off and landing speed in the world. Her maiden solo training lasted 30 minutes and put India on a global list of countries like USA, Israel and the UK were women play an active combat role.

Hima Das who ran barefoot in rice fields of Assam raced to a historic Gold at IAAF Under 20 world championship. PV Sindhu became the first Indian shuttler to win the BWF world tour final. Gymnast Deepa Karmakar beat the knee niggle to it a goldmine too at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Challenge. And then, there was 20-year-old Malayalam actress Priya Prakash coming up with a wink that launched a thousand sighs and made her the most searched personality of the year.

Vedangi Kulkarni of Pune, on the other hand, caught the imagination of only a few when she became the fastest Asian to cycle the globe at age 20.

Then there was big reason for the Oxford Dictionary naming 2018 Toxic. From toxic politics to toxic relationships, it was all turning viciously poisonous. Sexual harassment at the workplace became a movement which surpassed all else in India as skeleton after skeleton started falling out of media and cinema closets. Despite the year that saw iconic travesties of someone like MJ Akbar losing his sheen of a fiery journalist and Minister to his own misdemeanours over the years, there are many reasons to call it a year without character. As many as 924 reported sexual misconduct cases in public and private sector was quite a blot on the goodness quotient of the working class in the nation.

It was also a year of soulful ends to several eras. The good old HMV lost its voice; the iconic RK Studios was put on the market shelf by the Kapoor sons; 4 big heroines got married at the peak of their careers and Hollywood great Leonardio Di Caprio donated $100 million to climate even as Mukesh Ambani back home spent over a million to adorn his son and daughter’s marriages.

To round it off, the shock laga syndrome came in the form of crude rising as blatantly as the rupee fell unhindered by reason, fear or economic control.

Insight

Nida khan

On Triple Talaq

Men will go back to old ways unless there is a strict punishment

Trupti desai

On Sabarimala

It’s time women were allowed to exercise their rights. God doesn’t belong to men.

Tanushree Dutta

On #MeToo

Ignorance destroys our souls. The veil of unpleasant experiences has to be lifted.

Vikram Bhatt

On celeb weddings

I admire today’s heroines for getting married in the summer of their careers.

Dr Kaberi Banerjee

On Surrogacy

Instead of banning commercial surrogacy, the Government should introduce regulations.

Shubhomoy bhattacharjee

 On Bank scams

Can the load of bad loans from banks cost an election victory?  See also Fake News

Onir

On Section 377

I don’t see an effort in my industry to Act on the void of LGBTQI narratives.

Search engine optimised

What is

  • What is Section 377
  • What is happening in Syria
  • What is Kiki challenge
  • What is #MeToo campaign
  • What is ball tampering
  • What is Nipah virus
  • What is cardiac arrest
  • What is lunar eclipse
  • What is no confidence motion
  • What is SC ST Act

Personalities

  • Priya Prakash Varrier (the wink girl)
  • Nick Jonas
  • Sapna Choudhary
  • Priyanka Chopra
  • Anand Ahuja
  • Sara Ali Khan
  • Salman Khan
  • Meghan Markle
  • Anup Jalota
  • Boney Kapoor 

How to

  • How to send stickers on Whatsapp
  • How to link Aadhaar with mobile number
  • How to make rangoli
  • How to port mobile number
  • How to invest in bitcoin
  • Ayushman Bharat Yojana how to apply
  • How to remove holi colour from face
  • How to check 10th result 2018
  • How to solve Rubik's cube
  • How to check name in NRC Assam

Near me

  • Mobile stores near me
  • Supermarkets near me
  • Gas stations near me
  • Cashpoint near me
  • Car dealers near me
  • Massage near me
  • Pharmacies near me
  • Gynae near me
  • Convenience stores near me
  • Jobs near me

News

1.    FIFA World Cup 2018
2.    Karnataka election results
3.    Priyanka Chopra Nick Jonas Wedding
4.    Statue of Unity
5.    Nipah Virus
6.    Bitcoin price
7.    Budget 2018
8.    Deepika Padukone wedding
9.    Section 377
10.    Sonam’s marriage 

Songs

  • Dilbar Dilbar
  • Daru Badnaam
  • Tera Fitoor
  • Kya Baat Hai
  • Dekhte Dekhte
  • Dil Diyan Gallan
  • Long Lachi
  • Buzz song
  • Despacito
  • Prada 

Sports

1.    FIFA World Cup 2018
2.    IPL 2018
3.    Asia Cup 2018
4.    Asian Games 2018
5.    Winter Olympics
6.    Commonwealth 2018
7.    Wimbledon 2018
8.    Pro Kabaddi 2018
9.    Indian Super League
10.    Australian Open 2018 

Movies

  • Robot 2.0
  • Baaghi 2
  • Race 3
  • Avengers Infinity War
  • Tiger Zinda Hai
  • Sanju
  • Padmavati
  • Black Panther
  • Dhadak
  • Deadpool 2

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