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

From fun viral videos and celebration of Indian sporting glory to moments that made us shake our heads in wonder – the year 2024 had all of this and more to offer on Indian social media.

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

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.

Over the next few months, Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and Justin Bieber performed at different events leading up to the wedding.

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

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

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

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

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

“I was not aware of it at all. I thought that 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 hamlet 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.

The young girl’s video, originally shared 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 action was “smooth, effortless, and lovely to watch!” He also said Meena had “shades of” former India bowler Zahir Khan.

Khan promptly agreed. Several former cricketers have now come forward to help her realise her dream of playing 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 former 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 competition with an intensity usually reserved for major cricket tournaments.

Fans began celebrating after a blunder by Liren paved the way for Dommaraju’s win.

The teenager burst into tears as his win was announced and the room erupted with cheers.

The 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 determines the rates at which various products are taxed.

Earlier this month, the council announced that non-branded popcorn that was mixed with salt and spices would be taxed at 5% but caramel popcorn, which it categorised as a sugar confectionery, would attract an 18% tax.

India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman explained that the presence of added sugar made caramel popcorn a “mithai” or confectionery, hence attracting tax under a different category than regular popcorn.

The decision had Indians up in arms, sparking a range of memes and criticism online.

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

Instagram influencer and celebrity popularly known as Orry commented that caramel popcorn was injurious to “financial health”.

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