There are many myths about India and people even believe in it. We get so amused or inspired that we forget to question the logic or credibility behind these tales. Here are some interesting facts...!!!
1. The idea of shampoo was invented in India.
The sanskrit word for shampoo is
champoo - which means to massage. They didn't have head and shoulders back then, instead they used herbs and water to clean their hair.
2. India has the largest active democracy in the world.
A polling station is set even in the most remote villages. Even families that don't live near villages will have a polling station especially for them.
3. Checkmate!
The beautiful game of Chess was born in India around 550 A.D during the Gupta Empire. The original word for “chess” is the Sanskrit chaturanga, meaning “four members of an army”—which were mostly likely elephants, horses, chariots, and foot soldiers.
4. Hindi is not India's National Language
One more myth that Hindi is our official language. Hindi is only one of the 24 official languages of the country other languages are English, along with Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu.
5. Hockey is not India’s national sport
All thanks to our school text book, which made us believed that Hockey is India’s national sport, despite Cricket being the most sought play. While a few would try showing off their knowledge by saying, Kabaddi, is in fact India’s national sport, believe none! The real fact is India has no national sport.
6. Milka Singh looked back during 1960 Olympics
For many years Indians believed that the famous ‘looking back moment’ of Flying Sikh, Milkha Singh before finishing the 400m race at first position during the 1960 Olympics, did happen. For the records, he was running at the 5th position and in the nick of time managed to reach 4th position, he didn’t even come first.
7. Gandhi is not the father of the nation
He has huge respect in the heart of Indian people but Gandhi Ji is not the father of the nation. This was uncovered by Aishwarya Parashar in 2012 through her RTI at the PMO. The office notified that Gandhi has not been officially honoured as the ‘Father of the Nation’.
8. Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye…”
There has been no affirmative record that MK Gandhi ever made this statement. In fact, this was used as one of the dialogues by actor Ben Kingsley, who played the lead in Gandhi. It is said that this was inspired from Matthew 5:38 of biblical verse, which says, “You have heard that it has been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth…”
9. Bear Grylls wanted to join The Indian Army after getting out of school
Presenter of the famous show, Man Vs. Wild, Bear Grylls always knew he wanted to do something adventurous with his life. No wonder, his first choice was to join The Indian Army.
10. Samosa is not an Indian dish
They are popular all over the world but originated in Central Asia. In the Middle East, samosa or sambusak is still prepared with a meat filling. But as Devdutt Pattanaik says, Indians, with the spicy potato filling, have really made this dish what it is.
11. Sushruta: The first Plastic Surgeon in 600 B.C.
Sushruta, an ancient Indian surgeon, made important contributions to the field of plastic and cataract surgery in 6th century BC. The medical works of both, Sushruta and Charak originally in Sanskrit later spread. British physicians travelled to India to see rhinoplasties being performed by native methods. So, Sushruta played a major role in the invention and development of Plastic Surgery.
12. The gathering at the Kumbh Mela is so large that it is visible from the space
This picture shows how it looks. Kumbh Mela is a huge gathering that happens once in twelve years. Although there is no method to measure precisely the actual number of pilgrims, ujjains and merchants participating in the Maha Kumbh Mela, an estimated 120 million devotees participated in Alllahabad's Kumbh Mela in 2013, making it the largest collection of human on earth.
13. USB was developed by an Indian-American computer architect
Ajay V. Bhatt is the man behind USBs. You can also credit him for AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) , PCI Express , Platform Power management architecture and various other chip-set improvements.
14. The Pentium Chip was invented by an Indian
Vinod Dham is also called the Father of the Pentium chip for his contribution to the development of highly successful Pentium processors from Intel.
15. Dolphins are treated as ' non human persons ' in India
Dolphins are extremely intelligent animals who also display culture, which was long-believed to be unique to humans . And that is exactly why The Government Of India declared that they must be treated like we treat humans. Captive Dolphins are also banned in India.
