At the Jaipur Literary Festival a sudden controversy was created and Salman Rushdie was not allowed to visit India despite the fact that he had been coming here for many years. Even Iran has moved on with The Satanic Verses controversy. On the other hand, Kargil architect and former Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf, a pariah in his own land, was welcomed with open arms by TV news channels and a prominent newspaper summit.

Sporting contradiction of the year: Olympics

At the beginning of the year, Indian sportspersons did India proud by winning a record six medals at the London Olympics. While many started talking of an Indian sports revival, by the end of the year, the IOC suspended the Indian Olympic Association. Ouch!

Dud of the year: Rahul Gandhi

The Congress kept trumpeting the fact that heir apparent Rahul would assume a larger leadership role. Would he become a cabinet minister? Would he become working president? That never happened and he kept shuttling from one bad speech to another with nothing to show for it at the end.

Text: Sunil Rajguru

Images: Agencies

Image: A file photo of Salman Rushdie.