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

From hilarious viral videos and celebrations of Indian sporting glory to moments that left us shaking our heads in amazement, 2024 had all this and more on Indian social media.

Here are some of the most memorable moments that we have selected for you.

Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani and his family have fascinated the world for several months rich celebrations at his son Anant’s wedding.

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

Over the next few months, the Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and Justin Bieber performed at various pre-wedding events.

Among the guests were Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, Bill Gates, Kim Kardashian, actor John Cena, former prime ministers of Great Britain Tony Blair and Boris Johnson, Samsung chairman Jay Lee and Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan among hundreds of others.

Dolly Chaiwala, a tea seller from the state of Maharashtra, has gone viral on the internet after serving a cup of tea to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

The tea seller was already known for his vibrant social media presence and unique style of serving tea.

Gates video currently has over 176 million views on his official Instagram page.

“In India you can find innovation everywhere – even in making a simple cup of tea,” he wrote.

Dolly Chaiwala later told news agency ANI that she did not know she was serving tea to the tech billionaire.

“I didn’t know about it at all. I thought he was a guy from a foreign country and I had to serve him tea,” he said.

Sushila Meena, a 10-year-old girl from the small tribal village of Ramer Talab in the northern state of Rajasthan, went viral on social media this month after cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar shared a video of her bowling on X, formerly Twitter.

A video of the young girl, originally posted on Instagram by her school teacher, showed her bowling in slow motion on a makeshift cricket pitch in her village.

Tendulkar shared the video, commenting that her bowling was “smooth, easy and a joy to watch!” He also said that Meena has “shades” of former Indian bowler Zaheer Khan.

Khan immediately agreed. Several former cricketers have now come forward to help her fulfill her dream of playing for India.

India is celebrated as Gukesh Damaraju defeated China’s Ding Liren will become the youngest world chess champion this month.

Dommarjou, 18, is four years younger than the former record holder, Russian grandmaster Garry Kasparov, who was 22 when he won the title in 1985.

The Indians followed the 14-game World Cup contest with the intensity common to major cricket tournaments.

The fans began to celebrate after Liren’s blunder paved the way for Dommaraju’s victory.

The teenager broke down in tears when his winnings were announced, and the hall erupted into a standing ovation.

A video of his tearful reaction quickly went viral on social media.

Is caramel popcorn just like any other popcorn? No, argued India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, which sets the rates at which various goods are taxed.

Earlier this month, the council announced that unbranded popcorn mixed with salt and spices would be taxed at 5%, but caramel popcorn, which it classifies as a sugar confectionery, would be taxed at 18%.

India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman explained that the presence of added sugar makes caramel popcorn a “mita” or confectionery, thus attracting tax in a different category than regular popcorn.

The decision infuriated the Indians, sparking a series of memes and criticism online.

“Our country’s tax system has really changed, popcorn has become the gold standard of luxury,” wrote one user on X.

An Instagram influencer and celebrity known as Ori commented that caramel popcorn is bad for “financial health.”

Jairam Ramesh, a spokesman for the main opposition Congress party, said the “absurdity of three different tax slabs for popcorn under the GST… only brings to light a deeper problem: the growing complexity of a system that was supposed to be good and simple. Tax.”