India is one of the oldest civilizations in the world with a kaleidoscopic variety and rich cultural heritage.
The following is a Guest Post from Selfish Travel
India has achieved all-round socio-economic progress since Independence. “India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.” These are the words of the great Mark Twain.
25 most interesting facts which we Indians have also no idea about are:
1 – Kumbh Mela gathering visible from space.Space Imaging’s Ikonos satellite has taken a detailed color photograph of the largest human gathering in the history of the world, the Maha Kumbh Mela, a spiritual event held every 144 years in Northern India. The festival is expected to attract 70 million people to a sacred location on the Ganges River, 15 km from Allahabad, for more than a month of bathing rituals.
2 – That India has the largest number of post offices in the world is a known fact. But did you know that there is a floating post office in India too? Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir is one of the most popular and beautiful destinations in India. It is famous among tourists and has several attractions. One of its major attractions is the Dal Lake which is known for its natural beauty and also for the floating post office. Standing on a huge house boat, the post office also includes a philately museum and a shop that sells postage stamps among other things.
3 – The Bandra Worli Sea Link, officially called Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link, is a cable-stayed bridge with pre-stressed concrete-steel viaducts on either side that links Bandra in the Western Suburbs of Mumbai with Worli in South Mumbai. This Sealink has steel wires equal to the earth’s circumference. The total weight of the sea link is equivalent to 50,000 African elephants. The height of the sea link is 63 times the height of Qutub Minar.
4 – The highest cricket ground in the world is in Himachal Pradesh, India. The Chail Cricket Ground has an altitude of 2,444 meters. It rests 7500 feet above sea level. This ground is also used as the school playground by Chail Military School.
5 – Taj Mahal is a world famous heritage sites located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It tops the list of 7 wonders. Taj Mahal, “the epitome of love”, is “a monument of immeasurable beauty”.
6 – Langar at the Golden Temple Amritsar feeds up to 50,000 people a day for free. On holidays or religious occasions, the number often goes up to 100,000!
7 – The Bailey Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh Valley, India. The Bailey bridge is a type of portable, pre-fabricated, truss bridge.
8 – World’s first and oldest university was established in India named “Takshashila”. is an important archaeological site of ancient India. 68 subjects were taught at this university.
9 – India has largest number of vegetarians in the world. Around 20-40% of Indians are vegetarians, making it the largest vegetarian-friendly country in the world. Only for India, KFC had to introduce a “vegetarian” menu.
10 – India is the the world’s largest producer of milk. India recently overtook the European Union with production reaching over 132.4m tonnes in 2014.
11 – Maysynram, located in Meghalaya India, records the highest rainfall on the Earth. Cherrapunji, also a part of Meghalaya, holds the record for the most rainfall in the calendar year of 1861.
12 – The Indian Railway Network is in the list of top 5 largest Railway networks in the world. And Indian Railways provides employment to around 1.3 million people. That is something more than the population of many nations.
13 – India is having the maximum number of mosques (300,000 mosques) as compared to other countries in the world. This is one of the most interesting facts about India.
14 – India is the largest films producer across the world.
15 – There are many things which were first discovered by India like Number ZERO, Value of pi, Trigonometry, Algebra and Calculus, Cataract Surgery, Plastic Surgery and even buttons.
16 – India is the world’s largest democratic country. India was having the polling of more than 54 crore people in the year 2014 General Election. It was more than the population of USA, UK, Australia and Japan collectively.
17 – The world’s second largest airport is the Indira Gandhi International airport in Delhi.
18 – The IPL is the most-attended cricket league in the world and ranks sixth among all sports leagues. Currently, with eight teams, each team plays each other twice in a home-and-away round-robin format in the league phase.
19 – In September 2009, India’s ISRO Chandrayaan- 1 using its Moon Mineralogy Mapper detected water on the moon for the first time. Water on the moon was discovered by India.
20 – There are 1.2 million tons of mangos grow in India every year. India is also listed in the list of top Mangoes growing countries. The famous mind game Chess was started in India.
21 – India is the world’s largest importer of arms and weapons but never attacked any country.
22 – India is always has festive seasons. India sees a large number of festivals, mainly because of the prevalence of diverse religions and groups. Muslims celebrate Eid, the Christians have Christmas, good Friday and so on, the Sikhs have Baisakhi and Guru Purabs and the Hindus have Diwali, Holi, Makar Sakranti , Durga Puja etc, the Jains have Mahavir Jayanti, the Buddhists celebrate the Buddha’s birthday on Buddha Poornima, and quite honestly, the number is endless.
23 – Most temples in India are located along magnetic wave lines of the earth, which help in maximizing the available positive energy. The copper plate (called Garbhagriha or Moolasthan) buried under the main idol absorbs and resonates this energy to its surroundings that’s why going to the temple often helps in having a positive mind and garnering positive energies.
24 – Just like dances, religious practices, language and clothes, you will also find a wide variety of food throughout the country. Almost every region is known for a signature dish or ingredient. While vegetarian food is an integral part of Gujrati, South Indian and Rajasthani cuisines, non-vegetarian dishes form a central part of Mughlai, Bengali, North Indian and Punjabi cuisine. Some cuisine are also influenced by foreign cooking styles from Central Asia, Persia and Afghanistan.
25 – In India, the saying Atithi Devo Bhava is also integral. It means the guest is equivalent to God. A guest in India is treated as God so the guest has always been of supreme importance in the culture.
26 – There are places in India where men demand gender equality for themselves. There are places in India where a man marries a woman and moves to his mother-in-law’s house. Khasi and the matrilineal Muslims in Minicoy, Lakshadweep are some of the examples.
