The A-Z of 2016
What a year it’s been, 2016. Here’s my take, dear reader.
Columnist and playwright, Rahul Da Cunha writes about the year gone by.
AIADMK has a new boss. Aamir’s intolerance comment, nation goes ballistic. Acche Din awaited. Aleppo destroyed. Alan Rickman leaves us. Akshay Kumar rules Bollywood. Alia Bhatt rules Bollywood. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil kills the box office. Airlift soars. Aishwarya’s purple lips at Cannes. ATMs under pressure. ATM lines. ATMs empty. Aadhar card on. Aadhar card off. Arnab Goswami goes (nation wants to know where). Arnab back. Arnab’s Republic. Ashwin rules.
Barack goes to Cuba. Barack leaves the White House. Bollywood babes in Hollywood. Boozebandi in Bihar. Beefbandi in Bombay. BHIM. Biopics in Bollywood. Brangelina call it quits.Bhakts go ballistic. Battle against black money. Benami properties. BRICS. BCCI cut down to size. Brexit. Britain is going crazy. Boris resigns.
Cameron resigns. Cauvery problems. Cash crunch. Cashless society. Castro adios. Chennai Super Kings banned. Clooneys divorcing: Clooneys having twins? Cohen leaves us.
Dalits. Dangal destroys the box office. David Bowie gone. Debbie Reynolds follows Carrie Fischer. Deepika and Vin Diesel. Digital age. Demonisation, sorry, Doomonetisation, sorry, Demonetisation. Dipa Karmakar’s Produnova. Dylan awarded Nobel Prize. Dylan disappears. Dylan reappears and accepts Nobel.
Farmer suicides. Feku speaks and speaks. Fawad Khan hungama. Five crore to army fund.
George Michael gogoes. Goods & Sales Tax passed. Gurgaon re-named Gurugram.
Hashtags before everything. Hillary flatters to deceive. Hillary flattened.
Immigrant influx. Indrani and Peter continuing saga. ISIS brutality.
Jayalalithaa gone. Jana Dhan Yojana. Jio 4D. Jungle Book regales.
Kangana vs Hrithik spat. Kapoor & Sons. Kohli Kohli and more Kohlimania. Kohli RCB. Kohli Anushka. Kohli captains. Kohli on TV. Kohli is India. Karun Nair’s 300. Kanhaiya Kumar takes the stage. Kejriwal falters.
Lodha Commission dictates. Lone gunmen massacres. Leonardo diCaprio finally wins his Oscar.
Make in India. Mann ki Baat. Mallya splits. Manchester City triumphs. Mitron. Muhammad Ali RIP.
Nawaz not so sharif. NaMo dominates. NaMo’s boring New Year day speech. Neerja soars. Notebandi in India. Nakabandis in Mumbai.
OBC issues. Odd-Even number plates. OROP resistance. Owaisi aggression.
Patankhot tragedy. Prince gone. Pakistan’s sneaky behaviour. Pakistan baiting India. Pakistani actors banned in Bollywood. Pakistan cross border terrorism. Pakistan sidelined. Pahlaj Nihalani and his Censor board. Paytm prospers. Parliament sessions washed out again and again and again. Patanjali products. Panama papers. Pink - the movie. Pink - the Rs 2,000 note. Pokemon obsession. Pottermania obsession continues.
Queues outside banks. Aap quatar mein rehenge.
Ratan Tata returns. Raghuraman Rajan rocks. Raghuraman Rajan resists. Raghuraman Rajan returns to Harvard. Reserve Bank of India, Reverse Bank of India. Rollback Bank of India. RSS short pants become long. Ripped jeans banned in college. Rio Olympics.
Sehwag’s tweets. Sharapova tests positive. Surgical Strikes on Pakistan. Surgical strikes on black money. Swachh Bharat. Suit Boot ki sarkar. Smart cities. Smart phones. Start ups. Standing up for the national anthem becomes a Supreme Court diktat. Sakshi Malik wrestling bronze. Sindhu badminton silver medal. Sania Mirza splits with Swiss Miss Hingis. Saina Nehwal iffy year. Sherry Paaji flip flops. Shivaji statues in the sea.
Taimur Ali Khan Pataudi. Trolls ballistic. Tata sons. Tata-Mistry tension. Trump towers above all. Trump for Prezzie.
Udta Punjab. Ladta Punjab with censor board. Uri attacks. Uber Ola surge pricing. Usain Bolt bolts to 9 golds. Vadra can’t zip through airport security. Vardah destroys Chennai.
Yadav vs Yadav. Yuvraj married.
Zakir Naik. Zika epidemic. Zzzzzz in Parliament.