25 Lesser-Known Facts About India That Will Leave Your Amazed

India is the country which contains diverse human race, the place of birth of human speech, the master of history, the mother of legend, and the above all the place of a diverse and beautiful tradition. The precious and the instructive ingredients in the history of man are situated in India.

With over a billion people from all kinds of religions and ethnicities, India is not only the second most populated country, but it also has in store some mind-blowing facts that you probably don’t know.

1. Snakes and Ladders originated in India

Initially termed as Moksha Patamu, the game was earlier discovered in terms of implying moral lessons about karma to make children aware of it. It was afterward commercialized and turned out to be the most popular board games in the world that we love to play today.

2. Bandra-Worli Sea Link has steel wires equal to the earth’s circumference

A total of 2,57,00,000 man hours was taken to complete the this architectural marvel. The bridge weighs equal to 50,000 elephants.

3. Floating post office in Dal Lake

No doubt India stands first in terms of the postal network containing about 155015 post offices. Thai floating post office is situated in Dal Lake, Srinagar and is officially opened in August 2011.

4. Wettest inhabited place in the world

The village named Mawsynram located in Khasi hills has the record of receiving the highest average rainfall in the entire world. Cherrapunji also has the record of receiving the highest rainfall in the year 1861.

5. Shampoo was invented in India

Shampoo was for the first time ever discovered in India. Earlier it was made up of herbs and not the liquid ones that are shown in the commercials. The word ‘shampoo’ itself has been derived from the Sanskrit word ’champu’, which means to massage.

6. The highest cricket ground in the world

Situated at an altitude of about 2,444 meters, the Chail Cricket Ground located in Chail, Himachal Pradesh, turns out to be the highest in the entire world. It was established in the year 1893 and is associated with Chail Military School.

7. India discovered water on moon

In the month of September, the year 2009, India’s ISRO named Chandrayaan- 1 with the help of its Moon Mineralogy Mapper found out water on the moon for the first time ever.

8. The Indian national Kabaddi team has won all World Cups

India stands winner to all five men’s Kabaddi World Cups that took place to date and the Indian team stands firmly all through these tournaments. The women’s team of India is also the winner of all Kabaddi World Cups held till now.

9. Dr. Rajendra Prasad, India’s first President only took 50% of his salary

Dr. Rajendra Prasad was the first President of India, he collected only 50% of his salary, saying he needs only this much. By the end of his 12-year term, he collected only 25% of his salary. The salary was Rs. 10000 back then.

10. The first Indian to go to space Rakesh Sharma said India looks saare jahaan se achcha from up there

Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asked Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to go to space about how India looked from there. His response was our famous patriotic song, “Saare Jahaan Se Achcha.”

11. India has a spa just for elephants

Elephants in India get baths, massages and including food from Punnathoor Cotta Elephant Yard Rejuvenation Centre situated in Kerala. Now, this I something out of imagination for any country.

12. India is world’s largest producer of milk

In terms of producing milk India recently moved forward by throwing European union back by its production of132.4 m tonnes in the year 2014.

13. India’s first rocket was transported on a cycle

The first rocket ever invented in India was taken with the help of a cycle to Thumba Launching Station in Thiruvananthapuram, located in Kerala, which signifies how light it was.

14. India is the world’s second-largest English speaking country

India comes second in terms of English speaking with about 125 million people speaking the language, which summed up would be about 10% of our population. This is further to grow by quite a margin in the upcoming years.

15. India has the largest number of vegetarians in the world

Whether it is because of religion or personal choices or both, about 20-40% of Indian people are vegetarians, which turns India into the largest vegetarian-friendly country in the entire world.

16. The first country to consume sugar

The first country to develop the method of extraction and purifying techniques of sugar was India. This technique was taught by Indians to many countries abroad.

17. First human calculator

This title was given to Shakuntla Devi after she demonstrated the calculation of two randomly picked 13 digit numbers 7,686,369,774,870 × 2,465,099,745,779. Shakuntla Devi gave the answer correctly within 28 seconds.

18. Rabindranath Tagore also wrote the national anthem for Bangladesh

Rabindranath Tagore not only wrote the Indian national anthem, Jana Gana Mana, but the Bangladeshi national anthem, Amar Sonar Bangla, was written by him as well. Tagore was offered a knighthood by the British but he refused the honor after the massacre of Jalianwala Bagh.

19. Ben Kingsley And Freddie Mercury are both of Indian descent

The legendary singer of the rock band ‘Queen’ Freddie Mercury was born a Parsi with the name Farrokh Bulsara while Ben Kingsley, the famous Oscar-winning Hollywood star was born as Krishna Pandit Bhanji.

20. Switzerland’s science day is dedicated to APJ Abdul Kalam, Ex-Indian President

The father of India’s missile program had visited Switzerland back in 2006. Upon his arrival, Switzerland declared May 26th as Science Day.

21. Dhyan Chand was offered German citizenship and job by Hitler

Major Dhyan Chand, who was the wizard of hockey, after winning over Germany by 8-1 in the year 1936 Berlin Olympics, was known by the term Hitler. He was assured of getting access to German citizenship, a senior post in the German military and the opportunity to play for the German national side. However, he rejected the offer.

22. Kumbh Mela gathering visible from space

The Kumbh Mela of the year 2017 was the first-ever huge gathering of about 75 million people. The crowd was so immense that it was visible from the space.

23. Havell’s is purely an Indian brand

Although the company was purchased for only about 10 lakh Rupees back then, at the present time it is a multi-billion electrical goods company, Havells is an Indian company and is known after the name of its owner Haveli Ram Gupta.

24. Diamonds were first mined in India

Earlier diamonds were only discovered in the alluvial deposits located in Guntur and Krishna District of the Krishna River Delta. Till diamonds were discovered in Brazil during the 18th century, India guided the world in terms of diamond production.

25. ECI had been setting up a polling station for a lone voter from Gujarat’s Gir Forest

Mahant Bharatdas Darshandas is voting from the year 2004 and at the time of every election since then, a separate polling booth is established especially for him as he is the only single voter from Banej in Gir forest.