2021 had its share of highs and lows, but what we’re choosing to focus on as the year comes to a close are the Indians who broke barriers and reached significant milestones in their chosen fields. From award-winning graphic novels to sporting glory and the brief window of time where the president of the United States was a woman of Indian origin, here is a round-up of landmark moments that should leave you feeling proud of the individuals that represented us so well—and hopeful that 2022 will lead to bigger and better things.

Indian illustrator Anand Radhakrishnan won an Eisner Award for the graphic novel Blue in Green

Widely known as the ‘Oscars of the comic world,’ this year’s Will Eisner Comic Industry Award in the Best Painter/Multimedia Artist category was bagged by 32-year-old Anand Radhakrishnan for his work on British author Ram V’s graphic novel, Blue in Green. The horror-themed visual narrative presents a dark and haunting portrayal of a young musician’s quest for creative genius that threatens to consume him—which Radhakrishnan describes as “jazz meets horror”. His artwork for the book involved a mixed media approach with graphite, ink and acrylic making the skeletal system and digital colour over it. Radhakrishnan shared the award with UK-based colourist John Pearson.

Sirisha Bandla became the second Indian-born woman to go into space

Andhra Pradesh native Sirisha Bandla was among six passengers on the Unity 22 spaceflight in July 2021, a historic feat—not only because Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is the world’s first fully-crewed suborbital test flight, but also because Bandla, an aeronautical engineer, is only the second Indian-born woman to have gone into space. The first was Kalpana Chawla, of whom Bandla said, “I saw in her an exceptional Indian woman doing something I wanted to do,” in a cover interview for Vogue.

Harnaaz Sandhu was crowned Miss Universe

21 years after Lara Dutta’s win in 2000, Harnaaz Sandhu brought the Miss Universe crown back to India. The 21-year-old from Chandigarh is also an advocate for women’s rights and empowerment, and has worked with her gynaecologist mother to spread awareness about women’s hygiene at health camps across the country.

Kamala Harris had a brief taste of the U.S. presidency

Before heading to a medical check-up that involved sedation, American president Joe Biden transferred presidential powers to Kamala Harris in case of any complications or a worst-case scenario. Although temporary and notional, Harris—owing to her multicultural parentage—became the first-ever woman and the first African-American and Indian-American woman to hold the seat of presidential power in the United States. As Vice President, she is also the first woman to hold the second-highest position of power in the country.

Indian documentary Writing With Fire made the 2022 Oscar shortlist for Best Documentary Feature

Delhi-based filmmakers Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh made a documentary that chronicles Dalit women-run newspaper Khabar Lahariya’s ascent as it takes the leap from print to digital. Titled Writing With Fire, the documentary won a slew of awards—including the Special Jury (Impact for Change) and Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival—before being nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2022 Academy Awards, set to take place in February next year.

Sunjeev Sahota was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize for Fiction

The British-Indian author’s novel, China Room, was among 13 titles longlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize, alongside authors like Nobel Prize-winner Kazuo Ishiguro and Pultizer prize-winner Richard Powers. The semi-autobiographical book is about three women who are married off to three brothers without any clue of their identity, their acquaintance only limited to conjugal visits in the dark of the night, until one of the sisters grows desperate to know more about her husband. Sahota was previously on this list in 2015 for his book, The Year of the Runaways.

India bagged three nominations at the International Emmy Awards

While the Primetime Emmys have been famously criticised for predominantly choosing White winners, its international counterpart, which held its first ceremony in 1973, has evolved to become a more inclusive and diverse platform spotlighting talent outside of the U.S. The nominations for this year’s International Emmys included comedian Vir Das for his Netflix stand-up comedy special, Vir Das: For India, actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the Best Performance by an Actor category for his role in Sudhir Mishra’s Serious Men adapted from Manu Joseph’s book of the same name and Ram Madhvani’s crime drama web series, Aarya, on Disney+ Hotstar for Best Drama.

Indian composer Ricky Kej was nominated for a Grammy

Indian composer and Grammy winner Ricky Kej was nominated for another Grammy award, this time for his album Divine Tides, with Stewart Copeland of rock band The Police. Kej won his first Grammy for his album Winds of Samsara, which debuted at number one on the US Billboard New Age Albums chart in 2015. Divine Tides is an ode to the natural world and the resilience of humankind and features nine songs and eight music videos, shot in places as diverse as the Himalayas and the forests of Spain. The winners will be announced at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards in January 2022.