ByBishalRai, December 31, 2020… The year 2020 is going down in the history of humankind as the most terrible year because the worst global pandemic i.e. COVID19 has affected every human affairs on the planet since 1918 Spanish flu. Eighty two million cases and 1.7M deaths are recoded due to this global pandemic till now. US alone has 19.5M cases and 336K deaths. America has only 4% population of the world and having 25% COVID19 case is the clear evidence of President Trump’s massive failure to respond to the pandemic properly and timely fashion which ultimately cost his presidency too.
Now Joe Biden is president elect who has to deal with so many challenges at home and internationally. He promised to bring back normalcy and in order to the world from chaotic Trump era . His modus operandi shows some hope and progress.
The recent advent of vaccines such as Pfizer, Moderna, AestroZeneca etc are the most beautiful things that have happened so far. The vaccination has already been underway with the frontline workers . They have a plan to distribute the vaccines by the fall of 2021 for general public . We should be thankful to the doctors, scientist, nurses, researchers, company and so many essential workers who worked so hard to keep us safe .
George Floyd, an African-American man, died on May 25 after being handcuffed and knelt down on his neck by a white police officer Derek Chauvin for about 8 minutes and 46 seconds. He was alleged for passing a counterfeit $20 bill to a clerk in Minneapolis. The teenager , Darnella Frazier 17, who captured the whole scene of George Floyd killing and shared in social media which sparked a global movement against racial injustice and police brutality in the United States of America. We have seen the Black Lives Matter (BLM) signs almost everywhere and even heard the slogan ‘Defund the police’ which means demilitarize the police and ’Serve and Protect’ the public; this is what the police is meant for.
The new mutated COVID strain detected in the UK in first week of December 2020 which has way higher tramissibility than COVID19 but the initial study revealed that COVID19 vaccine is also effective to this virus and mortality rate may be a lot lower.
The most pronounced words in 2020 are lockdown, social distance, remote, quarantine , zoom, coronavirus, pandemic, etc.
Most of the activities of the people went virtual. That is the reason why Zoom stock surged 425% in 2020.
Elon Musk, founder of TESLA, one of the most talented and prolific entrepreneur of 21st century became 2nd richest man in the world by whopping $140 billion which is the largest wealth gains ever.
Mackenzie Scott, ex wife of the richest man Jeff Bezos, donated $6 billion and emerged as the top philanthropic person in 2020.
We lost very distinguied public figures this year : a very prominent liberal justice of US supreme court Ruth Bader Ginsberg (RBG), the civil rights activist and congressman John Lewis, a very promising actor , a superhero (Black Panther) Chadwik Boseman, the romance king of bollywood Rishi Kapoor , a versatile actor Irfan Khan and a veteran Urdu poet Dr. Rahat Indori .The sucide case of very talented bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput and its controversy revealed very dark side of the film industry like nepotism and illicit drugs consumptions by stars. Nepal lost a prominent mountaineer who climbed Mt Everest 10 times without oxygen Ang Rita Sherpa alias the Snow Leopard.
For the first time, Nepal also measured the height of Mt Everest of its own and announced the new height i.e. 8,848.86 meters, or 29,031.69 feets in collaboration with Chinese surveyors team consensually which is 86 centimeters higher than the previous one.
KP Oli Government of Nepal issued the new political map by incorporating three strategically important areas ( Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura) in June 2020. King Mahendra allowed Indians army to stay in Kalapani during Sino-India war but they never leave Nepals’ territory since then. It could take years to resolve this issue bilaterally.
My home country Nepal called off the ‘Visit Nepal 2020 ‘ campaign due to COVID19. Nepal had aimed at attracting 2 million tourists in 2020 which is almost double of the tourist influx than the previous year. Series of lockdowns , travel restrictions even internally and political turmoils had affected its economy so badly that it may take years and years to overcome such damages.
At the end of the year, prime minster of Nepal, KP Oli dissolved the parliament and called for fresh mandate. It didn’t surprise me at all because I have been watching the power struggle of three vital leaders within the party for years but intensely since April 2020 after KP Oli’s 2nd successful kidney transplant. This situation of KP Oli now reminds me of the then PM of Nepal ,Krishna Prasad Bhattarai aka Kishun Ji (2056BS). ‘History repeats itself for those who refuse to learn form it’. There is a quote, “ Sink with principles or swim with scoundrels.” Kishun Ji chose former one and left the active politics . But KP Oli skipped both options in the quote and chose to fight back one more time against his fierce political rivals. I feel the quote of 15th century political philosopher who wrote the book “The prince” , Niccolo Machiavelli; “The end justifies the means.” It still remains valid.
In 2020, I had to stay in Nepal for almost 11 months due to COVID19. I spent my beautiful time with my family at home in Dharan. Reading books,facebookings, tea-talkings with friends , a brief hiking and playing with kiddos were my daily routine in those days.
In last week of July, my neighbor uncle , Gyan Raj Limbu got sudden cardiac arrest . We took him to BPKISH hospital and a team of doctors tried their best at my request but unfortunately they could not save him. I felt so sad about uncertainty of human life. He just came to Nepal from UK for a very brief vacation but was forced to stay longer due to the pandemic. We used to chitchat through our balconies everyday.
Now, finally we are leaving the worst year 2020 behind and beginning a very hopeful year 2021. January named after the Roman god Janus which is depicted with two faces , one looking into the past and the other into the future. So we should be thankful for surviving through the worst pandemic year and continue to hold onto hope and persevere for brighter and better days ahead. My thought and prayers for those who lost their loved ones in 2020 due to COVID19 .
May this New Year bring you much joy and fun. May you find peace, love, and success. Happy New Year 2021. Thank you!
