Cow beats porn star, India gets stomach trouble

Photo credit: Gabriele Barni

You can hum and haw, but can you wag a tail and say moo? Well, then you have just been pipped to the post. There is no stopping this four-legged wonder that has emerged from its humble shed to surge ahead in the online search race in India, horns and hooves and all! You guessed it, the cow has just been declared personality of the year by search engine Yahoo’s 2015 Year in Review (YIR) report.

It is an obvious reflection of people’s curiosity in the cow that peaked this year after a controversy over beef, which is traditionally shunned by the country’s Hindu majority.

Besides Yahoo, medtech firm Practo also has some fine finds up its sleeve in 2015. Who would have thought that gastroenterology – the branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the stomach – would emerge as the biggest health concern for netizens in India?

The Yahoo search

Photo credit: SEO

To draw up its lists, Yahoo editors analyzed the interest patterns of users – “what they searched for, read, recommended, and shared.” Here’s what they found.

The iPhone 6 may be expensive, but the thought of buying one may be crossing the minds of many Indians as it is the most-searched-for gadget in the Yahoo list. It is followed closely by Apple, Nokia, Windows 10, and Sony Xperia. This category also includes Lenovo A6000, iPhone 5, Intex Mobile, iPhone 6S, and Macbook.

For the fourth year in a row, Canada-born adult film actress Sunny Leone – whose brand of soft porn has many fans in India – is the most-searched-for female celebrity. Bollywood actresses walk all over the list. In second place is Katrina Kaif, followed by Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra. American celebrity Kim Kardashian is the only exception here.

The list for male celebrities is dominated by Salman Khan who makes headlines as much for his movies as for controversies. Singer-rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh comes in next “amid drug addiction rumors and his noticeable absence from the Bollywood music scene.” Sure enough, Shahid Kapoor, Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan, and evergreen Amitabh Bachchan also make it into the list.

There was some heartening news from the top 10 most-searched-for sportspersons list as two women – tennis ace Sania Mirza and badminton champ Saina Nehwal – volleyed their way into it. In cricket-crazy India, cricketers like M.S. Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Sachin Tendulkar, and Chris Gayle hogged the top slots.

The top 10 politician names were yet again led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi this year, followed by his vociferous critic, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Extremist organization ISIS topped the most-searched-for news events, while the fantasy fiction movie Bahubali scored highest among movies and TV shows.

Homegrown brands prevailed over the top 10 bike launches in 2015. Starting with Bajaj Pulsar RS 200, the list featured the Honda Livo, Bajaj Pulsar AS 200, Bajaj Avenger Street/Cruise 220, Mahindra Mojo, and Yamaha YZF-R3.

Cow jumped over the moon

India has stomach troubles