Facts about India

India is a glorious land with numerous historical landmarks. India boasts of a wonderful past and captivating history. There are several fascinating facts about India which should be known to every citizen. India was termed as ‘Golden Bird’ because of its riches. Though, things changed drastically during modern days because of numerous invasions yet this culturally rich nation ahs many things to share. Indian history offers several pearls of facts hidden in the course of time.

• ·India gave rise to one of the oldest culture in world; Harappan culture in Indus Valley Civilization. Amazingly, 5000 years ago, several other cultures of that time were still comprised of nomadic forest dwellers. India was way ahead of many others.
• India is the country which gave birth to calculus, Algebra and Trigonometry. These basic fundamentals of Mathematics are gift of India to the world.
• Thinking man’s sport, Chess originated in India.
• Who was the country that gave the world Place value and Decimal value system? Of course, it’s India.
• Varanasi or Benaras is the oldest city in the world that is still inhabited today.
• Ayurveda is the foremost and oldest school of medicine and yes, it was originated in India and Father of Medicine Charaka gave it all the basic fundamentals and concepts.
• Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism took birth in India.
• The most famous exports by India is Yoga and not surprisingly during ancient times wise sages invented this art and practiced it.
• World’s first global university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. Students from world over came to study in subjects as many as 60. 4th century BC witnessed establishment of The University of Nalanda.
• Sridharacharya introduced Quadratic Equations in 11th century.
• The concept of Pythagoras Theorem and Value of ‘Pi’ was explained and calculated by Indian Budhayana mathematician.

Facts About Indian Railways

The word general knowledge has huge connotations on multiple layers. It is a term that covers everything on the planet and even celestial space. Let’s know some interesting facts about widely used Indian railways. Indian railways service is lifeline for normal Indians. Indian railways have continued to exist since more than 150 years and have served Indians faithfully. With passage of time, many new services have been introduced by Indian railways which have helped it to become even more efficient and commendable. Indian railways are the largest railway network in Asia and that’s no mean feat.

Indian railways employ more than 1.6 million people and thus becoming the largest utility employer in the world. It is also the largest railway system under one management. Other facts about Indian railways;

• More than 7,500 railway stations.
  First passenger train traveled between Bombay and Thane on 16th April 1853.
  Parsik Tunnel is the first rail tunnel.
  Dapoorie Viaduct is the first railway bridge ever created.
  Calcutta Metro was the first underground railway.
  Fleet of 7800 locomotives
  Total 40,000 coaches.
  Total wagon number stands to 3,26,000.
  National Rail Museum establishment took place in 1977.
  In 1986, First Computerized Reservation System started in New Delhi.
  Sri Venkatanarasimharajuvariapeta in Tamil Nadu is the longest station name.
  Run of First Electric Train took place on 3rd Feb 1925 between Bombay VT and Kurla
  Ib in Orissa is the shortest station name.
  Toilets in train were set up in 1891 for 1st Class & for lower classes it was in 1907.
  Kerala Express has the distinction of longest run for a daily train. It covers approximately 3100 Km in 42 hours.
  Himsagar Express has the longest run time of 75 hours.
  Trivandrum Rajdhani has longest non-stop run of 528 km.
  Kharagpur is the longest railway platform in the world.
  Longest tunnel is between Khandala and Monkey hill on Konkan Railway of 6.5 km.
  Approximately 14,000 trains run daily on Indian Railway network.
  Siliguri Railway Station has the all the three gauges.
  Howrah-Amritsar Express has maximum number of halts with 115 halts.