As 2021 draws to a close, and we head into the new year, Eos brings you the definitive guide to what’s hip and trendy and what’s not in politics, society, culture, sports, entertainment, the arts and lifestyles. Do not say you did not have advance warning...

While preparing to ring in the new year, publications around the world usually look back at the outgoing year, while some predict what is in store for the future. But these past couple of years have been anything but normal. As Covid-19 spread across the globe in 2020, all predictions and all plans came crashing down. Our relationship with time changed and days started to merge together.

But if 2020 was the year of the virus taking over and previously unimaginable losses, 2021 was the year when the fog started to lift. The battle against the pandemic continued, but we were (somewhat) wiser, equipped with vaccines and medical knowledge that was previously not available. As we continued facing human losses, successes also started piling up. It was a year of many triumphs. A year of healing. And a year packed with newsworthy developments. Some uplifting, others not so much. Some bizarre, others downright comical — at a time we could all use a good laugh.

And so, as we head into 2022, we focus on the bizarre. Looking back at the outgoing year with our tongues firmly in our cheeks, we bring you a list of what is ‘in’ and what is ‘out’. From the political circus in Pakistan and beyond, to social media faux pas and the self-entitled demanding to enter upscale eateries without masks and vaccines.

The list is by no means exhaustive (we’d run out of pages if we tried to cover every bizarre development), and is, by its nature, subjective.

We hope that you will take it with a grain of salt and remember the importance of laughing at ourselves during these times.

Header: A file photo of a man celebrating new years in Karachi

Published in Dawn, EOS, December 26th, 2021