Elon Musk, Harnaaz Sandhu, Twitter, and other 2021 newsmakers | #85
Solve the acrostic inside ➠
Hello!
An acrostic is a poem or other composition in which the first letter of each line or paragraph spells out a word, message or the alphabet. Spot the acrostic in our refresher of the top news stories of 2021.
Malaria might finally be cured completely – after more than 25 years of research, we finally have a vaccine that has been approved for the fight against Malaria. Bill Gates finally did something useful with all his money.
Ever Given, was a ship that blocked the Suez Canal for 6 days, leading people to speculate that the world might just end due to Supply Chain issues. We sailed through that.
Ravichandran Ashwin chronicled one of India’s finest sporting moments on his YouTube channel with a series of interviews called ‘Let me tell you a Kutti story’. The title is inspired by a track from the super-hit Tamil film Master. Talk about a Masterstroke.
Roohi, considered one of the worst films of 2021, was going to be named Rooh Afzana. Maybe giving everyone Rooh Afza while watching the movie, might have made the experience better.
Yashpal Sharma passed away in July due to a heart attack. He was one of the heroes of the 1983 world cup win. He played his part in India’s second world cup win as he was one of the selectors who chose the team for India’s victorious 2011 campaign. Raising the bat for all your contributions to Indian cricket.
Climate Change Conference was held in November and to illustrate the dangers of climate change, the minister from Tuvalu gave his speech standing in water. If we don’t act now, we will all sink to a new low.
PC: Reuters Hope did for the UAE, what Mangalyaan did for India. The orbiter ‘Hope’ became the first Arabian mission to successfully enter Mars’ orbit and like the Mangalyaan did so on its first attempt. Maybe there is another Akshay Kumar starrer waiting to be made.
Ringing the opening bell NASDAQ, Freshworks became the first Indian SaaS company to be listed on NASDAQ, making 500 employees of the firm Crorepatis. This news was a breath of fresh air.
Iraq saw a historic meeting of the Pope Francis and the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani – the first ever meeting between a Pope and a Grand Ayatollah. Somebody who foresaw this meeting might have said Ayatollah you so.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) trailer showed Miles Morales traversing through some part of India. Given the traffic in our country, using spiderwebs might be the fastest way to get around.
Twitter permanently suspended the accounts of famous personalities including Donald Trump and Kangana Ranaut. SAD!
Måneskin is an Italian rock band that won the Eurovision Song contest. It started a glorious summer for Italy – where they won the Euros and also had the fastest man in the world at the Olympics – Lamont Marcell Jacobs. The Italians then celebrated by eating pineapple pizza [citation needed]
Amrinder Singh, goalkeeper of the Indian football team, got the shock of his life, when his twitter notifications exploded after the resignation of Capt Amarinder Singh as the chief minister of Punjab. We will know soon if Amarinder’s resignation was his own goal or not.
Summer Olympics and Paralympics saw India’s best finish at both games. 7 medals at the Olympics and 19 at the Paralympics. Huge salute to all our athletes for bringing laurels to our country.
Harnaaz Sandhu became the 3rd Indian woman to win the Miss Universe title. As was the norm, all other planets continue to boycott this event. Harnaaz pe hume naaz hai.
PC: NDTV Annaatthe was Thalaivar Rajnikanth’s most recent release. Despite extremely bad reviews, the film grossed over 200 crores making it the 2nd biggest grosser in Tamil Cinema this year. Annatthe hit from the Superstar.
Parag Agrawal, joined the list of Indian origin CEO’s of international companies. His first order of business? Introduce the ‘Edit Tweet’ button given how easily people misspell his surname.
PayTM didn’t have the greatest of IPO’s. It lost over 25% of its initial price and it hit the lower circuit in the markets. Don’t know, offering cashbacks here might have pushed the sales up a bit.
Yousuf Khan aka Dilip Kumar passed away in July. He left behind a legacy of great cinematic performances and served as an inspiration to actors of all generations. Salim chance of seeing another actor like him.
Neeraj Chopra won India its first ever Athletics Gold Medal at the Olympics. How he got into javelin is interesting – his parents took him to an athletics track with the aim of reducing Neeraj’s weight. He picked up the javelin and threw more than 40m in his very first attempt. Again, an Akshay Kumar starrer awaits.
Eternals released in November and earned more than 400 Million Dollars. We saw a beefed up Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo and Indian actor Harish Patel as his valet. Pity, they didn’t get Harish to say his most famous dialogue - “Kingo, khahyega khela?”
PC: Hindustan Times WhatsApp announced an amendment in their privacy policies and data sharing norms. It led to a massive outrage and a Signal for everyone to move to other apps such as Telegram. Hey Facebook, what’s the Meta with you and privacy?
Yorkshire Cricket Club courted controversy after former player Azeem Rafiq accused them of being institutionally racist. The club didn’t cover itself in glory with its mishandling of the case and has seen a slew of resignations from its various members. Safe to say, Yorkshire didn’t walk when they were clearly caught behind.
Elon Musk was named the Time Magazine Person of the year in 2021. Elon Musk is an adult man who tweeted this. In 2021. Less said about him the better.
Aryan Khan was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau following a drug bust and raid conducted on a cruise ship Cordelia. The NCB was not Cordelia with Aryan Khan in this matter.
Ratan Tata gleefully accepted Air India back into the fold of Tata Companies. By retaining the name Air India, we think they missed an opportunity to rename the airlines Tata Sky.
In case you didn’t pay close attention, this was our little way of wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. The newsletter will take a break next week and resume in 2022
Quiz Alert 🔎
If the 2021 refresher was all too familiar for you, consider taking part in our quizzes this weekend. We have two (yes TWO!) year-ender quizzes this weekend.
First, join us for the seventh edition of the Great India Quiz: India in 2021 with the incomparable Dr. Navin Jayakumar.
Second, join the "Kyun & A: 2021 Rewind" with comedian Kumar Varun. This quiz is FREE and the finals will take place on Clubhouse. More details here
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❤️ IWTK