Local
Puja at Animikha: Durga puja at New Town’s Animikha Abasan began in 2005. The Animikha Sanjari Welfare Association, comprising about 30 families settled in the C and D high-income blocks, held their first puja in the garage of D Block. The other group, Animikha Cooperative Housing Society, comprising A and B blocks, also started their puja in the same year.
Places
Swaminarayan Akshardham: A massive temple complex, dedicated to Swaminarayan, opened in November 2005 in New Delhi. A marvel of traditional architecture, the temple was built from Rajasthani pink sandstone and Italian carrara marble, without any ferrous metals.
Hong Kong Disneyland: The fifth Disney resort worldwide and the second in Asia after Tokyo, opened doors in September 2005. The amusement park became a runaway hit.
Technology
YouTube: The world’s most popular video-sharing platform was founded on February 14, 2005 by Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, and Steve Chen, all former employees of PayPal. The first uploaded video was “Me at the zoo,” a 19-second footage of Karim, a software engineer of Bangladeshi-German descent, at San Diego Zoo.
Google Maps: The service, that has now become indispensable in modern travel and navigation, was launched by Google in February. Initially conceived by two Danish brothers, Lars and Jens Rasmussen, it was acquired by Google and transformed from a desktop application into a web-based service providing turn-by-turn directions, real-time traffic updates etc.
Xbox 360: Microsoft released its second-generation video game console Xbox 360, in November 2005. Meant to rival Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii, it was a major event in the gaming world and significantly popularised online console gaming through Xbox Live, which became a social hub for players.
Reddit: University of Virginia roommates Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian founded Reddit in June 2005. It was built with the idea of being the “front page of the internet,” where content would be curated by the community itself. It has since grown into a massive collection of diverse communities that discuss news, hobbies, influences, stock markets, launches viral trends etc.
iPod nano and iPod shuffle: Apple introduced the iPod nano and iPod shuffle in 2005, expanding its hugely successful line of music players. The nano was a sleek device that miniaturised the iPod experience, and the shuffle was even more minimalist, completely lacking a screen and relying on a single “shuffle” button, making it an affordable entry point into the iPod ecosystem.
MicroSD: The MicroSD was the smallest memory card format of its time, launched by SanDisk in 2005. It was designed specifically for use in mobile phones, which were becoming more powerful and required external storage. The MicroSD card was revolutionary for its time, and enabled the widespread adoption of smartphones with removable storage, allowing users to store thousands of photos and videos.
Books
Twilight: Stephenie Meyer’s first novel, Twilight, was published in 2005. The book, about a teenage girl who falls in love with a vampire, blended fantasy, romance, and supernatural elements and resonated with a young adult audience. It became a literary and cultural phenomenon, launching a series that sold over 100 million copies, was turned into a film franchise, and helped revive the vampire and young adult romance genres.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: This was the first novel in the Millennium series by Swedish author Stieg Larsson. It introduces the reader to a journalist and a, brilliant but troubled, computer hacker Lisbeth Salander investigating the disappearance of a wealthy girl. Its complex plot and dark themes became a bestseller, was spun into a hit film starring Daniel Craig and popularised Nordic noir (a genre of crime fiction and drama from Scandinavia).
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: The sixth and second-last book in the series explored the antagonist Voldemort’s early life and chronicled Harry’s preparations for the final battle against him. Out in July, J.K. Rowling’s book sold some seven million copies in the first 24 hours alone, a record broken only by its sequel two years later.
Entertainment
Parineeta: Bollywood film Parineeta was released in 2005. Made under the Vidhu Vinod Chopra banner, this was the first Hindi film by Vidya Balan, who has gone on to establish herself as a competent actor thereafter. Based on the 1914 Bengali novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, the film also starred Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt, and is especially remembered for its melodious songs like Piyu bole, composed by Shantanu Moitra.
Batman Begins: The film, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale, was released in 2005. Based on the DC Comics character, it explored dark, psychological themes, redefining the superhero genre with its gritty, character-driven narrative. A critical and commercial success, it grossed over $370 million and launched Nolan’s acclaimed Dark Knight trilogy.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Released in November 2005, this film was considered the bridge between the children’s fantasy series to a darker narrative that included the death of a beloved character at the end of the Triwizard Tournament. The film became the highest-grossing one of the year.
How I Met Your Mother: This sitcom premiered in September 2005 on CBS. Centred on Ted Mosby narrating, in 2030, how he met his children’s mother, the show developed a massive fanbase, with viewers speculating about the mother’s identity. Its popularity endures, with ongoing discussions about its storytelling and conclusion.
Policy
The Kyoto Protocol: This international treaty aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions came into effect in 2005. The treaty was born out of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and set binding targets for industrialised nations to reduce their emissions, though it did not include major emitters like the US.
Space
Dwarf planet Eris: A large dwarf planet was discovered in the solar system by a team from California Institute of Technology. Its discovery led to the reclassification of Pluto from the ninth planet to a dwarf planet in 2006.
Huygens Probe: Developed by the European Space Agency, this spacecraft landed on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, and provided the first images and data from its surface.
Deep Impact: NASA’s Deep Impact mission sent a probe to intentionally collide with a comet to study its composition by analysing the debris ejected from the impact.
