The Great Indian Heros

Dashrath Manjhi of Gehlaur village near Gaya in Bihar spent most of his life carving a path through a mountain, armed with just a hammer and chisel.

A file photo of Dashrath Manjhi, the Mountain Man of Bihar

In West Bengal, a little boy set up a school where the syllabus was whatever he had learned in school that day.

A free school set up by 9-yr-old Babar Ali.

Starting with a drop, to save millions of litres

In Mumbai, an 80-year-old spends his Sunday mornings fixing leaking taps and ends up saving 3 million litres of water.

For eight years, Aabid Surti has spent Sunday mornings going door to door, fixing leaking taps for free with the help of a plumber and a pocket full of washers.

Beating drugs with a workout

In Manipur, a fitness trainer uses workouts, meditation and counselling to keep youngsters off drugs.

RK Viswajit (in white Tshirt)

Fixing the roads, one pothole at a time

In Hyderabad, a retired civil engineer decides to fix his street's potholes himself and has since filled up 1,100.

Gangadhara Katnam fills potholes.

  

In West Bengal, a little girl broke boundaries with a football team.

Bhabani Munda

The Real Hero Bhawani Munda and her team Dooars XI football team of dooars.

Palash Muchhal is the youngest music composer/director in Bollywood (India) at 18. He has recently entered his name in golden book of world records as the youngest music composer of Bollywood.

Palak Muchhal performs stage shows across India and abroad to raise funds for the poor children who need financial assistance for the medical treatment of heart diseases. As of August 2015, she has raised funds through her charity show which has helped to save lives of 800 children suffering from heart ailments. Palak Muchhal has made her entry in both Guinness Book of World Records and Limca Book of World Records for great achievements in social work.

FACTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Some Interesting FACTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

A few useful facts about English

·         Assassination is a word four S present in a single word.

·         A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

·         A word or sentence that is the same front and back (racecar, kayak) is called a palindrome.

·         All pilots on international flights identify themselves in English regardless of their country of origin.

·         Almost is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

·         Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts, and worms like fried bacon.

·         Bookkeeper and bookkeeping are the only 2 words in the English language with three consecutive double letters.

·         Canada is an Indian word meaning ‘Big Village’.

·         Dreamt is the only English word that ends in the letters ‘MT’.

·         English is the language of navigation, aviation and of Christianity? It is the ecumenical language of the World Council of Churches.

·         English is the medium for 80% of the information stored in the world's computers?

·         English is the most widespread language in the world and is more widely spoken and written than any other language.

·         Five of the largest broadcasting companies in the world (CBS, NBC, ABC, BBC and CBC) transmit in English, reaching millions of people all over the world.

·         Goddessship is the only word in the English language with a triple letter.

·         I Am. is the shortest complete sentence.

·         In Italy, 17 is considered an unlucky number. In Japan, 4 is considered an unlucky number.

·         In the English language there are only three words that have a letter that repeats six times.

·         In Webster’s 1996 dictionary, 315 entries were misspelled.

·         Jim Henson first coined the word Muppet. It is a combination of marionette and puppet.

·         Longest one syllable word in the English language is 'screeched'.

·         Longest word in English – Paraskevidekatriaphobia means fear of Friday the 13th (which occurs one to three times a year). In Italy, 17 is considered an unlucky number. In Japan, 4 is considered an unlucky number.

·         Longest word in English – SUPEREXTRAORDINARISSIMO: 23 alphabets

·         Longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary is PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS:45 alphabets

·         Longest word that is typed with only the left hand - Stewardesses.

·         Los Angeles’ full name is ‘El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula’. It can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A.

·         Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.

·         More people are afraid of open spaces (keno phobia) than of tight spaces (claustrophobia).

·         More than half of the world's technical and scientific periodicals are in English?

·         No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.

·         No words in the English language rhyme with the words angel, angst, breadth, bulb, depth, eighth, month, ninth, orange, purple, scalp or twelfth.

·         Of all the world's languages (over 2,700) English is arguably the richest in vocabulary; and that the Oxford English Dictionary lists about 500,000 words, and there are a half-million technical and scientific terms still uncatalogued.

·         One (1) out of every eight (8) letters written is an e.

·         Over 400 million people use the English vocabulary as a mother tongue, only surpassed in numbers, but not in distribution by speakers of the many varieties of Chinese.

·         Over 700 million people, speak English, as a foreign language.

·         'Q' is the least used letter in the English alphabet.

·         Quidnunc means a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip.

·         Rhythm is the longest English word without a vowel.

·         Shakespeare invented the words “assassination” and “bump.”

·         Skiing is the only word with double ‘i’.

·         The ‘if’ and ‘then’ parts of conditional (‘if P then Q’) statement are called the protasis (P) and apodosis (Q).

·         The countdown (counting down from 10 for an event such as New-Years Day) was first used in a 1929 German silent film called ‘Die Frau Im Monde’ (The Girl in the Moon).

·         The dot on top of the letter 'i' is called a title.

·         The expression to 'knuckle down' originated from playing marbles (players used to put their knuckles to the ground for their best shots).

·         The first English dictionary was written in 1755.

·         The first letters of the months July through to November spell JASON.

·         The Hawaiian alphabet has only 12 letters.

·         The meaning of 'Quiz' was Trick.

·         The most commonly used letter in the alphabet is E.

·         The most commonly used word in English conversation is 'I'.

·         The name for Oz in the Wizard of Oz was thought up when the creator Frank Baum looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N and O-Z.

·         The name Jeep comes from ‘GP’, the army abbreviation for General Purpose.

·         The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan. There was never a recorded Wendy before it.

·         The names of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with (not counting the words “North” and “South).

·         The oldest word in the English language is 'town'.

·         The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.

·         The only three words in the English language to have 2 consecutive ‘u’ are vacuum, residuum, and continuum.

·         The original name for butterfly was flutterby.

·         The past-tense of the English word "dare" is "durst".

·         The phrase “rule of thumb” is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn’t beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

·         The sentence "Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs" uses every letter of the alphabet and uses the least letters to do so!

·         The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses every letter of the alphabet!

·         The sentence where you can use ‘is’ after I i.e., “I is an English alphabet”.

·         The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick is said to be the toughest tongue twister in English.

·         The term 'anesthesia' was coined by Oliver Wendell Holmes.

·         The term 'astrology' literally means Star Speech.

·         The tool doctors wrap around a patient’s arm to measure blood pressure is called a sphygmomanometer.

·         The word "alphabet" is derived from the first two letters in the Greek alphabet: "alpha" and "beta".

·         The word "queue" is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the same way when the last four letters are removed.

·         The word "Set" has more definitions than any other word in the English language.

·         The word “Lethologica” describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.

·         The word “maverick” came into use after Samuel Maverick, a Texan refused to brand his cattle. Eventually any unbranded calf became known as a Maverick.

·         The word old English word 'juke' meaning dancing lends its name to the juke box.

·         The word 'Quiz' was coined by Jim Daly Irishman.

·         The word 'Strengths' is the longest word in the English language with just one vowel.

·         The word 'testify' derived from a time when men were required to swear on their testicles.

·         The words 'angry' and 'hungry' are the only two that end in 'gry'.

·         The Yo-Yo originated as a weapon in the Philippine Islands during the sixteenth century.

·         The ZIP in “ZIP code” means Zoning Improvement Plan.

·         There are only four words in the English language that end in “-dous”: tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.

·         There is a seven letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein": the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, herein.

·         There is three words in English with six alphabets these are as Degenerescence (six e's), Indivisibility (six i's), and nonannouncement (six n's).

·         Three-quarters of the world's mail, telexes and cables are in English.

·         Tower may be used in verb like, “It can tower price of petrol”.

·         Triskaidekaphobia means fear of the number 13.

·         Underground is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters "und."

·         Upper and lower case letters are named “upper” and “lower” because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the upper case letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the lower case letters.

·         What is called a "French kiss" in the English speaking world is known as an "English kiss" in France.

·         Words that contain all the vowels in order: Facetious and Abstemious

·         Words that contain all the vowels in reverse order: Uncomplimentary, Unproprietary, Unoriental and Subcontinental.

·         Words that contains all the vowels: Authentication, Remuneration, Education, Automobile, Miscellaneous, Mensuration and Permutation and many more.

·         Words with no vowel in them: Myth, Fly, Sky, Dry, Cry, Rhythm, Crypt.

[13-04-14]

FACTS OF INDIA

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT INDIA

1.      Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.

2.      Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of Medicine is called as CHARAK.

3.      Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the Sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. According to his calculation, the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun was 365.258756484 days.

4.      Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. He was the court physician of Kaniska.

5.      Chess was invented in India.

6.      Christopher Columbus, attracted by India's wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake.

7.      Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, runs his government in exile from Dharmashala in northern India.

8.      Decimal system was introduced by Bhaskara.

9.      'Din-i-Ilahi' which means divine faith was founded by Akbar, his own religion.

10.  Gujarat was traditionally known as Saurashtra.

11.  Hirakud dam in Odisha is the longest dam of the World on the river Mahanadi.

12.  India exports software to 90 countries.

13.  India has the largest mileage of canals in the world.

14.  India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world.

15.  India has the largest postal network.

16.  India is the largest democracy in the world, the 7th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.

17.  India is the largest exporter of cut-diamonds.

18.  India is the largest manufacturer of cycles.

19.  India is the largest producer of ginger, sugarcane & turmeric in the world.

20.  India is the largest producer of manganese in the world.

21.  India is the world's largest reserves of Iron.

22.  India is the world's largest, oldest, continuous civilization.

23.  India never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history.

24.  India provides safety for more than 300,000 refugees originally from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who escaped to flee religious and political persecution.

25.  India ranks first in the production of milk.

26.  India ranks first in the production of tea.

27.  India ranks first in the production of wheat.

28.  India ranks second in the world in production of coconut.

29.  India was invaded by Timur Lane in 1398.

30.  India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century.

31.  Islam is India's and the world's second largest religion.

32.  Jainism and Buddhism were founded in India in 600 B.C. and 500 B.C. respectively.

33.  Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectively

34.  Kamarupa is the old name of Assam.

35.  Kushans issued the first gold coins in India.

36.  Mahabharat is also known as Jahanama-Itihasa.

37.  Manu is regarded as the greatest law giver of ancient India.

38.  Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.

39.  Pataliputra was the ancient name of Patna.

40.  Quadratic Equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century is an Indian.

41.  Shaer Shah Suri was constructed the Grand Trunk Road.

42.  Sikhism originated in the Holy city of Amritsar in Punjab. Famous for housing the Golden Temple, the city was founded in 1577.

43.  Surdas was the first writer in Hindi.

44.  Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over 2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery, and brain surgeries.

45.  The Ancient name of Bengal was Gauda.

46.  The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word 'NAVGATIH'. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.

47.  The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan Mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.

48.  The discovery on seas route from Europe to India was made by Vasco-de-Gama.

49.  The first Muslim invasion of India was led by Muhammed bin Kasim.

50.  The first Muslim ruler in India was Muhammad Ghori.

51.  The first newspaper in India was the Bengal Gazette.

52.  The four religions born in India - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.

53.  The game of Snakes & Ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat'. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. It means good deeds take people to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.

54.  The Greeks and the Romans were used the largest number is 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 1053. Even today, the largest used number is Terra: 1012.

55.  The largest employer in the world is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.

56.  The largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in Cambodia built at the end of the 11th century.

57.  The name 'India' is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.

58.  The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.

59.  The oldest school in India is St. Mary’s Church Charity School at fort St. Georges, Chennai.

60.  The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name 'Hindustan' combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.

61.  The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India in 100 B.C.

62.  The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

63.  The value of (pi) "p" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century.

64.  The Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the world's largest religious pilgrimage destination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an average of 30,000 visitors donate $6 million (US) to the temple every day.

65.  The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The shikhara of the temple is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. This magnificent temple was built in just five years, during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.

66.  The world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects.

67.  The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after leveling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.

68.  There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.

69.  Until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds in the world

70.  Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient Indian medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism, physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.

71.  Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called "the Ancient City" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.

72.  When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)

73.  World's biggest festival - Car festival celebrated in India (Odisha)

74.  Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.