2020: Remembering the year we mostly want to forget
The year 2020 started out as any other year. Rather everyone looked forward to it with a 20–20 vision.
But then boom! From wildfires that could be seen from the space to almost a world war starting to a pandemic that is nowhere near to stopping, the year is almost over. Almost.
With one day left and hopes of no more surprises on a global level, let’s look back at the year we all wish was cancelled.
Australia burns
At the very beginning of the year, social media was flooded with pictures of howling animals desperate to survive the massive wildfire in Eastern Australia. It burned for weeks. Reports estimate that around three billion animals were killed in the bushfire and damaged 12.6 million hectares of land.
WWIII almost breaks out
Trump and his big mouth almost caused World War three when he ordered to kill an Iranian General. Iran was not having it and killed a bunch of US soldiers in return. And all this happened only a few days into the year.
Brexit and Meghxit
At the end of January, the United Kingdom finally left the European Union after months of deliberation. As it happens in any divorce battle, the UK is still talking with EU about trade deals. Soon after this headliner, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they are basically leaving the Royal Household. So with Brexit, Meghan and Harry also departed to live in the states.
Coronavirus spreads in Wuhan
When the first death from the novel coronavirus found in the Chinese province of Wuhan was registered, the world thought of it as an isolated incident. Even when it started to kill people left, right and centre, all hoped that it would be contained. But boy were we wrong! Little did we know what was in store for us!
Parasite wins the Best Picture at Oscars
Amid all this, Parasite, a Korean film won Best Picture in the Oscars competing against the white-dominated movies from Hollywood. A movie in a foreign language featuring Asians winning this prestigious award made some jaws to drop.
Trump not impeached
At the end of 2019, when Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives, some let out a happy cheer. But as cursed as 2020 is, he was acquitted by the Senate.
Panic at the Rona
As March rolled up, the world finally started to sense that we are in the middle of a situation that usually happens once a hundred years. The news of the pandemic broke people’s brains as they started to hoard on everything essential to anything they could get their hands on. This mass hysteria was best portrayed by Americans panic buying toilet papers.
America’s makeup wears off
At this point in time, the whole world started to suffer from the pandemic but the worst-hit came down upon the US. A country which invests billions in weapons and wars saw their health care system crash almost immediately. Doctors were wearing trash bags due to the shortage of personal protection equipment. Thousands of people died every day and cold storage trucks stacked the bodies to carry them away.
The world goes in lockdown
By the end of March, other countries started to enforce lockdowns to contain the virus which reached almost all corners of the world in mere weeks.
Boris tests positive for coronavirus
The UK was hit pretty badly in the beginning too but the news of their Prime Minister Boris Johnson getting the virus was quite shocking. He did proudly say that he shook hands with Covid-19 patients so it is kind of on him for getting the virus but nonetheless, a country leader getting this super spreading virus was a big deal and he was only the first in that list.
Drink bleach to cure Covid: Trump
Well, most of the words the US President Trump spews is misinformation or confusing, to say the least. So when he said drinking bleach could get rid of this “flu”, some trumpets drank bleach and dropped dead.
Police kill George Floyd and America riots
The Minneapolis police killed another black man named George Floyd for pretty much just trying to breathe and thought they could get away it like all the other such cases. But this time, America decided enough is enough. They took it to the streets, protesting, rioting. Their rage reached other parts of the world in just a couple days.
Trump hides in White House
And in the middle of this public outrage, the president was reported to be hiding in a bunker inside the White House. As people gathered outside to demand answers from the nation’s leader, the White House turned off its lights.
All the while, pandemic rages
By June, the reality of the pandemic had set in. Almost every country took some degree of measures to flatten the curve of the cases so that the health care system can function. And while thousands died every day around the world, lost jobs, housing, and health, others struggled to stay home to curb the infection.
Zoom zooms
School, work, business- almost every sector digitalised almost overnight and one video calling app got the lottery. Even though Skype had a 17-year head start, Zoom came in and swoop the crowd. Zoom revenues went up 355% in the second quarter of 2020, according to reports.
Tiktokers sabotage Trump rally
The boomers who thought millennials and Gen-Zs are up to no good should have been surprised when Tiktokers pulled off the biggest prank on the US President. Even Trump himself tweeted about more than a million ticket requests for his Tulsa rally. But only a few showed up — because teens and tweens tanked the system by registering hundreds of thousands of tickets for that rally.
Blast in Beirut
As if the world was already short of tragedies this year, on 4 August, a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the port of the city of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, exploded. It caused at least 204 deaths, 6,500 injuries, and USD 15 billion in property damage. The incident left an estimated 300,000 people homeless.
Trump gets Covid-19
Just weeks before the presidential election, President Donald Trump got the virus himself. Ironically, his blatant lies about the virus and not believing in its existence did not make him immune to it.
All eyes on US Election
On November 3, the anticipated US Election took place. It was a very hot topic. Not only Americans but the international crowd also gathered to hear the news that the disgrace which Trump is, will finally leave the office. And the country turned blue! Joe Biden is the president-elect. And for the first time in the history of the US, a Black South Asian American woman, Kamala Harris, will be the Vice-President.
Trump sues them all, wins nothing
However, Trump being Trump, started with his lies again. He alleged that the election result was fraudulent and sued several states. He did not win any of the lawsuits because they could not provide any proof backing their claims.
Finally a vaccine!
After months of trials and errors trying to come up with a vaccine for the mutating virus, a piece of good news was bestowed upon us in the last month of this dreadful year. The US became the first country to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
And corona updates itself
But this good news was overturned as a new variant of the coronavirus was discovered in the UK on 14 December, which is stronger than the one which already affected an estimated 82 million and killed about 1.8 million people worldwide. It has already spread to countries like the US and India.
This 31st December will mark one year of identifying the novel coronavirus. And no one knows when it will go away. All we can do is hope that it does, and it does so soon.
(I wrote this compiled piece for The Business Standard, but wanted to publish it under my name)