2008: The year most of us want to forget

The year started with "full" hopes and expectations. In the begining of the year itself stock market took the beating after a nearly 5 year bull run . The much hyped R-Power came as a cropper for investors at large. Then followed the much-awaited sub prime crisis which was brewing even before 2008. the entire banking system across US and the European countries . The oil price shot up $147 a barrel which made developing countries to renegotiate with their GDP growth. The main reason attributed to hike in oil prices were due to greedy wolves of wall street. the year also saw the record high of gold price because investing in gold was always seen as a hedging avenue under the inflationary conditions.
In the political arena, the world had witnessed some watershed particularly, the US voted for the first???? Afro-American to be the CEO of the world's powerful country(abraham lincon, andrew jackson,thomas jefferson calvin coolidge were born to inter mixed race but their birth story was hidden from the public domaindue to the question of legitamacy was involved) Closer Home, the world's only Hindu Rastra" turned into a republic. Another neighbor, Sri Lanka, waging the last war to inish off the rebels , which has been facing a civil war for the last 25 years.
In the sports section , India had won a gold medal after a gap of almost 30 years with alot of huff of puff (remember we are a nation of 110bn people almost 1/5 of the mankind). How many of you can remember our nation's sport? cricket nay , baseball nay gilli danda nay its Hockey fournately or unfournately thanks to our system our hockey team failed to qualify for the beiging olympics. Vishwanathan Anand, retained the position numero uno in all forms of chess so can we call him "czar of chennai".
coming back to india's condition our intransigent neighbor, pakistan contiued with "hit and run" cases latest being mumbai carnage. with producing almost every evidence that country it seems that country's is in denial mode as I write this blog the two nuclear neighbors are mobilizing theirs armies on their border areas. War is not an option but, if that is the language your adversaries understand then, you ought to speak the language he better understands.
On the persaonal front it has been a mixed bag since i take every incident as an experience the almighty has taught me "kaduva sach" . As one zen master said don't expect better accept the life you will lead a happy life.
To sum up, I would like to say the phrase used by Rata Tata on the occassion of reopening of taj hotel after the mumbai attack "WE ARE HURT, BUT NOT KNOCKED DOWN".
good bye 2008.