Creative Producer: Kunal Mehra
From Coronavirus and IPL to Kim Jong-un and Kanika Kapoor, 2020 Google trends in India have been a mix of the expected and propelled by need while some have been unexpected and weird. It's been a hard year, and as we near its end, let's take a look at what we have searched for, coping with a pandemic and lockdowns.
Starting with what was searched the most. One would expect it to be “coronavirus” or “vaccine” or “how to wear a mask”, but surprise, surprise...pandemic or no pandemic, nothing seems more important than the Indian Premier League (IPL). Also, among the most trending were “coronavirus” at number two, the “US Presidential elections”, “PM Kisan Yojana” and the “Bihar election results”.
Meanwhile, stuck in a lockdown and without too much help around, there was also a surge in the search for recipes; "How to make paneer" and "How to make Dalgona Coffee" were among the most searched "Hows" on Google.
Whereas, in the "What" section, "What is coronavirus" topped the list, for obvious reasons, but at the second place was, "What is Binod". Remember Binod? The random troll that became an internet sensation, inspiring memes and brands alike? Told you, this year has been weird!
In the most trending personality section, it was surprisingly Joe Biden who took the first spot, not Kamala Harris, who doesn't even feature in the top five. In second place, it was Arnab Goswami – and the nation really does know why this time. Also on the list, Kanika Kapoor, Kim Jong-un and Amitabh Bachchan. We were truly having a dystopian year.
“Dil Bechara”, Sushant Singh Rajput's last film, released posthumously, was the most trending movie of 2020. Also on the list were “Soorarai Pottru”, “Tanhaji”, “Shakuntala Devi” and “Gunjan Saxena”.
Among the OTTs, “Money Heist” and “Scam 1992” beat favourites like “Big Boss”, “Mirzapur 2” and “Paatal Lok”.
But the most heartening trend – the one that truly matters and that we hope continues well into 2021 – is kindness. People searched for food and night shelters near them, to help those who were worst-affected by the pandemic.
It's been a tough year, we have lost loved ones, millions have been left without a livelihood, but at the same time, frontline warriors have been working non-stop to keep us safe, scientists have raced against time to beat all odds to develop a vaccine.
It finally seems like we have reached the beginning of the end of the pandemic. And trend or no trend, we hope we can all go into 2021 with a little bit of more resilience, love, empathy and hope.
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