John Pereira (26) a software engineer say one of the most crucial events of the year was, “the end of the war; this was one of the major events that happened this decade. Although the end of the war was most keenly felt on a local scope, this was - and still is a topic of discussion around the whole world. A person just needs to go out at night and see the throngs of people in public parks and what not to see the change this event has bought upon the country.”
Adding to his list he includes the rapid growth of the internet. “This is not just about the WWW,
but the explosion of Internet enabled devices and the new technologies that are being pushed
out to make the world a much smaller and its information more accessible.
Technologies that are
decades old are being pushed to the limit to keep up with the world’s demand for information. New technologies, like IPv6, are currently in limited testing and promise to remove these limitations and pave the way for next generation solutions.”
Also on his list of important events is Web 2.0 and Social Internet. “The rapid growth; and
sometimes rapid decline, of sites like Facebook and Twitter have bought the social media to
the masses. Massive adoption rates and unique and addictive feature sets have put social sites
front and centre of most people.
While the productivity sapping possibilities of these sites are well
documented, the sheer ability to bring people together for some purpose is undeniable. This is
especially visible on the micro blogging site Twitter where trending topics indicate what the people are actually talking about.”
He goes on to include the US led War on Terror, saying “while the bio weapons Saddam Hussein are yet to appear, this war (and to a certain extent the invasion of Afghanistan) and the war on terror has had many ramifications.
He also includes the tsunami that struck earlier this decade. “The worst natural disaster to have struck Sri Lanka in recent memory, the tsunami displaced more than half a million people and killed over thirty thousand people.”
Fahad Farook (25) lists out his ‘top of the decade’ events as –Dexter, Bones, House, The Dark Knight, Californication, Misfits, The Wire, Firefly, Fringe, Burgers King- Slave Island, Obama, the theory that a freak wind and not God parted the red sea, The large hadron collider, Avatar the last airbender animated series, Downloadable TV shows, concept art and the possibility of a voltron movie, Iron Man, The American idiot album, Led Zeppelin reunion concert, Murali’s 800 wickets and ‘How I met your mother’.
Writer Archana Balasingham (29) has a fewer events that made it into her list of events of the decade. “The ending of the war in Sri Lanka, computers and internet coming in for mainstream use, Facebook, Youtube and Blogging - not sure whether all these were this decade though - rather 90s weren’t they?”, adding “and the coolest, most charismatic president of the US ever; Obama! I keep hoping that he won’t turn out like JFK.”
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Social media being considered one of the most important things of the decade, Kasun Katuwawala (26) places it on the top of his list. “Social media is the single most eventful thing to have happened in the last decade it changed the way individuals, businesses, corporations and political leaders communicated and interact with each other”.
“Then there was 9/11which subsequently led to the War on Terror, and also the Iraq War,
which had a direct impact on world affairs. Also the economic meltdown towards the latter part of
the decade, the election of Obama, the December 2004 tsunami, the Haiti earthquake and advances in ICT. The internet has now become a global phenomenon that has made the world an incredibly small place”.
“Not to mention the Harry Potter series,” he adds, “and a boost in the fantasy genre that
re-introduced the virtues of reading to a world that was fast losing interest in reading terrorist
attacks all over the world. The end of the war in Sri Lanka, India and China’s emergence as global superpowers.”
Medical Student Heba Husain (22) tops her list with, ‘Supernatural’! And how the concept of corn-fed red-necked American boys, wearing leather jackets n flannel shirts and driving around in classic cars listening to classic mullet rock has gotten cool again. Oh wait, was it always cool”?
Unsure about her last listing she goes on to say, “Potter 7, the book; An end of an era, us growing up with potter all that. Being all excited for the first African American president although it affects
us in no way at all. Show me the first gay president for the states and I’ll cheer for you”.
“Sponge Bob Squarepants! The sheer ingeniousness of an optimistic square sponge working as a fry cook and annoying a nasal voiced squid. And an evil master mind Plankton, Sparkly vampires who worry about souls; could resist!. The end of the war was also on her list. Adding “wasn’t there a super cool quote about Sri Lanka and terrorism in the wall street journal? Something along the lines of “if any one says terrorism can’t be stopped, I have two words for you. Sri Lanka.”
“Justin Beiber” she laughs ending her list. “I’m quite fond of that boy. He needs a haircut though.”
She ends emphatically with “Adam Lambert! How can I forget the man who made man-liner cool?”
Going by the comments the ending of the war in Sri Lanka, the electing of Obama as
President of the USA and the burgeoning of social media networks are what stand out when
looking back at the decade.
The next decade 2020 seems promising and approaches with a hint of impending doom as well. If the Mayan Calendar has predicted accurately, 2012 will be the end of the world; but let’s not get too hasty. Happy new decade folks!
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