1. Rs. 1 lakh Tata Nano - People's Car launched
Tata Motors had brought revolution in the car industry, by launching the Tata Nano - People's Car. No one in the world dares to do what Ratan Tata has done.
This is almost unachievable for any car maker and if it is, no one will dare do what the Tatas are doing!
2. Indian Premier League
Though am not an avid cricket fan, I have to mention this. IPL was a big thing that happened to the world of cricket. It changed the way the game is played.
It provided the real entertainment of T20 cricket to the viewers. Who won't mind a cricket match ending in 3 hours time!
3. Indian Hockey Team fails to qualify for Olympics
In the wee hours of March 10, 2008, Indian hockey that had a glorious past to cherish, failed to survive the doomsday and died an unnatural death.
For the first time since 1928, India failed to secure an Olympic berth, when they went down tamely to Great Britain in the Olympic Hockey qualifier final. Now how many people really believe that hockey is India's national game?
4. Cash-for-Vote Scam
horse trading and corruption level reached a new high, as BJP MPs showed bundles of notes allegedly offered to them as bribe for trust vote.
It was 'Death of Democracy' for me. How many times this opposition party has tried to throw the government and every time they fail. This was the height though!
5. River Kosi changed its course
Nearly 15 lakh people marooned in 15 districts in flood-hit Bihar, after river Kosi changed its course after 300 years.
Over 200 people died and millions rendered homeless. The impact of the floods was so severe that Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh declared the Bihar floods as a "National Calamity".
6. India @ Olympics
This was India's best ever performance @ the Olympics so far! Abhinav Bindra won the first-ever individual gold medal for the country in Olympic Games. He won the gold medal at Beijing Olympics in the 10m Air Rifle event.
Sushil Kumar won a bronze medal in 66kg Freestyle Wrestling, while Vijender Kumar won a bronze medal in the 75kg Middleweight category boxing. For the first time in Olympic history, India returned with three individual medals. I hope this would make more and more people to take interest in sports in India.
7. Chandrayaan I
On October 22, 2008, India made history by sending its first-ever lunar mission to moon.
As the Chandrayaan I took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, India became the sixth country in the world to send a space mission to moon. Later, the Chandrayaan MIP landed on the surface of the moon with Indian tri-colour painted on its four sides.
8. Sister Alphonsa becomes India's first-ever Woman Saint
Sister Alphonsa, a nun from Kottayam, Kerala became the first-ever woman saint from India today.
She is the second from Indian Roman Catholic church to get canonised. On the previous occasion, half-Indian St. Goncalo Garcia, who died in Japan, was conferred the sainthood.
9. The Big Deal
India and the USA signed the historic 123 Agreement in Washington.
The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and India's External Affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee signed the agreement. With this the operationalisation of the Indo-US nuclear deal formally began.
The Indo-US nuclear deal ended India's nuclear isolation. The main goal of the Indo-US nuclear deal is to enhance civil nuclear cooperation and trade between India and the US.
10. Mumbai Terror Attacks - 26/11
The country was united after these attacks. I have never seen the common man coming out on the streets and having a say to the eunuchs in the Government system.
Although the year 2008 witnessed many terror attacks in the country, the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks shook the nation and led to a massive outrage. Until 26/11, the targets of these terrorists were people travelling by trains/buses, but when Hotel Trident Oberoi and Hotel Taj were invaded by terrorists, it changed a lot of things in this country.
The ATS, NSG, Marine Commandos and other policemen fought hard to flush out the terrorists and save Mumbai. n total, 183 people were killed and over 300 were injured.
At least 18 brave policmen and NSG commandso became martyr in the attack. They included former ATS chief Hemant Karkare and NSG Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan. The security personnel killed 9 terrorists, while one terrorist, Ajmal Amir Kasab, a resident of Faridkot, Pakistan, was caught alive.
And as I have been keeping a track of this story, till this moment I only see the Indian ministers just talking and talking and talking. I had enough ... did you?