Dine and Wine in Oh 9

Happy New Year to all !!

2008 was the most thrilling year of the decade for me, there were plenty of good and some sad news but i do look forward to 2009 with lots of hope.

First things first - Cricket:
Indian cricket was at its best this year with IPL and Ind-Oz series'. The Indian team worked well as a unit and results are there to be seen. I do regret the retirements of Kumble and Ganguly but Gambhir, Raina, Rohit Sharma and the new brigade gives me plenty of hopes for the coming year. I do look forward to IPL and the T-20 World cup and I hope the winning teams repeat the success. Go India !! [Go Royals :) !!]

Politics:
2008 was terrible for India, all the holes in the security and administration were exposed by so many bomb blasts but that's the way politics is. I do feel the investigations should be continued and the real culprits should be found and hanged, i personally would not be too surprised if political leadership (especially of Western India) was directly or indirectly involved in these blasts and like so many times before, the common man is the biggest loser. I was definitely happy to see the country unite against terror and the only way to fight it is to improve awareness, spread education and probably more vigilance. I do predict some military action against enemies of the Union, definitely not a full fledged war against the neighbors. Its a time to defeat the terror mechanism and it starts with making sure that the weapon's industry world over is state controlled and highly regulated (possibly by UN) and that education is spread to rural areas.

Economics:
2008 saw a big downturn in economy but hopefully 2009 should bring good news, President Elect Obama has already picked right people and i hope they deliver in this mini-crisis. Global economy as usual depends on strong dollar and the recovery definitely starts in U.S.

Technology:
There is so much to look forward to in 2009, i see bigger and better phones and some amazing apps from Apple and from Android. Apple once again should dominate the mobile phone market in 2009.