Finally, 2011 comes to an end. Yet another year. Time seems to be moving way too fast, most would say. While for some its another year added to their age, for others it has been a long year. But whatever said and done, it has been quite an eventful year which I'm sure most would agree upon.
2011 started on a bright note, after all, it was the beginning of the second decade of the twenty first century. The world was hopeful for a relatively stable year. But the opposite happened and thus, 'stable' is the last word one can use to describe 2011.
The optimism was short lived. Mass revolts against the autocracy began in Tunisia. Men, women and youth stormed the streets and this became the Arab world's fastest developing revolts in the history. This was baptized as the Jasmine Revolution. It wasn't long before it spread to other countries.
Inspired by the protests in Tunisia, a similar revolution began in Egypt towards the end of January 2011 against Hosni Mubbarak who had been Egypt's president since 1981. Accompanied with nationwide curfews and bans on social media, several civilians lost their lives.
In February 2011 this unrest seemed to spread to Libya too; a North African oil-rich nation. It had spent some 40 years under the erratic leadership of Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi. A struggle that lasted for over 6 months ended with the killing of Qaddafi.
Similar unrest was experienced in Yemen, Bahrain, Morocco and Syria. In Israel, over 4 lakh people marched on one single day to protest against the falling living standards.
While the unrest spread in the Arab world, the need for a Jasmine Revolution in China amongst the people was building up. This was curbed by new restrictions on the internet and banning of several social media networks.
In the west, several European countries like Britain, Spain and Portugal saw protests in response to the austerity.
India did not fall behind when it comes to mass protests in 2011. India saw one of the most popular building against corruption in recent times. Anna Hazare, supported by thousands, went on an indefinite hunger strike demanding for the desired Lokpal bill to passed by the parliament. Inspite of the mass protests, the governing party - Congress - has been able to hold up the bill and its still yet to be passed.
Japan was rocked by a massive earthquake, early March 2011. An earthquake measuring 8.9 on the richter scale was accompanied by a massive 30 feet high Tsunami. Killing millions, it was the worst tragedy to hit Japan since the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombings during second world war. As if that wasn't enough, due to the damage caused, there was fear of a nuclear leak in Japan's nuclear plants. With its deadly radiation, the world was once again shown the dangers science and technology brought with it.
On the economic front, 2011 hasn't be too good either. The Euro zone faced a major debt crisis with countries like Greece o the verge of bankruptcy. European banks struggled to obtain funds and the European Central Bank feared a major credit crunch.
USA's economy struggled when there was a failure in obtaining political consensus on how to reduce the deficit. In August, just before the Treasury Deadline, the Congress managed to increase the limit on the federal debt ceiling.
But this did not stop Standard & Poor's from downgrading America's AAA rating for the first time in its history which further weakened the economy's footing.
India faced rapid inflation characterized by tremendous rise in food prices. Petrol prices were hiked several times accompanied by some 13 interest rate hikes in less than 18 months. Rupee value with respect the US dollar weakened.
The UN forecasted that the world is sinking into another recession with IMF lowering the overall growth forecast for 2012 to 2% from 4%. Brazil and China tried to ease monetary policy to enable growth and India tried to control its ever increasing inflation by raising interest rates. Thus the hot economies have started to 'cool' down.
The year also saw the demise of the likes of Steve Jobs, Jagjit Singh, Dev Anand and Shammi Kapoor.
But where the atmosphere was gloomy both politically and economically, the Indian population had two amazing experiences. First, India, very successfully hosted the Formula One with a world class race track and well appreciated after parties with the likes of Lady Gaga.
Secondly and most importantly, India won the ICC World Cup 2011 after 28 years! Where cricket is a religion, the whole country stopped celebrate this victory.
According to some difficult times lie ahead. The world may sink into a much worse depression and general unrest among the people seems to be rising for various reasons. But when a gloomy year is being expected, I'm reminded of the recent Coca Cola advertisement. 'Where some are worrying about the world ending in 2012, there are 50 lakh people texting new year wishes.'
So as we begin with this new year I would conclude with these lines-
"Umeedon vali dhoop, Sunshine vali aasha;
Rone ki vajah kum hai, Hasne ki vajah hai zyaada."
