As we march ahead into 2012, a sneak peek into 2011 is always interesting. We had an interesting year in the political arena with the 2G scam, the lokpal debate, the Hazare fever and Rahul taking the responsibility to win the UP elections for Congress this year. UPA-II lost its credibility amongst the public in the way it handled the Hazare incident and also its image when the 2G scam was unravelled. The year 2012 will be a year of soul searching for Sonia & co if they are planning about UPA-III, personally I think we had enough of Congress's indecisiveness at the top in the name of coalition dharma and petty politics, but they are still the ruling party and they still have an year before we run into elections again. BJP did not fare any better, they had heavy infighting as to who should replace Advani as the face of BJP moving forward, their actions in the parliament did not evoke any kind of positive attention and they played a pathetic opposition by opposing everything the government proposed. With a forgettable year at the the centre, I don't sense anything big happening in 2012 as well, but the UP elections can put wind in the sails of Congress if it manages to perform well there.
Politics in Tamil Nadu was a bit better with the DMK losing its elections against the arch rival AIADMK and Jaya as usual made her presence felt with a string a changes in the governance and also cases against the top leaders from the previous govt. AIADMK government is touted to be a welcome change to the corrupt DMK government, but if we have to go by the history, they aren't any different and when it comes to the common man, it doesn't matter who rules, essential needs are always hard to come by. An interesting development was VijayKanth party's improvement as the main opposition party in the assembly, but AIADMK having absolute majority, his role in important decisions will be severely restricted. It was also amazing to note how Jaya sidelined all her allies after her terrific comeback and how she gets things done her way! There is a lot to look forward from this government as Jaya has always proven to be an excellent administrator and hopefully Tamil Nadu improves its rank amongst other states and also fills up its coffers which were left thread bare when DMK completed its tenure.
Cricket for India had an excellent start, we won the World Cup and the last piece of accolade which had eluded Tendulkar for long at last found its home in his drawing room. As the year progressed, India fared really bad in England and the team is seeking redemption in Australia now, also the 100th ton still remains something to look forward in 2012. We salvaged some pride when we played Windies late in the year and Dwayne Bravo was a revelation of sorts. So an interesting year ahead for Sachin, Rahul and VVS, also, we might get a glimpse of how India will fare when these three retire from the test arena. The year 2011 also turned out to be a dampener for the IPL as the TRP ratings fell and everyone felt a overdose of cricket when Windies tests were scheduled in Delhi and Kolkota, sparse crowd was something never heard of when cricket is played in this part of the world. So it will be interesting to see how BCCI and ICC are going to counter this cricket fatigue in 2012.
On a side note, we had the first Indian grand prix happening in Noida and the entire world lost a visionary in the form of Steve Jobs which will leave a big void in the technical world. We also had a coming of age movie in Bollywood under the title Delhi Belly. It was totally an interesting year and as always, we should be more eager than ever to see what is to unravel in 2012.
Politics in Tamil Nadu was a bit better with the DMK losing its elections against the arch rival AIADMK and Jaya as usual made her presence felt with a string a changes in the governance and also cases against the top leaders from the previous govt. AIADMK government is touted to be a welcome change to the corrupt DMK government, but if we have to go by the history, they aren't any different and when it comes to the common man, it doesn't matter who rules, essential needs are always hard to come by. An interesting development was VijayKanth party's improvement as the main opposition party in the assembly, but AIADMK having absolute majority, his role in important decisions will be severely restricted. It was also amazing to note how Jaya sidelined all her allies after her terrific comeback and how she gets things done her way! There is a lot to look forward from this government as Jaya has always proven to be an excellent administrator and hopefully Tamil Nadu improves its rank amongst other states and also fills up its coffers which were left thread bare when DMK completed its tenure.
Cricket for India had an excellent start, we won the World Cup and the last piece of accolade which had eluded Tendulkar for long at last found its home in his drawing room. As the year progressed, India fared really bad in England and the team is seeking redemption in Australia now, also the 100th ton still remains something to look forward in 2012. We salvaged some pride when we played Windies late in the year and Dwayne Bravo was a revelation of sorts. So an interesting year ahead for Sachin, Rahul and VVS, also, we might get a glimpse of how India will fare when these three retire from the test arena. The year 2011 also turned out to be a dampener for the IPL as the TRP ratings fell and everyone felt a overdose of cricket when Windies tests were scheduled in Delhi and Kolkota, sparse crowd was something never heard of when cricket is played in this part of the world. So it will be interesting to see how BCCI and ICC are going to counter this cricket fatigue in 2012.
On a side note, we had the first Indian grand prix happening in Noida and the entire world lost a visionary in the form of Steve Jobs which will leave a big void in the technical world. We also had a coming of age movie in Bollywood under the title Delhi Belly. It was totally an interesting year and as always, we should be more eager than ever to see what is to unravel in 2012.
