2013 At A Glance and A Wish For 2014

Everybody has done it, so why not us !!! The year 2013 has come to a close and has left us with lifelong memories, some good and some bad. We recapitulate some key events which has affected India and we also hope for a much better and improved 2014.

We start with sports, because that is what interests the majority of the Indian population. In cricket,our biggest achievement of the year was the Champions Trophy win in England. Most people didn't give Dhoni's men a chance at the start of the tournament and very rightly so, given the fact that India were brutally beaten both in the test and ODI series in their previous tour of England. However, Dhoni's men defied all odds and emerged victorious, adding yet another trophy to the country's tally. India lost the last cricket series of 2013 going down to South Africa in the test series, further worsening their record away from home. A series win in the rainbow nation would have been a perfect ending to the year. Nevertheless, the tour to New Zealand begins shortly and we have a chance to begin well in 2014. Also, the T20 World Cup this year is a great opportunity for India to strengthen the team for the all important 2015 World Cup.

    
We did well in other sports too, such as tennis and Formula1. In tennis, most of our players have improved their ATP ranks. Leander Paes won the US Open doubles title in September, bringing laurels to the country. In Formula1 too,the Force India team finished 6th in the team rankings. Hopefully, our race cars improve in speed and strength,and we finish in the top 5 this year.

When it comes to politics in the country, there were serious scams emerging one after the other. This resulted in big losses for the Congress Party in various states. The rise of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was the biggest political news in 2013. In a mere 6 months, by winning the Delhi Elections, Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal have shown themselves to be a force to be reckoned with. However, it still remains to be seen how the AAP functions. They have promised to remove corruption from the society and hopefully they shall fulfill their promise this year.

It wasn't the best of years for the Indian economy. Slowing growth and rising inflation marked 2013 which the country's economic managers would like to forget quickly in the hope that the new year will bring in new Government and some good news.

Some very good, inspirational films were composed in 2013 such as Kai Po Che and Jolly LLB which attracted viewers worldwide. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was another inspirational movie and probably the best of them all. All these movies taught people that hard work and determination can help a person achieve his/her goals.We expect a lot more movies like these to hit the box office this year as well. However, the rising popularity of extremely shitty films like Chennai Express and Dhoom 3 is a serious concern for all film addicts.

All in all, 2013 was an eventful year. Nothing is completely black or white, it is in shades of grey. Thus,some events were beneficial while others were not. There were mistakes committed, but we need to learn from those mistakes so as to make this year better than the previous one. We,the common people of this nation, need to wake up and take responsibilities. Wishing all the readers a prosperous and a joyful New Year!! Lets hope for the best in the times to come...