2021 (Recap)

It's officially 2022. Happy new year! I hope everyone had a great start to their year. As we all know 2021 was kind of a weird year. It was slow yet fast but there are some crazy things that happened in the year. So here is a little recap of some of the major things that went down in 2021-

Current affairs-

1. Joe Biden becomes US President, Kamala Harris appointed as Vice President

⁃ He became the 46th president of the United States

⁃ Kamala Harris becomes first female, first black and first Asian-American VP

2. Elon Musk superseded Jeff Bezos as the richest man alive.

⁃ Elon is currently worth around $277 Billion

⁃ Jeff is currently worth around $200 Billion

⁃ Kind of crazy to think about

3. Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all 3 charges related to George Floyd's death

⁃ He was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison

⁃ Justice was finally served for George Floyd (may he rest in peace)

⁃ I hope as we progress globally, we realize the importance of humanity and kindness and equality that we were granted with. We should respect each other instead of bringing them down

4. The Tokyo Olympics happened

⁃ The Olympics that was supposed to happen last year, happened this year and it took place in Tokyo

⁃ It was a proud time for India as we came home with 7 medals. Including a gold won by Neeraj Chopra in Javelin throw.

⁃ P.V Sindhu first Indian woman to claim two Olympic medals after she won a badminton bronze medal in Tokyo

⁃ Some other good moments- First-ever gold medal for Bermuda, First-ever medal for Turkmenistan

5. Jeff Bezos went to space

- With a total of $28 million for the only available seat and 11 minutes outside planet earth, Blue Origin’s trip with Jeff Bezosonboard will cost $2.54 million per minute.

6. The Indian Premiere League happened- Chennai Super Kings won

- Virat Kohli stepped down as captain of the IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore

7. T20 Cricket World Cup happened- The Australian team won

8. Astroworld tragedy

⁃ So, if you don’t know what happened- Travis Scott held a concert in Houston Texas

⁃ The crowd was growing out of control, many people sneaked in throughout the day which resulted in over 50,000 people attending the event

⁃ The crowd began to surge forward towards the stage and since it was so crowded they started crushing people as they went along

⁃ It is considered one of the deadliest crowd-control disasters at a concert in the United States

- A video that surfaced online showed a girl going up to the cameraman who was live-streaming the event and yelling at him to stop the show but the staff was seen driving her away.

- there was another clip that surfaced online and the second video that went viral was of a crowd that was unbothered about the emergency panic—they chose to dance over the ambulance and block the rescue operation. I find it so heartbreaking to see people would react like this

⁃ This resulted in 11 people passing away and many more being injured

⁃ I am absolutely devastated and I feel both Travis and his team are to blame

9. Omicron - To wrap up 2021 Covid has “gifted” us a new variant of Omicron. Let’s hope 2022 is much better than 2021.

Iconic/ pop culture moments

1. Britney spears being freed from her conservatorship

- Basically, it was an arrangement that took away all of Britney’s rights of making her own personal and financial decisions

- she finally is free and can make her own decisions

2. Squid games and Bridgerton took over the world

- How can we forget these shows that literally broke the internet?

- I remember when squid games first came out, my feed was filled with nothing else

- These shows basically ruled the internet for a couple of weeks

3. There was the infamous, rumored love triangle between Olivia Rodrigo, Joshua Bassett, and Sabrina carpenter

- This resulted in the masterpiece that is Driver’s License

- This song also sky-rocketed Olivia’s fame and now she is one of the biggest stars out there

- ‘Sour’ (her debut album) literally broke the internet and I don’t think I will ever stop listening to those songs

4. We also saw the breakup of Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid

- Yolanda Hadid accused Zayn of physical assault but he denied it

- This resulted in the breakup but they are making great efforts to co-parent their child, Khai

5. Kim and Kanye filed a divorce, we also saw the breakup of Shawn Mendes and Camilla Cabello

6. The Friends reunion which was ICONIC

- I thoroughly enjoyed watching it and no matter how many years pass by, they will always and forever be timeless

- I really did enjoy the re-union special and to see how good friends the entire cast was even after all these years

7. We got red (Taylor’s version) and can I just say ITS A MASTERPIECE

- I think it might be one of my favourite albums ever

- If you want to know why Taylor is re-recording all her albums, check out this YouTube video of her explaining it- https://youtu.be/pB1nyP_O7II

8. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah

9. The Met Gala happened which was kind of disappointing?

10. Ariana Grande got married- her wedding pictures were stunning

Personal-

I kind of don’t remember much that happened. I do know that it was definitely better than 2020 overall but I spent most of my year wrapped up in academics. let’s hope 2022 has only good things in store for me

What I learned from 2021

1. It's all about finding a balance-

- I had to study a lot this year and it was hard to manage both sides of my life

- I learned about the importance of separating your study time from your downtime

- It will take time to adjust but with time it becomes easier

2. Maintaining your relationships are really important

- The relationships with all the people in your life

- Most of our lives are online and its harder to talk to people through the phone versus a face to face conversation

- So, take some time out of your day to talk to your friends and family. Ask them how their day was or make some conversation

3. I found a new appreciation for art

- Art does not only mean paintings, it includes songs, movies, or anything that gives you entertainment

- Sometimes you can just put on some music during the time you take a break. It helps to clear your mind

4. You learn something new every day

- It could be the smallest thing or something very stupid but every day you learn something new about someone or something or even just about yourself

5. Breaks are so important

- I know I have said this many times but there is truth in it

- A break helps to clear your mind, motivate you

- Sometimes if you need to take a longer break, do not hesitate and remember why you started and what you are working towards

I hope you enjoyed this blog. Let’s hope 2022 is a great year! Here is to new beginnings and I hope you follow all your new year’s resolutions/ goals. A new year means a new chapter!

Thanks for reading,

Xx mahika

(Question of the day: What was the best year for you so far?)

(Ps: follow my Instagram: @blogbanterandbigwords where I share polls and put teasers for my upcoming blogs, you might also find some nice quotes in there)