Top ten of 2019

Aradhika  Sharma

Dear Diary Didi,

Mid-December is the time when every publication, website, blogger, vlogger and reviewer comes out with the ‘Top’ lists. This year, I’m determined to beat everyone to it. So, here it goes:

Food fad: The outstanding food fad of the year has been vegan meat, or meat-free meat. Matlab, there’s no meat in the meat. Batao! I guess the Beyond Burger (essentially a burger with a faux meat patty) better than the Bleeding Burgers that spurt out blood with every bite. Vaise, I’d go with dal-chawal every time. Swaad and paushtik.

Health food: Bone Broth! Emphatically declare trend watchers. This soup has gained tremendous popularity as a health drink. However, the ‘discovery’ of the year is nothing but good old bone and vegetable broth/stock. As an alternative, I offer haldi-doodh laced with brandy! Health and happiness rolled into one drink.

Bollywood actor: I’m divided between Vicky Kaushal for Uri and Ranveer Singh for Gully Boy. Apparently, also in the running are Salman Khan and Shahid Kapoor for their over-the-top performances for Bharat and Kabir Singh. Hope the award givers give greater cognizance to ‘Josh’ (Uri) than odious misogyny (Kabir Singh). Indian men certainly don’t need celebrity endorsement for anti-feminist behaviour.   

Netflix serial: Orange Is the New Black and Stranger Things. Thank Goodness, the pointless 13 Reasons Why, Season 3 didn’t make it to the list!

Most disappointing finale: Undoubtedly, Season 8 of Game of Thrones was the most unsatisfactory ending for a great series. More than 2 million viewers petitioned for a remake of the eighth season. People shed tears of disappointment after seeing the show. Sorry the great truth of life is: You win some, you lose some!

Song genre: Undoubtedly, Hindi rap. What started with Ashok Kumar’s recitation of Harindranath Chattopadhyay’s poem Rail Gaadi in Aashirwad (1968) saw completion in the ground-breaking, paradigm-shifting hip-hop music of   Gully Boy, which finally got merged with mainstream music. Apna time aa gaya!

Big fat wedding of the year: Isha Ambani-Anand Piramal tied the knot last December when the proud parents spent US$100 million on the celebration. You could buy an Island or a Premier League Football Team or even provide secure drinking water to one million people in Africa forever. Your choice! However, the trend was followed by her elder brother and the NRI Gupta family, spending Rs 200 crore and allegedly leaving behind 24,000 kg dump.

Horse trading: The mother of all horse-trading spectacles happened in Maharashtra state Assembly. Instead of appealing to loyalty or ideology, party officials locked the Aya Ram-Gaya Ram MPs in resorts where they couldn’t be pressured into deals by the other parties. The elected MPs jumped from one ship to another as if playing hopscotch. Made us wonder why they bother with elections at all?

New pranayam for Delhi: Exhale… hold… hold… hold… Do this from October to December. Inhale only when the air becomes comparatively less toxic. Hail to our capital city, Delhi!

Drink: Rum is ruling the roost! Now that’s a trend I wholeheartedly approve of. Seems that millennials love barrel-aged, small-batch craft rums and fine rums from the traditional Caribbean makers and British rums. I’m perfectly OK with the rum you get from the Army canteens. Cheap and best! And on that note, cheers and season’s greetings, one and all!