2018 in A-Z

Describing 2018 alphabetically

A for Alexa. Now a year old in India, Amazon’s cool, AI-powered personal assistant has given Indians the experience of voice recognition, music-on-demand, and even some home automation. According to Amazon, Indians say “I love you” to Alexa once every minute and ask “Will you marry me?” every three minutes. 

B for Bling. On retina-scorching display at the celebrity weddings of Deepika Padukone-Ranveer Singh, Isha Ambani-Anand Piramal and Priyanka Chopra-Nick Jonas. Oh, and Britain’s Prince Harry got hitched to commoner Meghan Markle — but with a shocking lack of over-the-top razzle-dazzle. And they called it a royal wedding!

C for Cow. The bovine ruled, cow vigilantes rampaged and politicians “cow”-towed, scrambling to please with promises of cow ministries, cow shelters and boosting the business in sacred cow urine.

D for Designer babies. Chinese researcher He Jiankui claimed to have produced the world’s first genetically altered babies (twin girls), spurring a huge ethical and moral debate.

E for Expletives. Made-in-India Netflix shows such as Mirzapur and Sacred Games blasted you with super-salty cuss words. It was mind-bending stuff and, really, quite educational.

F for Facebook’s failings. The tech giant stood discredited after news broke that it had given political consultancy Cambridge Analytica access to the personal data of 50 million FB users.

G for Gay rights. India’s Supreme Court finally decriminalised homosexuality.

H for Hug. After Narendra Modi made it his signature gesture of warmth and charmth towards world leaders, Rahul Gandhi, too, had a stab at a high-profile hug. He embraced the PM in Parliament, and social media went wild. At this rate, the hug could replace the handshake in 2019.

I for Internet. Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb informed us that there was internet in the time of the Mahabharata. It figures. After all, didn’t our ancients fly aeroplanes and do plastic surgery?

J for Jacket. Jackets matter and you know where you stand depending on whether you call yours a Nehru jacket or a Modi jacket. Much hot words were exchanged over whether the former was being egregiously rebranded as the latter.

K for Kavanaugh. As in Brett Kavanaugh, who was confirmed as a lifetime Judge of the US Supreme Court even after a credible witness testified that he had sexually assaulted her as a teenager.

L for Lynching. Lynch mobs murdered people on suspicion of being cattle smugglers or child lifters. And at times politicians bestowed love and garlands on men who lynched.

M for #MeToo, which hit India and took down powerful men. Women showed that they would no longer be silent victims of sexual violence.

N for New names. Given to places such as Allahabad (Prayagraj), Faizabad (Ayodhya) or Mughalsarai (Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction). It’s also called cultural cleansing, Indian style.

O for Outrage. The kind directed at vocalist T M Krishna and actor Naseeruddin Shah because they spoke against majoritarian hate. Happily, lots of Indians came out in their support.

P for Padmaavat. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film on the Rajput queen of legend was finally released — with some cuts, but at least with everyone’s nose and head intact.

Q for Quip. A man was jailed for weeks for making a quip about the erotic sculptures of Odisha’s Konark temple. It shows we do like comedy, but only if it’s black.

R for RIP. Sridevi, Anthony Bourdain, Stan Lee, Aretha Franklin, Annapurna Devi, Neil Simon, Tom Wolfe and many more cultural icons who left us in 2018.

S for Statue. We got the world’s tallest — Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s mammoth 182m statue built at a cost of Rs 29.9 billion. Er, so what if we haven’t solved poverty and rural distress?

T for Toxic: It’s the Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year because it reflects the current cultural ethos.

U for Urban Naxal. Pithy abuse applied to anyone who is not rabidly right-wing.

V for Vibrator. After its star turns in Veere di Wedding and Lust Stories, a taboo was broken, albeit with laughable clumsiness.

W for Worship. Women of all ages won the right to worship at Kerala’s Sabarimala temple. But a bitter religio-political battle rages on to stop them from doing so.

X for Xenophobia. US President Donald Trump separated children from families of illegal immigrants, Amit Shah called Bangladeshi immigrants “termites”, and across Europe, migrants were made increasingly unwelcome.

Y for Yahoos. Aka trolls or bullies or nasties who hunted in packs on social media, spewing hate, issuing death threats and badmouthing women.       

Z for Zero. The Shah Rukh Khan-starrer has lived up to its name: It’s coming to nought at the box office.

Shuma Raha is a journalist and author based in Delhi 

@ShumaRaha