In today’s online world, it is easy to get bogged down by judgement and self-doubt, leading one to give up on their dreams. Here is a something legendary Indian cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar, said that should help you to deal with all that negativity.
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Over two decades ago, former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee discussed a top-secret mission with Kalam, then India’s chief scientific advisor. The mission was to make India more secure with nuclear weapons. Kalam immediately started working on Operation Shakti. To keep the mission confidential, Pokhran, an army range, was selected as the site of the experiment. The scientists involved in this mission were given army identities and uniforms.
The preparations for the tests were conducted underground in the dead of the night in absolute secrecy. The equipment used to dig the shafts was shifted back at daybreak and the shafts concealed during the day. Every precaution was taken so that satellites would not detect unusual activity in the range. In fact, the earth dug out was piled up to mimic sand dunes.
On May 11, 1998, three nuclear devices were detonated. Operation Shakti was a resounding success. The day was etched in the history of India as National Technology Day.
Amar Chitra Katha pays tribute to the phenomenal scientists, engineers, and our very own missile man, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, for their contributions and achievements in making India a global superpower.
Spread over 30 hectares on the foothills of the Zabarwan mountains, overseeing the Dal Lake, is the beautiful Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden. Every year, from the last week of March through all of April, the garden witnesses 13 lakh varieties of tulips in full bloom. The largest tulip garden in Asia, it is one of Srinagar’s major tourist attractions.
Ever wondered how money originated in the Indian subcontinent?
The system of currency originated in the city of Mohenjodaro, way back in 3000 BC. Initially, people used to barter goods before switching to a more standardised system. Here’s a short excerpt from our title ‘Tripura” in which this story features as a bonus comic.
Buy Tripura here:
Legend says, a long time ago when the head chef of the Maratha palace was away, Shivaji’s son, Sambhaji, decided to make a bowl of dal for himself. In a moment of inspiration, he added some tamarind to the dish, something that wasn’t the norm. However, nobody in the kitchen dared to correct the great Maratha prince. Luckily, for everyone involved, the dish turned out to be quite good, and so, thanks to Sambhaji’s culinary whimsy, sambaar was born!
Today, one can sample more than 50 varieties of sambaar across the country. It’s not a coincidence that the Maharashtrian amti and South Indian sambaar taste so similar. However, chefs do relish the unique taste of sambaar from the Thanjavur region, be it with a crisp dosa or a bowl of steaming rice.
In March 1857, thousands of unmarked chapatis were distributed to houses throughout India by police chowkidars at night. People who accepted the offering, prepared more chapatis and continued the chain. Around 90,000 policemen participated, making the chapatis travel up to 300 kilometres every night, which was faster than the fastest British mail.
Nobody knew where or how the movement originated, but the Indian flatbread had many a British general worried.
When brought to their notice, the British overlords were terrified. They immediately started an investigation. Several speculations were made. However, even today, nobody really knows what the reason behind the ‘Chapati Movement’ was, even those who participated in it were unaware of its origin and objective.
Years later, J W Sherar in the book ‘Life During the Indian Mutiny’ admitted that if the objective behind the movement was to create an atmosphere of mysterious restlessness, the movement had been highly successful.
Believe it or not, a lot of quintessential Indian desserts and snacks aren’t originally from India. The following six dishes are great examples of just that.
- Samosa
- Jalebi
- Dal Chaawal
- Rajma
- Filter Coffee
- Gulab Jamun
Ravanhatha is a musical instrument made from bamboo attached to a coconut shell and covered with a goat membrane. The string is made up of horse hair, and is played using a wooden bow.
Believed to be the ancestor of the modern-day violin, the instrument Ravanhatha (Ravanstorm) is considered to be a modification of the word ‘Ravan Hasta Veena’. According to a folktale, Ravana, a great devotee of Shiva, played the Ravanhatha as an offering to the god. After Rama destroyed Ravana on the battlefield, Hanuman brought the Ravanhatha to India from Sri Lanka. Surprisingly though, there exist no records of the Ravanhatha in Sri Lanka. However, the instrument finds it’s mention in the early texts of India such as the musical treatise, Bharatabhasya, written by a scholar Nanyadeva.
Even today, the Ravanhatha is popular among the wandering bards and folk musicians of Rajasthan and Gujarat. The instrument is played mostly by the Bhopas (priest singers) while narrating the folk tale of Pabuji, a hero of the local Rabari tribe, a shepherd community of Rajasthan. This is no ordinary storytelling, it is narrated frame by frame using Phad paintings, a live-action animation screening if you will.
Nagarjuna (150 to 250 CE) was a philosopher who belonged to the Mahayana school of Buddhism. He was also the head of the ancient Nalanda University for a period of time. He is said to have been born in Vidarbha, Maharashtra. This quote is attributed to him.
Did you know the India’s first passenger train ride was on April 16th, 1853? The following year, the Bombay line was extended to Kalyan with India’s first railway bridge. In eastern India, passenger trains were introduced in 1854, with the first journey taking place in August of that year from Howrah to Hoogly. Down south, passenger trains took yet another two years to be debut; the first journey was from Royapuram to erstwhile Madras in July 1856.
Coming back to the first ever passenger train ride in India, here are some more iconic facts about that momentous occasion.
