Desmond Tutu once commented on the diverse culture of India. He stated, “We are made for goodness. We are made for love. We are made for friendliness. We are made for togetherness. We are made for all of the beautiful things that you and I know. We are made to tell the world that there are no outsiders. All are welcome: black, white, red, yellow, rich, poor, educated, not educated, male, female, gay, straight, all, all, all. We all belong to this family, this human family, God’s family.”
From then on, the quote has been over utilised and used almost everywhere. However, apart from the diversity and variedness the country provides, there also are a few features that might take you by surprise.
In today’s article, we would be looking into 25 lesser-known facts about India that might take you by surprise.
- Floating Post Office
In 2011, a floating post office was inaugurated at Dal Lake, Srinagar. It was one of its kind and the first floating post office of India. Soon after it also changed over to a tourist attraction. India is still known for its postal service with 1, 55,015 post offices which put it as the most widely spread network in the world. If the equation is brought out, a single post office serves around 7,175 customers.
- Kumbh Mela View
Kumbh Mela is one of the biggest and largest pilgrim destination over the world. Monks, pilgrims, devotees and people from all over come to this Mela that is considered to be held on an extremely auspicious day and brings about purity and washes away sins. The gathering, however, crossed the threshold in the year 2011, when around 75 million people swarmed in. The crowd space was so large that it is said to have been witnessed from space as well.
- State Of Monsoon
Mawsynram, a small village located in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya is not only the cleanest place but also the wettest place on earth. This state has a record of the highest recorded rainfall in the year 1861 and continues till now. During the season of rain, this place is continually under showers and drizzles, but situations do not turn better even at the arrival of other seasons.
- Bandra Worli Sealink has steel wires equivalent to Earth’s circumference.
Bandra- Worli Sealink is known to have as many steel wires that would be required to measure the earth’s circumference. It is also said to weigh as much as 50,000 elephants and took around 2,57,00,000 man-hours to be completed. The architectural genius behind this masterpiece is impeccable.
- Highest Cricket Ground Of The World
In the year 1893, the world’s highest cricket ground was constructed as part of the Chail Military School. The cricket ground fro Himachal Pradesh stands at a high altitude of 2,444 meters from the ground and continues being the highest ever constructed.
- Shampoo: Indian Derevative
The concept of washing one’s hair was invented by Indians itself. In earlier terms, the process of massaging the hair roots with specialised herbs used to strengthen the quality of the hair. This process was referred to as ‘champu’ in Sanskriti. Soon after, the entire idea shifted to washing your hair with a soap-based liquid to get rid of the dirt and dust.
- All-Time Winners
The Indian team for both girls and boys till now have won every single final match ever held for the “Kabaddi World Cup”. The boys’ team have won 5 of the world cups by now and remain undefeated yet. The team is yet to have the title taken away from them.
- Moon Water
The fact that India was the one to discover water on the land of the moon is not known to many. This was discovered by ISRO Chandrayaan- 1 in the year 2009. The team had devised a Moon Mineralogy mapping technique that made it extremely easy to spot the presence of water.
- APJ Abdul Kalam Day
The father and man behind the Indian missile program and the ex-president of India were not only famous in our country. In the year 2006, the man of unmatched parallel visited Switzerland. Following this, the nation swiftly declared the same day, which is 26th May as Science Day.
- Salary Of India’s First President
Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first President of Indian was nominated and elected to the post in the year 1950. He was elected on 26 January (Republic Day), the day after his sister passed away. However, the man of virtues was known to accept only 50% share of his salary just because he did not need more to live by. With time and his tenure ending after a service of 12 years, he started accepting 25% of the same. His salary back then was amounted Rs. 10,000 only.
- First Rocket Transportation
The first rocket that was devised and invented in Indian amounted to weight so light that it was transported just on a two-wheeler. The bicycle that carried the rocket, parcelled it off at Thiruvanthapuram’s launching station in Thumba.
- Spa For Animals
The Punnathoor Cotta Elephant Yard Rejuvenation Centre in Kerala is the only one in India that provides the service of spa for elephants. After a hectic month or week, elephants can be put to the centre to get baths, massages, food and basic relaxation. And, that is how you take care of your baby elephants.
- Second Largest English Speaking Country
According to the census and stats that were derived, India stands in the second position after the US to be speaking English. Around 125 million speak the language fluently, which makes up only for a 10% population. The entire scenario is to increase by a huge gap in the coming years.
- Largest Vegetarian Country
India has always been known for its virtues, values, traditions and religion. May it be because of the reasons cited, or something else, India remains as the largest country to be actively vegetarian. It is amounted to about 20-40% of Indians as a pure vegetarian.
- Largest Producer Of Milk
As per the reports published by UN Food and Agricultural Organization, India stands as the largest producer of milk. In the year 2018, Indian surpassed all other countries with a production of 186.1 million tons thereby crossing the European Union.
- First To Consume Sugar
India is a country that can almost be synonymous to dessert due to its wide variety and production of ‘mithais’. Thus, you should not be surprised to know that we were among the first to start the consumption of sugar. The entire process of cultivation, extraction, purification and refining was chalked out by us. This was later learnt by other countries in time.
- Human Calculator
Shakuntala Devi, a woman with a calculator for a mind, was given the title of ‘human calculator’ when she was able to calculate multiplication of two 13 digit numbers correctly in a frame of 28 seconds . The numbers were picked at random and stood as :7,686,369,774,870 × 2,465,099,745,779.
- The writer of Two National Anthems
Rabindranath Tagore, a poet, writer, philosopher, singer-songwriter, composer- a harbour of talent is known for writing the Indian National Anthem- ‘Jana-Gana-Mana’. However, he also was the writer of Bangladesh’s National Anthem- ‘Amar Sonar Bangla’. The man who gave a new meaning to Bengali literature was also offered a knighthood by the British. He, however, declined the offer as a show of protest in regards to the Jalianwala- Bagh massacre.
- Dhyan Chand- Wizard of Hockey
In 1936 Berlin Olympics, after Dhyan Chand, master of hockey defeated Germans by a score of 8-1, was called by Hitler. Following that he was offered full citizenship, a post in the military and a chance to play for the nationals from their end. But, even after such opportunities were placed in front of him, Dhyan Chand declined the offer.
- Of Indian Descent
Legendary rock singer Freddie Mercury of the band ‘Queen’ who rocked the world with his voice took birth as a Parsi with the name Farrokh Bulsara. Similarly, Krishna Pandit Bhanji is none other than the heroic Hollywood Oscar winner Ben Kingsley.
- Saare Jahan Se Accha
The famous patriotic song was given a new meaning when Indira Gandhi asked the first Indian in space, Rakesh Sharma how does India look from the space. His reply was, “Saare Jahan Se Accha”.
- Havells is an Indian brand
The multi-billion electrical goods company was originally an Indian invention by Haveli Ram Gupta. The company however was brought out for a sum of Rs 10 lakh. The name, however, was not changed and is kept as per the records.
- Diamond Production
Not known to many, the diamond was first found in Guntur and Krishna District of the Krishna River Delta alongside the alluvial deposits. This was the main centre for diamond production until Brazil found something similar in the 18th century. India thereby led the production till then.
- Single Polling Booth
India surely is a land of diversity and uniqueness. Mahant Bharatdas Darshandas, the only resident of Banej in Giri Forest has a special single booth set up for him every year since 2004, where he is able to vote.
- Karma Turned Game
Moksha Patamu earlier used to be a board game that was generally played with the motive to teach children the base of Karma. However, later on, it soon was commercialised and turned to a game of call and chase, Snakes and Ladders. However, it did originate in India.