Chai with Bill Gates, Ambani wedding, chess glory and other 2024 viral moments from India

The time 2024 had everything and more on Indian social media, from entertaining viral videos and celebrations of Indian having accomplishments to shockingly funny moments.

We’ve chosen some of the most memorable times to include in your memory.

Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani and his family kept the world captivated for several months with opulent celebrations for his son Anant’s wedding.

The extravaganza first caught people’s eye in March when some of the world’s most influential people started arriving in India to attend a pre-wedding event. The star of that show was pop star Rihanna, whose performance at the event was her first in India.

Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry, Andrea Bocelli, and Justin Bieber gave performances at various events leading up to the wedding over the course of the next few weeks.

Guests included Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, Bill Gates, Kim Kardashian, actor John Cena, former British prime ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson, Samsung chairman Jay Y Lee and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan among hundreds of others.

Dolly Chaiwala, a drink vendor from the state of Maharashtra, found himself going popular online after he served a cup of tea to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

The tea trader’s colorful social media presence and distinctive way of serving tea were already well-known.

Gates’s video of the moment has more than 176m views on his official Instagram page.

He wrote,” In India, you can find technology everywhere you turn, even in the making of a straightforward cup of tea.”

Dolly Chaiwala after told news agency ANI he didn’t know he’d served drink to the tech billionaire.

” I was not at all conscious of it. I believed he was a man from a foreign nation, and I had to give him tea, he said.

Sushila Meena, a 10-year-old lady from the small cultural community of Ramer Talab in Rajasthan’s northern state, went viral on social media this fortnight after Sachin Tendulkar posted a picture of her bowling on X, originally Online.

The young woman’s picture, which was first posted by her college professor on Instagram, depicts her playing bowling on a wooden baseball field in her village in slow motion.

Tendulkar shared the film, commenting that her ball action was” soft, smooth, and attractive to watch”! He added that Meena had” colors of” past India bowling Zahir Khan.

Khan quickly agreed. Numerous original cricketers have now stepped up to assist her in realizing her desire to play for India.

India celebrated as Gukesh Dommaraju defeated China’s Ding Liren this month to become the youngest-ever world chess champion.

Dommaraju, 18, is four years younger than the original record-holder, Russian grand-master Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he won the title in 1985.

Indians had been following the 14-game World Championship rivals with a typically high level of intensity.

After Liren’s error opened the door for Dommaraju’s victory, supporters began to cheer.

As his earn was announced, the girl cried as the room erupted in cheers.

His sad reaction’s video quickly became popular online.

Is chocolate popcorn the same as any other types of snack? The Goods and Services Tax ( GST ) Council in India, which sets the rates for various products, argued against this.

Earlier this month, the government announced that non-branded snack that was mingled with salt and flavors may be taxed at 5 % but toffee popcorn, which it categorised as a sugar biscuits, would attract an 18 % income.

According to Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s finance minister, caramel popcorn was deemed a “mithai” or confectionery because of the addition of added sugar, which caused tax to be levied on it.

Indians were enraged by the decision, which sparked a number of online memes and criticism.

” Our country’s tax system has truly evolved, popcorn is now the gold standard of luxury”, one user wrote on X.

Orry, an Instagram influencer and popularly known as Orry, claimed that caramel popcorn had a negative impact on “financial health.”

The absurdity of three different tax slabs for popcorn under GST, according to Jairam Ramesh, a spokesman for the main opposition Congress party, only highlights the growing complexity of a system that was meant to be a” Good and Simple Tax.”