India’s viral moments over the year gone by offer more than a light-hearted rewind of what trended online. Taken together, they reveal how the country now performs, negotiates, and asserts its identity in a hyper-connected public sphere where national confidence is increasingly shaped by visibility rather than validation. Consider the rapturous response to Shah Rukh Khan making his debut at a global fashion event. The excitement was not simply about celebrity glamour. It reflected a long-simmering belief that Indian cultural icons no longer need to wait for permission or timing to be deemed “global”.

The reaction online carried a tone of inevitability rather than surprise – an assertion that such recognition was overdue, not aspirational. A similar sentiment surrounded India’s triumph at the Women’s Cricket World Cup under Harmanpreet Kaur. The victory was celebrated not as a feel-good underdog story but as a corrective moment. For decades, women’s sport in India........

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