Top 10 moments for India - 2008

10. Best ever Olympics for India

The 2008 Beijing Olympics is a golden period, not only in Indian Sports history, but was also a important occurence in Indian history. The first induvidual olympic gold that was eluding the Indians finally found the hands of Abinav Bindra. The Chandigarh lad won India the first olympic induvidual gold in the 10m rifle event. Added to that there were two more bronze medals which came from the effort of Vijender and Sushil Kumar in Boxing and wrestling respectively, therby making this event as India's best ever olympic campaign.

9. Parvathy Omanakuttan

The 20year old beauty from Kottayam represented India in the Miss World beauty paegent, and she finished First Runner-Up at the Miss World Grand Finale at Johannesburg, South Africa on 13 December 2008. She was pushed to second by Miss Russia Ksenia Sukhinova. The last Indian to be crowned Miss India was Priyanka Chopra in 2000. After 8 yeras Parvathy had come close to repeat the class act. Good job Madam...

8. Fight for the Oscar(Nomination)

No..We have yet not reached the final stage of Oscars, but there have been 2 entries form India for the Best Foreign Film Award at the Oscars. Aamir Khan's directorial debut "Taare Zameen Par" has been officially recommended by the Indian Film board to the Oscars. While Mr. Mangesh Hadawale the director of the critically acclaimed Marathi film "Tingya" feels that his film had an edge over the former, and he is not the one who is going to let it go. He has filed a nomination induvidually for his film and is determined to bag the award. Hope the best film wins...

7. Election after Mayhem

The election at the five states Delhi, Mizoram, Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the later stage of 2008 held more significance as it was held pretty soon after the Mumbai terrorist siege. The nation expected a reversal of fortune for the fore-runners BJP and the Congress. The Congress was widely critisised for being soft to terror, and BJP hoped that it was a golden oppurtunity for them to utilize. But the end results showed that the Indian public were in no hurry to react, they have decided to think. Congress won Delhi, Mizoram, Rajasthan; BJP retained Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh. BJP had no words, and the nation seems to have taught them a tough lesson "Rather than basking on others poor performance, one has to prove his worth to stay in hunt"

6. India: A secular nation?

the violence in Kandhamal and parts of Orrisa has raised this question among the indian public. The activities of the Cristain missionaries, who were converting poor farmers to Christianity, irked the local people and they had to show their rage in a dastardly fashion. The police or the government were able to do absolutely nothing, as law was taken into once own hands. The rape of a nun, the murder of a temple priest and many more gory incidents became the way of life in Eastern India for the whole of 2008

5. Blast 'em all

Operation BAD, as it was named, tested the seurity and intelligence of the nation, where both failed miserably. Indian Mujahideen had claimed that their operation BAD was successfull after the series of blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi rocked the nation. These operations made bomb blasts a household name in India. Hope it is soon forgotten.

4. 2008- A blessing for Indian cricket

Indian crickt after the world cup fiasco, was expected to take time to recover and establish its old authority. But Dhoni and his boys proved that anything can happen in cricket in a few days time. They started with the T20 WC triumph and are yet to finish. 2008 has been a brilliant year and they are inching closer towards the throne of the NumerUno team in the World. The stepping down of Kumble and Ganguly could not have come at the right time, as youngsters are waiting in the wings to fill in heir shoes. Lets wish Dhoni a similar 2009.

3. Economic slump & Fluctuating Inflation

US witnessed one of the worst calamities in their economic history with top banks declaring bankruptcy. With almost 60-70% of India's IT and ITES services dependent on the US, we are begenning to face the heat with job cuts, pink slips and salary reductions being the order of the day. This has resulted in the sudden reversal of inflation in the country. Once at a high of 13.8%, it has gradually reduced to 6.5% at present. With crude oil prices touching a new low of $35.35, 2008 has seen fluctuating fortunes as far as economy goes.

2. Journey to the moon

The ISRO succeeded in launching India's first unmanned lunar vehicle "Chandrayaan" in the later part of 2008. With this India becomes the third in Asia and sixth nation in this world in achieving this feat. The estimated cost was put at 386 Crore indian rupees. G Madhavan Nair, Chairman of ISRO also put in words that Chandrayaan 2 was also on the cards, and it might come up in 2012.

1. Mumbai Siege

60 hours of perseverence and struggle were witnessed at the primary pockets of the nation's financial capital, at the cost of almost 190 lives. A bunch of terrorists form a still unclaimed terror outfit, had the whole of Mumbai in a panicky situation for almost 3 days, thanks to the inefficient and incompetent security and Intelligence bureau. The ares attacked comprised the Taj Mahal hotel, The Trident, The Oberoi , The CST terminal and Cama Hospital. With 15 policeman losing their lives, most of them not fighting terrorrists but by meekly giving up without any arms or ammunition to fight with, the only salvage was a lone terrorist caught alive. This heart breaking incident had the most significant impact on a common man's life. With the dead comprising nationals of 10 countries, this is considered an international calamity. One hopes this will be the last bead in the chain of tragedies the country is facing in the recent past. And our hope will bear of no use if even this event doesnt trigger the fact that much more needs to be invested in Security and Intelligence in our country, in the minds of our famed politicians