MMXVI

2016 – MMXVI. A year like no other before. And we've had an extra 24 hours to digest it, thanks to the leap year.

There are unexpected high profile splits – Brangelina and Brexit.

We lose Prince, but the Prince of Nigeria still keeps emailing me about millions. We lose Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and we get Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, while in the Philippines we get Rogue President: A Drug War Story. Speaking of the Philippines, hey, where's our dough?

Glenn Frey of The Eagles is Taking it Easy at the Pearly Gates. David Bowie will no longer be Dancing in the Street. Surprisingly, the ever-cadaverous Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones has been found alive (these are not my words) and not only that, the Stones are out this very year with their new album Blue and Lonesome. The name perhaps reflects the demise of so many stars this year.

George Michael lives his Last Christmas, while heightened security on Christmas Day has Dhaka's posh hotels sporting formidable security guards in red elf caps. How seriously would one take them if they came charging with batons?

Many of these legends first came to us through the VCR (video cassette recorder, remember?), the final one of which having being manufactured this very year by Funai (remember?) of Japan.

Moving on to DVDs, we no longer have Alan Rickman – perhaps Severus Snapes could have stopped all wars with the flip of his magic wand.

It is goodbye to Fidel Castro who defied 10 US Presidents (11 if including Obama). His famous words: "If surviving assassination attempts were an Olympic event, I would win the gold medal."

There is double double pain at the loss of Zsa Zsa Gabor and Butros Butros Gali.

We lose Shimon Perez, who at least tried to give peace a chance, and we are left with Benjamin Netanyahu, who is trying to piece together settlements.

Speaking of The Right Stuff, we go into space – astronaut turned Senator John Glenn is no more, N. Korea gets a slap on the wrist for defying gravity while NASA's Juno spacecraft enters orbit around Jupiter.

Competing with detonations all over the world (and a bonanza for the armaments industry), Samsung Note 7 explodes.

Radovan Karadzic thanks his lucky stars he is not in Bangladesh as he gets a mere 40 years for genocide.

Geography, with the ink of blood, teaches us of places such as Aleppo, Mosul, Rakhine while refreshes our knowledge of Brussels, Paris, Orlando, Lahore, Istanbul…and Dhaka as Bangladesh changes forever on July 1. Oh, there is the hungry Mediterranean, devouring not only fleeing refugees, but Egypt Air flight 804.

There's the Summer Olympics in Brazil followed by the winter mayhem with the US Presidential Elections, which I have to say, takes the cake for 2016. Just like the Zika outbreak of this year, Mr. Trump unleashes the outbreak of stubborn intolerance. It's a blessing in disguise that Muhammad Ali leaves us this year, as his passport, along with those of all bearing the same first name, would be in Trump's cross hairs.

By way of Melania Trump, there is the story of the naturalised US citizen making it to the White House. Arnold Swarzenegger, here's one way YOU could've had your dream of moving in to the White House come true – be married to someone who's on his way there. Maria Shriver (don't forget, she's a Kennedy), may perhaps have been a far better candidate than Hillary Clinton. But no, you couldn't keep your hands off your housekeeper Mildred Baena.

Melania Trump, a stark contrast to her pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-predecessor, Nancy Reagan, who also left the cruel world in 2016, not having to endure the painful fall of the legacy of the First Lady.

Speaking of women, Naraynganj gives Bangladesh its own Ivy League while France unveils its plans on the veil.

As we start the final countdown to usher in 2017, we hope for more positive than negative changes. One such change is for sure to happen – the White House, along with a Press Secretary, will also have a Tweet Secretary.

The writer is an engineer at Ford & Qualcomm USA and CEO of IBM & Nokia Siemens Networks Bangladesh turned comedian (by choice), the host of ABC Radio's Good Morning Bangladesh and the founder of Naveed's Comedy Club.

E-mail: naveed@naveedmahbub.com